Happy AAPI Heritage Month! Join artist and educator Sunanda Sahay to learn about the basics of Madhubani art (also known as Mithila art), a 2500 years old ancient folk art form of North Bihar, India. Please join us to create your own artwork. No experience needed.

Madhubani Art - Folk art of Bihar, India: Madhubani, or Mithila, painting is a folk painting of northern India. It is mostly practiced by women in the villages who have passed this art to their daughters through multiple generations. They paint pictures of nature and mythology to depict different events like birth, marriage, and cycles of life. Though this folk art has been practiced for centuries it started to gain national recognition only in the last few decades.

The paintings are traditionally based on mythological, folk themes and pastoral symbols. The central themes of most paintings are love, valor, devotion and fertility, though the approach may vary. So it is common to find scenes of courtship and marriages and symbols of fertility and prosperity like fish, parrot, elephant, turtle, sun, moon, bamboo tree, lotus, etc. in prominence. The divine beings are positioned centrally in the frame while their consorts and floral motifs form the background. The human figures are mostly abstract and linear in form.

About the Artist: After earning a Masters in English literature and briefly working with the UN Mission in Mozambique, Sunanda now lives in Acton, MA, with her two sons and husband. She retains her lifelong association with Mithila where her parents were practicing doctors. She continues to revisit Madhubani periodically, refining her techniques and rediscovering the endless assortment of themes. Additionally, she is now trained in other folk and tribal art forms like Warli (Maharastra), Kalmakari (Andhra), Gond (MP), Patchitra (Orissa) and Phad (Rajasthan), Lippan(Gujrat) and many more. She popularizes the arts via exhibitions, workshops and lectures in the New England area.

Learn more about Sunanda and her work at www.colorofindia.com

This program is made possible by the generous sponsorship of the Friends of the Thomas Crane Public Library. To find out more about their work and how you can get involved, visit the Friends of the Library webpage.