Orden, Athena Ashley D.

DECORATIVE ART

are arts or crafts concerned with the design and

manufacture of beautiful objects that are also
functional. 
The decorative arts are a series of figurative
artistic disciplines traditionally linked to the
creation and decoration of objects of use, as
opposed to the fine arts (painting, sculpture,
drawing, engraving, photography and mosaic)
intended to create artifacts whose sole purpose
it is instead aesthetic contemplation. 
Decorative arts are often cataloged by medium or technique.  It also often
includes graphic arts (engraving) and miniature, as well as some works of
architecture, painting and sculpture intended for ornamentation and conceived
in series, not as individual works.
The term "decorative arts" is a traditional term for a rather unwieldy range of
artistic disciplines concerned with the design and ornamentation of items,
usually functional, that do not necessarily have any intrinsic aesthetic
qualities.
Problems of Definition; The exact meaning of "decorative arts" is less
important today, now that the narrow, elitist concept of fine art has been
superceded by the wider classification of visual art. Furthermore, several
modern forms of decorative work involving interior/fashion design, graphics, or
computers, are known as "design" disciplines rather than decorative art. Thus,
the latter term is likely to gradually fade away, especially since it is so closely
aligned with categories like "applied art" and "craft". 

Origins and History of Decorative Art

The earliest type of decorative art was ancient
pottery, notably the Jomon style Japanese
ceramics pioneered from about 14,500 BCE.
It was also widely produced from about 5,000
BCE by a number of ancient Mediterranean
civilizations, before reaching its apogee in
the Geometric Style, Oriental Style, Black-Figure and Red-Figure style of
Ancient Greek pottery.

Another early producer of decorative art

were the Celts, whose metalwork (c.500-
50 BCE) created such personal weaponry
and items of jewellery

the
silver "Gundestrup Cauldron" (c.100 BCE)
The cauldron measures 42 centimetres in
height, 69 cm in diameter, and is one of
the largest known exemplars of Celtic
metalwork art. When discovered, it
comprised five long rectangular plates,
seven short plates, one circular base plate
and two pieces of tubing. 

the bronze "Petrie Crown" (100 BCE - 200

CE).
A wonderful example of Celtic Iron
Age metalwork, the Petrie Crown is
composed of numerous bronze pieces
connected with rivets. A circular bronze
band forms the basic core, to whose outer
circumference is attached a number of
concave roundels or circular discs,
decorated with triskeles or spiral designs
centered with birds' heads, and beadwork.

the gold "Broighter Gold

Collar" (1st century BCE) 
The Broighter collar was
only one of the items
discovered in the so-called
 Broighter Hoard. Other gold artifacts in the gold hoard included a model
boat, a small bowl, and other neck ornaments. 

5 TYPES OF DECORATIVE ART

William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) as a
British textile designer, poet, architectural
conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist
associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement.
He was a major contributor to the revival of
traditional British textile arts and methods of production. 

TEXTILE - is any type of cloth that is woven,

knitted, or felted into a solid piece. Each
textile is made of fibers that have been turned
into threads or cords and either woven or
knitted together.

CERAMIC - A ceramic is any of the various

hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-
resistant materials made by shaping and then firing
an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at
a high temperature.

Clarice Cliff (20 January 1899 – 23 October

1972 ) was an English ceramic artist and designer.
[1]

Active from 1922 to 1963, Cliff became the head of

the factory creative department.

Clarice's 'Ravel' pattern on conical shape

coffee pot, sugar and cream – 1930.
 STAINED GLASS - “Stained glass” is the popular term
used to describe what is more properly called “leaded
glass,” because the materials used can be colored
(stained) or not. 
Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January
17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who
worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his
work in stained glass.
He is the American
artist most associated
with the Art Nouveau
and Aesthetic movemen
ts.
Tiffany started out as a painter, but became
interested in glassmaking from about 1875 and
worked at several glasshouses in Brooklyn between
then and 1878. 

Sculpture - an artistic form in which hard or

plastic materials are worked into three-
dimensional art objects. 
Alexander Calder (/ˈkɔːldər/; July 22, 1898 –
November 11, 1976) was an
American sculptor known both for his
innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered
by motors or
air currents) that embrace chance in their
aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and his
monumental public sculptures
 Calder preferred not to analyze his work,
saying, "Theories may be all very well for the
artist himself, but they shouldn't be broadcast
to other people."

In 1934, Calder made his first outdoor works in

his Roxbury, Connecticut studio, using the same techniques and materials as his
smaller works. Exhibited outside, Calder's initial standing mobiles moved
elegantly in the breeze, bobbing and swirling in natural, spontaneous rhythms.
 BASKETRY - art and craft of making
interwoven objects, usually containers,
from flexible vegetable fibres, such as
twigs, grasses, osiers, bamboo, and rushes,
or from plastic or other synthetic
materials.
Mabel McKay (1907–1993) was a member of
the Long Valley Cache Creek Pomo Indians
and was of Patwin descent. She was the
last Dreamer of the Pomo people and was
renowned for her basket weaving.

As a weaver her skill and attention to detail brought

worldwide recognition to her basketry. Her baskets are
shown in many museum collections in the U.S. and
abroad. Weaving for Mabel was a spiritual path, not a
craft. She was never 'taught' to weave a basket. Instead
she was strictly instructed by Spirit as a Dreamer.