BNB international Challenge 17 – Kolam

 As the winner of the16th BNB it is now my turn to host this challenge. The inspiration that I chose is not a painting but a traditional Indian art form – The Art form of Kolam.

What is a kolam?

Kolams (Pronounce Koh’ Lum) are designs drawn in front of houses or inside infront of Altars to Invite people and positive energy (Gods, Goddesses) in. In olden days they made out of rice powder to feed insects and rodents as a way to in promote co-existence and harmony.
Kolam designs are based on the simple yet fundamental Elements of design. Dots are first arranged in a grid like pattern, and are connected with lines to form shapes.  Colors and textures are used to bring about a 3D look and feel. The outlines are always white; sometimes they are left plain or adorned with Kavi (red ochre paint) or filled with colors -Tertradic color schemes (4 four bright colors) are followed; Black color is not used.

Simple kolams would be drawn everyday in the morning (sometimes in the evenings too) and grand ones with color would be reserved for festive occasions and the month of Margazhi (dec-jan) culminating with our thanksgiving festival of Pongal or Sankranti (Jan 15th).  Contrary to what many think, not all kolams are religious in nature (Only Yantras are) nor are they restricted to Hinduism. They are mostly regional and derieve from and/or give to many cultures around the world. They have strong ties with Celtic knots.

Drawing a Kolam

Drawing kolams would invariably be a community event with neighbours having a friendly competition and making elaborate sketches to be filled with color.  It is an art form that is diminishing in recent years as there is hardly any space in front of houses to draw them and people hardly seem to have the time or patience to do it.
As a child I grew up drawing huge kolams in my house as we had a lot of space but I havent drawn any in a while as I live in an apartment and I miss them badly. So when I got an opportunity to host his challenge I thought why not do Kolam. 

Inspiration – Kolam

Types of Kolam 

Pulli Kolam (designs based on dots, Kambi kolam (designs based on lines), Maa kolam (curve lines drawn with rice flour paste), Sikku kolam (knots created on a dotted grid but without joining the dots – very similar to celtic knots), Kavi/semman kolam (drawn in red ochre color), and fancy kolams drawn with flowers, food grains, rock salt etc. The people in the southern Indian make it differently than their northern counterparts, where its is always drawn with color and is called Rangoli and it looks like a carpet.

Here are some more examples of kolams. All these kolam pictures (excepting 1 by me) are from Kamala’s Corner – Kolangal section, Created and/or curated by the very talented Kamala. Please visit her blog for step-by-step pictures on how to draw these beauties. She also has an amazing blog on Indian food do check it out. These examples barely scratch the possibilities that exist in this art form

 Color Filled Dot – Grid based – Pulli kolam

Knot Based Kolam – Sikku Kolam

  

Color filled Line based or Free Hand

Religious/Worship Based kolams or Yantras

Occasion Specific Kolam

For this challenge I have made an inspiration collage of different south Indian (particularly Tamil) kolams so that I can provide a variety of forms, textures and colors for you. Shown in the Inspiration Picture are sikku kolam (lamps), geometric pulli kolam, freehand peacocks and the border which is a combination of nelli (squiggly lines) on red ochre paste. The image background refers to Sand.

So what can you make?

– An art bead or piece of Jewelry inspired by the above theme.
– You can either choose the color palette of white and red ochre or make it colorful. If you pick the multi color palette all 4 colors must be used, white is optional.
– Max two entries per person.

Helpful Hints

– For the red ochre +  white palette – think pearls, shells, ceramic components with copper metal or wire. Coral with silver wire will work too.
– Wire is your best friend for this challenge, so is cord – Think knots, celtic designs, bezels and borders.
– Bring out your brightest beads, multi color yarn for the second palette.

This inspiration was for a BNB Design Challenge which is now closed. You can see some of the competition entries here.

I hope you find it interesting.
Cheers

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