Warli art for kids makes for a creative and delightful online program that your little ones will greatly enjoy. This is part of various such innovative art programs available at Yellow Class. Your child will greatly enjoy classes on Warli painting for kids and other styles online while learning valuable skills at the same time. Why is Warli art painting so popular with children? This is because children can readily relate to the same.
Warli art drawing is a relatively easier practice to begin with, for little children. It majorly has geometrical and simple figures being used, that children are better attuned to relating with. This is a great way to teach kids about shapes, lines, circles and dots. The simple yet colorful and vibrant Warli art easy drawings also quickly catch the attention of children while keeping them engaged! While this art form has attained immense popularity in recent times, it is also a very ancient and revered form of art.
This tribal art owes its inception to tribals living in Maharashtra’s North Sahyadri Range, covering various areas such as Talasari, Dahanu, Mokhada, Palghar and Vikramgad within the Palghar District. Having originated in Maharashtra, Warli art has gone on to become a highly popular art form throughout the country. It is still practiced in its State of origination. The tradition of Warli painting is amongst the best instances of paintings done in the folk style. The Warli tribe is one of India’s biggest tribes and in spite of living so close to Mumbai, one of the country’s biggest metropolitan cities, the art form has still kept contemporary influences at bay.
The Warli painting style was only recognized from the 1970s onwards although tribal art styles may go all the way back to even the 10th century A.D. The Warli culture revolves around the concept behind Mother Nature along with other natural elements and focal themes shown in these paintings. Farming is the key way of life and food source for the tribe and they hugely respect wildlife and nature. The clay huts of the tribes are prominently seen in paintings as the preferred backdrop. A famous artist in the Thane District, Jivya Soma Mashe, had a vital role to play in popularizing the Warli art and painting form. He has won several central and national awards for his stunning work over the years, being honored in 2011 with the Padmashree Award as well.
The paintings make use of basic geometric shapes, i.e. squares, circles and triangles which symbolize various natural elements. The circle is indicative of the moon or sun while the triangle means mountains and conical shaped trees. The square is the human invention, indicating a piece of land or enclosure. The central and key painting motif is this square that is called chaukat or chauk and it comes in two avatars, namely Lagnachauk and Devchauk. The latter has a depiction of the Mother Goddess Palaghata within it, indicating fertility. Male Gods are mostly rare amongst the Warli tribe and they are mostly linked to spirits in the shape of humans. The key motif is adorned with surrounding landscapes showing fishing, hunting, animals and trees along with dances, festivals and so on. Animals and people are represented through two inverse triangles that are linked at the tips. The upper triangle is the torso, with the lower one indicating the pelvis. This indicates the universe’s balance through the equilibrium achieved precariously here. Some triangles are bigger at the top, denoting men and some are wider below, representing women.
The tarpa dance is also a vital aspect of several Warli paintings over the years. The tarpa is an instrument resembling the trumpet and men and women join their hands and move in a circle around the player of the instrument. People take turns to play the tarpa and they play two notes, indicating clockwise or counterclockwise movements. Your children will greatly benefit from learning about this rich, multi-hued and diverse art form while enhancing their own creative, imaginative and technical skills simultaneously.
