My latest Portrait Art

Here is my latest portrait artwork, a color pencil drawing of a dancer I saw a few times in a park in Xi'an, China. It is the first artwork I did with the Polychromos color pencil set I bought. Based on her costume (especially the embroidered hat), I believe she is from the Uyghur ethnic group, those Muslims who are being heavily persecuted by the Chinese government. Some even are calling it a genocide. After the day I photographed her, I never saw any of the dance troupe again. I sure hope that the reason for their absence is not a sinister one.

You can find more of my artworks (for sale) on my website http://www.melissaenderle.com/art.html

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Mirrorwork Murals of the Kutch

About 63 km north of Bhuj lies some remote Banni villages in the Kutch region of Gujarat. We made the dusty drive there to appreciate the architecture and handicrafts of the people living here. Many of the people still live in these circular bhoonga (also spelled bhunga) huts, whose shape and mud walls are conducive to counteracting the oppressive heat of the region. In direct contrast to the drab surroundings, the exteriors of these conical dwellings are painted with brilliant colors. Traditional bhoongas have thick mud walls and conical thatched roofs, but some of the ones rebuilt after devastating earthquakes in 2001 were constructed from cement. 

Enter these bhoongas, and you'll be treated to some intricate mirrorwork murals. This mud relief mirrorwork is known as Lippan kam or Chittar kam. There are variations of this relief mudwork in various communities throughout the Kutch region. Equal mixtures of dung (either from wild ass or camels) is mixed with finely sifted clay. Men traditionally are in charge of gathering the clay and hauling it to the village. Some use millet husks, which provides a natural repellent to termites. Very fine coils are rolled on top of fresh slabs of clay. Round, diamond, or triangular mirrors known as aahbla are interspersed. Muslim artists generally constrain their motifs to geometric or floral designs. Women, often working together, form communal bonds as they work on the creative process, much like our quilting bees.

Lippan Kam is also functional. When placed on the outside, it acts as an insulator by reflecting heat. interior work helps magnify the effect of limited light sources. Imagine even how a single candle could magically light up an entire room, reflected by all the mirrors! 

A Rabari woman demonstrates how to make Lippan kam

A Banni woman with Paako embroidery

Interior of a Muslim Mutwa home

Lintel above a doorway

Mutwa embroidery

The designs of the Lippan kam are strongly reminiscent of their highly intricate embroidery. Beauty times two!

The Lippan Kam mirrorwork has currently appeared in two of my artworks, seen below.

Two of My Favorite Things. Color pencil, 2018 by Melissa Enderle

Bhunga and Bhandani. Color Pencil, 2017 by Melissa Enderle

See more of my artwork at www.melissaenderle.com.

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Baisha Naxi Embroidery Institute

After walking around Shuhe, we drove a few kilometers to the small town of Baisha. 

Our main destination was the Baisha Naxi Embroidery Institute, created to preserve and develop Naxi embroidery. Due to the Cultural Revolution (embroidery making was banned, and some practitioners were even imprisoned) and the rise of machine embroidery, this handicraft is endangered. At the Institute, local women can train at no cost. Students are exposed to consistently more difficult projects that are designed by their teachers. One of the students gave me a tour of the institute, including the gallery.

A Master embroider at work. 

My student guide eagerly pointed out her teacher, who was intensely focused on her own embroidery. The teacher obliged in briefly pulling up the cloth covering her embroidery, revealing a shimmering lotus pond design with subtle variations of tightly packed shorter stitches. After a moment or two, she silently covered it back up again and continued working. My guide explained that the silk thread was separated into further strands, the amount varying according to the embroiderer's skills and design. Whereas beginners might use 1/8 of the thread, master embroiderers might use only 1/32 of the strand seen on the blue cloth covering.

My student guide at the Institute

An embroidery piece of Koi made into a screen, displayed in the gallery

 A well-laid out gallery displayed pieces, most of which were for sale. Each piece had a label that included the creator's name, title, price (if applicable), and number of days it took. Simpler student ones sold at more affordable prices and may have taken as little as a week (working 8-hour days), all the way up to a year. Many pieces were way beyond the pricing on a teacher's salary, but would definitely make a great purchase for a collector. In a country where quality traditional handicrafts are becoming harder to find, this was a breath of fresh air.

Photography was not allowed in the gallery. You can see some examples here.

In 2006, Naxi embroidery was listed as an intangible heritage by UNESCO. It is the goal of the Institute that 30% of all Naxi women in the area would be knowledgeable on this embroidery style, 60% by 2030, and that by 2040, Naxi embroidery would once again become the Naxi national industry.

Old embroidery examples on display in the museum area

 Some other rooms held some nicely displayed embroidery pieces created in the past. One was the robe of the Mu family clan leader. Embroidered with blue dragons, the robe lacked the yellow color reserved for the emperor.

Robe of the Mu family clan leader

Appliqué work

Baisha is located about 8 km north of Lijiang. 

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Tuckered Out at the Shop

I spotted this cute dog at one of the shops selling textiles in Shuhe, Yunnan (China). Perhaps it had been a long day for this fashionable friend, tired after experiencing lots of women coming in to eye the handiwork. At least the dog has found a comfortable place to snooze!

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Lifestyle of the Babas and Nyonyas - Penang

One of many period photos of the Baba-Nyonyas

Within the many rooms of the Pinang Peranakan Mansion, visitors were given a glimpse of the opulent lifestyle of the Baba-Nyonyas particularly unique to Penang and Malacca. Artifacts from these Straights Chinese settlers filled every nook and cranny of the museum, to the point of visual overload. No minimalistic neutral decorating here! One cupboard would have ornate Chinese-style jewelry; another was filled with a large collection of British porcelain dinnerware, and yet another displaying colorful hand-blown glass vases. In the bedroom were neatly folded or hung contrasting batik and embroidered clothing worn by the Nonya women. 

Embroidery and textiles decoration on a bridal chamber bed

Such lovely textile work

Bridal chamber bed and other ornate bedroom accessories

One of three bridal chambers from three different eras from the 1900's - 1950's

Decorative fan and jewelry

Enormous painting of Kapitan Cina Chung Keng Kwee's grandmother - one of several commissioned paintings of his family

Detail of a  large ceramic vase

Heavy mother-of-pearl embedded teak furniture on English floor tiles

Ornamental casket perfumer

Wedding basket and porcelain

Detail of a portrait painting

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Embroidering the Shawl

 In the upper room of a wooden house nearby, two young men wearing nearly identical dark brown pherans  were involved in another textile craft. Hunched slightly over, one man stitched in yet another color of a highly detailed embroidery border on a shawl. The other, equally engrossed in his work, worked on an all–over embroidery design. An older gray-bearded  gentlemen came in and was identified by my friend as the master embroidery person.  His eyes too weak to embroider, he still was able to guide the young men on the overall design.

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From Kashmir to Japan

Warmed up with the tea, we headed to a modest wooden building and climbed the stairs to an upper room.  There we met three men, all wearing long, woolen outer garments called a pheran.  Each man was busy doing hook work stitching on colorful pieces of cloth, including some scarves destined for a Japanese boutique shop. The fine work resembling the chain stitch was highly detailed and rather tedious, so the men would only work on this for part of a day.

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Banni Women: of Sparkles and Spectrum

Muslim communities form a majority of the inhabitants of the Banni area. A few are from the Harijan (formerly called the “Untouchable” Hindu caste). Regardless, they are known for their bright colored clothing–probably as a response to the normally arid, hot conditions of the area. Here the women wore a type of blouse that was completely open in the back, with a couple strings securing it. Brilliant red, green, and yellow colors dominated. Their clothing was particularly heavily embroidered and sparkled in the sun as the light reflected off the mirrors.

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Ahir Embroidery, Kutch Region

Our next stop was the house of Geetha Laxmiben in the town of New Dhaneti. The Ahir style of embroidery is similar to that of the Rabaris (another agricultural community), but only round mirrors are used with geometrical and floral motifs. It was amazing to see Geetha transform the red silk cloth into designs incorporating the finest of stitches. Even rather small designs could take up to seven days to complete.

On our way to Bhuj, the flat land on both sides of the road contained many factories, particularly those that made tiles. Most of these factories, enticed by a tax-free holiday, were erected as incentives for business development after the area’s devastating quake in 2001.

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