Originally Khokhloma wood tableware were produced in monasteries and for the czar court only. At that time Khokhloma tableware production was not large scale. It was because of expensive imported tin. In 1720s after the end of the North War tin flow to Russian increased. The price went down and the material came within reach of many masters. The production and the sales of brightly painted hand made art works expanded.
Thus in the XIX century items with khokhloma painting were famous not only in Russia but in Persia, India, Middle East, the USA and Australia as well. The export of khokhloma items grew after the worldwide exhibition in 1889 in Paris.
Nizhegorodskoye Zemstvo
In 1916 Nizhegorodskoye Zemstvo established the first School for Wood-Working Arts and Crafts in Semyonov. The folk arts and folklore flourished in Volga region near Nizhny Novgorod province. No other territory in Russia could equal it in the number and originality of the folk arts and crafts that had sprang to life and were developed in the local communities. The Khokhloma art painting on wooden tableware is the type of Nizhny Novgorod folk art craft that became most popular in Russia and foreign countries.
Decorative Ornaments
The “grass-leaves” decorative ornaments and their peculiar color scheme suggest that the Khokhloma art is rooted in the ancient Russian decorative culture while the imitation of gilt ornaments on wood dates back to the medieval Russian handicraft skills. The painting technique has been somewhat upgraded but remains essentially the same as in the ancient time.
Aluminum Powder
Khokhloma russian painting amazes you with its delicate grass pattern and festive coloring, which is based on combination of scarlet cinnabar and flittering gold against the black lacquer background. This is Khokhloma specific feature. Masters used tin powder and lacquer to obtain such gold color. Now they use aluminum powder.
First, the art tableware are shaped on a lathe from the dried lime wood, which are turned into bowls, vases, mugs, dishes and spoons.
They are dried and covered with red and brown primer, so that they start looking like earthen. The unpainted articles are now coated with drying oil. Next they are polished with powdered aluminium. They become dull shining, like silver, and go to the painting division. Painted articles are then varnished and hardened in ovens at the temperature of 120-130 degrees. The heat turns the varnish yellow, the “silver” into “gold” and mellows the vivid design with an even, golden tone.
Painted Plates Decorated
The Khokhloma dishes, cups and wooden drink pots were used for serving food at holiday feasts. The wooden tableware using at the Moscow house of an important statesman had to look valuable; accordingly, they were modeled on the rich painted plates decorated with real golden fabricated by the jewelers for the luxurious homes of the Russian nobility. Thanks to the special varnish and high-temperature processing they are quite practical and safe in use. You can drink and eat using these Khokhloma tableware, because such wares not sensitive to cold and hot, salty and sour food.
Khokhloma Wood Presents
Apart from Khokhloma wood presents of tableware most visitors to Russia will have at least one set of Matrioshka dolls in their luggage. These dolls within dolls have long been a source of fascination. The undoing of the main doll to reveal others almost ad-in-finitem has always produced wonderment and appreciation for the woodcrafts art.
Examples of beautiful Khokhloma wood art presents, Paleh and Mstera varnished miniatures you can look at art shop online site. It is amazing that what started out as a true folk tradition over 300 years ago is still thriving and remains basically true to it’s roots, albeit on a more organized scale.
Online Recycled
It is no more a surprise lately to find pieces of recycled art when you browse for a certain online art gallery. This new trend in art is every day more present in our lives. Art creators embrace this type of art hoping to make it easier to communicate messages related to the health of the planet and its inhabitants, or simply demonstrate that something supposed to be ugly and repulsive, like garbage, can give birth to something beautiful and attractive, like a piece of art. This is a struggle to lead against carelessness and ignorance, which can together destroy Planet Earth.
We are accustomed to visit an online art gallery and find there all kinds of pieces of art, such as paintings, sculptures, tapestries, goblins, ceramics, porcelain, and so on. What is weird for us when we visit such a gallery is to see objects that are made of other objects that we remember to have seen in the trash. Maybe it is hard to detach yourself from the image of those little things that compose the big object. In this case, you could say you cannot see the wood for the trees. The object should be considered in its entirety and you should appreciate whether this whole does have an artistic value or not.
Cleaner Planet
Recycled art is far more present now in our communities than it was a decade ago. This is the result of more artists involving in the movement for a cleaner planet, with less waste and less risks for peoples’ health too. But it is also an alignment to a new trend in art, which tries to demonstrate that every object could have a new value that we often do not perceive. An artist can see through things and find that “something” that could easily turn a common object into a new value.
High Artistic Value
The way we receipt this new form of art is essential for what recycled art may become in the future. This trend that tends to turn all those things we usually send to trash into objects with high artistic value is practically taking by storm the artistic world. Contemporary exponents of this world are attracted to this new perspective and dedicate their efforts to a noble cause, that of saving the planet and the whole mankind.
Aim of Educating People
Aim of Educating People Their work has also the aim of educating people to care more about what they do with their waste and determining them to reduce the amount of objects they throw everywhere they go, without thinking about how much they impact on the environment. This is a tough task that modern artists assume courageously. Recycled art is a modern form of turning useless objects that normally would go to trash into objects with artistic value. Such pieces of art are often exposed in an online art gallery dedicated to upcycling art, where you can admire and eventually buy them.