ARTS 8

Thailand
Did you know that Thai silk is produced from the cocoons of Thai
silkworms? Weavers raise the caterpillars on a steady diet of mulberry
leaves. Presently, Thai silk making is considered to be one of the finest
arts in the world.
In Thailand, sky lanterns are traditionally made
from oiled rice paper on a bamboo frame. The general
design is a thin paper shell about 30 cm to a couple of
meters across with an opening at the bottom. The
opening is about 10 to 30 cm wide and is surrounded by
a
stiff collar that used to suspend the flame source. The
source of hot air may be a small candle or fuel cell
composed of a waxy flammable material. The Thai
name
is khom loi.
During the year for festivals, flying lanterns are
commonly used in Thailand. The most popular one
is the Loy Krathong Festival which is held on the
night of the 12th full moon, usually in November.
Famous sculpture is
Wat Pho in Bangkok.
It is one of the largest temple
complexes in the city, it’s
famed for its giant reclining
Buddha that is 46 meters long
and 15 meters high, covered in
gold leaf. It is made
of plaster on a brick core and
finished in gold leaf. The
Buddha’s feet is 5 meters long
decorated in mother of
pearl.
 Cambodia
Silk weaving in Cambodia dates to as early as the
late 13th century where women only weave cotton
from Kapok, a tropical tree, since none of the locals
produces silk. In recent years, people from Siam
have come to live in Cambodia, and unlike the locals
they engage in silk production. Cambodian weaving
has two
main types:
1. Ikat technique – quite complex; it produces
patterned fabric which is diverse and vary by region.
To create patterns, weavers tie-dye portions of weft
yarn before weaving begins.
2. Uneven twill – it yields single or two-color fabrics,
which are produced by weaving three threads so
that the color of one thread dominates on one side
of the fabric, while the two others determine the
color on the reverse side.
• Takeo, battambang, Beanteay
Meanchey, Siem Reap, and Kampot
provinces, are Cambodia’s modern
silk-weaving centers.
• Cambodian silk is generally sold
domestically, where it is used in
sampot (wrap skirts), furnishings,
and pidan (pictoral tapestries).
• Cotton textiles also became part of
Cambodian culture. Rural women
often weave homemade cotton
fabric.
• Krama, the traditional check
scarves worn almost universally by
Cambodians, are made of cotton.
• Cambodian farmers weave baskets made of
thinly cut bamboo as a source of income.
Mat weaving, however, became a seasonal
occupation. They are made of reeds. Mats
are laid out for guests and are important
building materials for homes.
• In Cambodia, the highlanders make paper
by hand for over 700 years using the bark of
the local or mulberry tree. This bark is
crushed and soaked in water until it
dissolves into a paste. The liquid is then
scooped out, poured through a bamboo
sieve, and finally placed in a thin layer on a
bamboo bed and dried in the sun.
• Cambodia’s kite making tradition is now
popular throughout the country. Kites are
usually flown at night during the northeast
monsoon season. To produce a musical
sound, a bow is attached to the kites.
 Myanmar
1. Panchi – the art of painting that
shows live animals and inanimate
objects with the use of different
colors.
2. Punpu – the art of sculpture
which produced figures and floral
motifs made of wood.
3. Panbe – being tempered in the
iron in the oven to make the desired
elements. It is a kind of blacksmith.
4. Panyun – a vehicle that produces
materials. It may either be a
bamboo, wood or thick black paint.
5. Panpoot – making wooden
utensils, turning on the lathe turner.
6. Panyan – it constructs building with
brick, stone and concrete.
7. Pantaut – a craft of making
decorative designs floral stucco
embossed.
8. Pantamaut – the art of stone
carving.
9. Patain – making objects of gold or
silver.
10. Pante – manufacturer of materials
of copper, bronze or brass. The
craftsmen are Gong, and the brass
bowl brass triangle Monaco, and small
bells brass gong.
 Vietnam
Fabric ranges that are popular to
Vietnamese:
1. Shantung taffeta – a type of silk
plain weave fabric; slightly thinner
and less irregular
2. Bengaline weave – a woven silk-
and cotton material. It offered the
impression of genuine silk but was
made with lesser amounts of silk
than cotton.
3. Ebony satin – a natural lustrous
silk hand-woven in Southern
Vietnam
Silk painting is one of the most popular forms of
Vietnamese art. Vietnamese silk paintings showcase
the countryside, landscapes, pagodas, historical events,
or scenes of daily life. The Vietnamese style of silk
painting emphasizes softness, elegance and has a
flexibility of style. The success of a silk painting depends
on the quality of the silk. The colors are used delicately
with the canvas to make Vietnamese silk paintings.
The delicate white color found in the sky, water, or
human portrait, is the color of silk. The color of silk is
well
known to describe human figure in the paintings of many
famous Vietnamese artists. Delicate color and silk
background give the paintings such harmony with the
nature.
 Laos
According to Lao tradition, their
history was not passed on orally,
it was woven. Their stories were
better
shown and reflected in most
intricate dense patterns and
motifs of textiles. Unluckily, some
motifs are fantastic
and cryptic, that in most cases
only the weaver can interpret the
story accurately.
Embroidered textiles and the production
of woven is said to be the most prolific of
all traditional crafts in Laos. Textiles are
made of perishable materials. Through
the invention of spinning, succeeding
generations developed more flexible
fibres and were used to make yarn from
wool, linen, cotton, or silk. Colour is very
important to textiles, thus, many villages
in
Laos produce organic dyes from plants,
roots, insect, resin, and soil. Compared
to paints, textiles ensure a
longer lifetime as dyes are absorbed into
the very fibres of it.
Sihn is the Lao women’s ankle-long skirt
that has undeniable form and unique
patterns. Cotton sinhs
are comfortable in the Lao heat. The
bottom of the sihn is called the foot,
“sinh din” in Lao. It is often a separate
intricately woven piece and attached
later to the rest of the skirt. Sometimes
the skirt is plain or just a basic
stripe, but sometimes also an intricate
design, producing an interesting
dynamic. Some skirts have no
definite foot but usually by the
direction, weight, and style of the
pattern you can tell which edge is the
foot
• Sa paper is now used to create
lampshades, writing paper, greetings
cards, and bookmarks, as thementioned
handicraft has been revived recently in
Luang Prabang, Northern Laos.
• Lao artisans used precious metals like
bronze, silver, and gold as a media in
their sculptural creations.
• The most known statue is the Phra Say
of the sixteenth century that is made of
gold in which the Siamese carried it
home as loot in the late eighteenth
century.
• Another is the Phra Bang which is also
made of gold. It is believed that relics of
the Buddha are contained in the image,
so traditionally believed, it is more of a
Sinhalese than Lao.
 Brunei
Brunei’s traditional textile, also
called batik, is distinctly
different than that of
Indonesia, Malaysia, and
Singapore. It has its own
unique design that shows their
national flower simpur,
sumboi-sumboi (pitcher
plant), and Brunei’s traditional
design of air muleh.
These are the techniques used in
Brunei’s batik: airbrushing, cracking,
bubble, rainbow, sprinkle, geometry,
and marble.
These can be applied on fabrics such as
cotton, chiffon, linen, and brocade.
Batik can be done in different ways:
hand-drawn, using metal blocks,
screen printing, and digital printing.
Also called as peci or kopiah, songkok
is a cap commonly worn in Southeast
Asia. It was associated with Islam in
Malaysia, while it was with the
nationalist secular movement in
Indonesia.
The three categories of men’s
headgears in Brunei Darussalam:
1. dastar – a piece of cloth tied around
the head. It is a symbol of honour and
self- respect.
2. songkok or kopiah – a type of cap
made from velvet. It has a shape of a
truncated cone.
3. tangkolok or serban – like a turban
and is a typical headdress in the
Middle East. It is made from long
songket cloth folded and tied in
particular style.
 Singapore
Batik is featured in as
the uniform of flight
attendants for the
official flag carrier
airlines of Singapore,
Indonesia, and
Malaysia.
Sri Mariammam Hindu Temple is a
sculpture as old as Singapore itself.
This was dedicated to the
goddess Mariammam who is
worshipped for her power to cure
disease (early Singapore was mostly
jungle, so disease was rampant).
The feature that makes it more
impressive is the gopuram (tower)
over the main
entrance, which is decorated with
Hindu deities.
The Merlion as a mythical creature
and as a symbolic nature to
Singapore was widely used to
represent both the country and its
people. The lion head represents
Singapore’s original name –
‘Singapura’ meaning ‘Lion City’. The
Sentosa Merlion is the biggest
replica, having 37 meters tall and
made from glass-
reinforced concrete.
The elements and principles of Southeast
Asian arts and crafts were shown in the
styles, structures,
and designs among various artworks.
They have their own unique styles and
themes because of its inspiration
based on their own culture.