African Art Catalogs

Art is one of the most important parts of any culture. Africa is changing from a tribal society to a modern one making more dramatic progress than the world has or ever will ever see anywhere else.  In Africa, traditional art is becoming a thing of the past as quickly has the continent changes. With the disappearance of traditions and other aspects of African culture, works of traditional African art are becoming more and more scarce.

Owning African art may prove to be one of the greatest financial investments you will ever make; but the real returns are in the pleasure created by the beauty and cultural significance of the works themselves.  Take a trip into the past, and experience the Africa of today as well yesterday in the art works shown here.  Share the stories below with your friends and family to bring the richness of African Culture to them as well.

Brass Artwork	All brass items made of solid brass using the Lost Wax Method.  This is an exceptionally labor intensive process where a wax mold is formed by hand over an open fire until mold is exactly as intended.  The wax is then dipped into very fine powdered black mud several times; being allowed to harden between applications; and forming a clay casting around the mold.  The clay is then heated until wax melts and is poured out of its casting.  Finally, molten brass is poured into the casting replacing the old wax mold.  The clay is then broken away from the brass; leaving a solid brass ornament.  Each piece is individually made.   No two are exactly the same because the mold is broken in the process of making the piece.  These will retain their original brilliant look indefinitely as each work is solid brass; not just plated.
	Batik Painting: Batik Painting is produced by brushing molten wax onto a cloth; the cloth is then dipped into a dye which adheres to all areas not covered by the wax. The wax is then removed, and the process repeated over and over again for each color used. An exceptionally time consuming process that gives you an exceptional quality; one of a kind; work of art. Picasso was heavily influenced by abstract African art of this style. Mud Cloth Paintings: Made using ancient and extensive process.  Fabric is all hand spun making seven individual cloth sheets in this work.   Each strip of cloth is then sewed together.  The entire piece of fabric is then dyed in tea made from Bogalon tree found in sub-Saharan Africa.  The tea acts as a fixative for mud painted designs that are hand painted using specially prepared mud.   This piece has been bleached after entire process is complete to give a lighter look: unique and more treasured.  Mud dye has been used for many centuries to pass African culture from generation to generation.
Cloth Paintings
	All  wood carvings are hand crafted from ebony: an exceptionally hard and beautiful wood found only in the Sahara desert regions of Africa.   Its exceptional density makes it not only very heavy; but also gives it an incomparable sheen when polished.  West Africa is home to many master carvers of ebony.  They use simple hand tools to produce these incredible works of art.  Any piece here will be noticed and complimented by almost everyone. Ebony is generally given only to master carvers. Ebony is one of the most difficult woods to carve and traditionally only master carvers are given the opportunity. Another reason is the growing scarcity of raw  ebony. The high cost of material makes it available for only the best to use. The bark is tan and generally light. the outer wood is a soft white. The inner portion of the tree is the fine grained, dense, dark colored wood which has been highly prized for centuries. the color of ebony varies from dark red to near jet black through a multitude of rich dark shades. The shade of ebony is determined by genetics, available moisture, mineral content of the soil and growth rate and the age of the tree.
Ebony Carvings