We've selected 6 examples of cultural textile usage and turned them into digital jigsaw puzzles to challenge you. Learn about these cultural artefacts below, and then try your hand at solving their puzzles.
Festa Galega
By Fernando Alvarez de Sotomayor y Zaragoza (1875 - 1960)
Born in Galicia, Alvarez de Sotomayor started painting portraits from very young age, including the famous portrait of King Alfonso XII in his death bed that he made when he was just about 10 y old - painting still belongs to the painter's family. He travelled and lived in Italy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands as well as Chile in South America before settling back to Spain and becoming the court painter of King Alfonso XIII, then director of the Museo del Prado and member of the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.
During the Spanish Civil War he played a great role in hiding most of the paintings of the museum and later recuperating them.
Álvarez de Sotomayor was multiple awarded and medals from the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes (national exposition of fine arts), the Exposición Internacional de Barcelona (international exposition of Barcelona), as well as medals from Munich, Buenos Aires and Liege, and was also decorated with the Grand Cross of the Orden de Alfonso X el Sabio, The great Cross of Isabel La Catolica, Great Cross Of Alfonso XII and with the Italian Court medal.
Coloring with Plants in Latvia
In Latvia dye is made almost exclusively from plants. By using a variety of colouring techniques and mordant, from a single plant there can be a number of different colours and tones.
The plants are collected in a dry, sunny mornings, when the dew has dried off. Rainy weather allows the collection of lichens, roots and rhizomes as they are usually washed before drying. Colour tones depend on whether the dye is made from fresh or dried plants. Taking larger quantities of plants the colouration will be darker and more permanent. Fresh herbs give brighter and more intense colour. Dried plants will result in more greyish and paler colours. For more intense tones, plant are dried in sun and wind, occasionally sprinkling with water until they become pink. Fermentation also brings more striking colour.
First rule of painting: good, clean, high-quality colouring material - fibre must be clean and they can only be washed with unscented soap.
For durable dyes fibres are treated with mordant - both natural or chemical material. The quality of fibres is much better preserved when processed with natural mordant.
Bulgarian Rag Doll
By Daniela Miteva
The traditional Bulgarian costume represents the spirit and beauty of this nation. The two main elements of the costume are the white shirt with amazing embroidery and the soukman dress that varies from region to region in the different parts of Bulgaria. The soukman is usually made by the striped fabric, with red, green and or blue colours. Many ornaments are added with both practical but also simply decorative elements to make the dress as pretty as possible.
Commonly the soukman dress is a sleeveless dress although there are many varieties here as well - with short/long sleeves or two-piece soukman or just a skirt.
Embroidery allowed to add exquisite elements of beauty transforming the simple cloth into a piece of art.
The Young British Royal Family
On April 29, 2011, Prince William and Kate Middleton, his commoner bride, were married in a fairy tale wedding watched by 2 billion people and celebrated around the globe! Couples of years later, in 2016, we see here the young royal family already enjoying life with little boy George and baby girl Charlotte, for the world is reliving their love story!
British people adore this young family. The simple way of life, as much "normal" as possible, the comfortable yet elegant style Kate has established for herself and her children, natural fabrics made with natural colours and the British brands - people relate to that, they follow the styles, buy the affordable outfits and feel closer to this otherwise so unreachable family.
Kate, already a style icon in her own right, is elegant, the children are just that - children, and William follows the protocol of wearing the British uniform at official events though we all know how his preference for blue jeans and a shirt takes over his day-to-day life.
The Ancient Greek Clothing
The Ancient Greeks were not fussy about their clothing. The garments they wore were made for function, and they were made simply. A single piece of fabric could be styled and restyled, to fit a particular occasion or a fashion. And with typical Greek hot summers, the less fabric and complicating seams to deal with, the better.
The picture here represents a truly beautiful garments with many elements of decoration without having to take away the practicality of clothing.
The Digital Art Department at L.Cossa, Pavia
L.Cossa, Pavia is a vocational secondary school offering their students the Graphic Art class as part of the Commercial Services Diploma.
Graphic design is an art with a purpose. It involves a creative and systematic plan to solve problems or achieve certain objectives with the use of images. It is visual communication and the aesthetic expression of concepts and ideas using various graphic elements and tools.
L. Cossa graphic design students develop a creative mind with an artistic inclination, employing variety of methods to combine art and technologies when communicating a particular message or creating an impressive vision.