User:Toni.leigh.jones/sandbox

Article review is that the article is lacking in areas of art and in their societal practices that influence the art and that there are sources that need to be checked and evaluated for accuracy.

Sources that I plan to use are as follows:

Pennie, Michael. “THE MARRIAGE POLES OF THE LOBI.” Journal of Museum Ethnography, no. 8, 1996, pp. 103–108. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40743404.

Povey, John. “Lobi Sculpture.” African Arts, vol. 13, no. 4, 1980, pp. 74–74. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3335789.

Understanding the Traditional Art of Ghana by Asihene, E. V.

The Lobi have created sculptures that are only 4-5 centimeters tall that help to make up the diversity of Lobi sculpture.

Draft

The art of the Lobi people in Burkina Faso comes in various forms and consist of a lot of sculpture work but these works have gained little attention by the art historic world. The material used by the Lobi are consider simple by most art historians. Shrines also tend to be made simple and have figures that have little actual sculpting to the wood. Like other African cultures Lobi art has a function that is more important than the aesthetic. Some of these art objects include the marriage poles, woodcarvings and small sculptures.

Lobi woodcarvers do not crave for making money and it has a ritual practice view of the art. Wood carvers see making craving as needing to have a purpose. These leads from the idea that wood carving viewed as a dangerous act and need to have a ritual to protect against hostile spirits that can be angered during the cutting of the trees. Some of the variations in Lobi sculpture is sculptures that are only a few centimeters tall. While the wood craving is better known of the works created by the Lobi bronze has also been used. Some of the uses of bronze include pendants of animals and figures, bells, and some bracelets and anklets.

Another type of creation by the Lobi is marriage poles. Marriage poles are made from Shea trees, which have significance in the Lobi every day. These poles also have black bands made from a dye that is then connected by a vertical strip. These bands are dyed into the poles and the bark of the tree is striped leaving contrasting bands down the length of the pole. Marriage poles are made by friends of the soon to be husband and are about three meters in height. The top of the marriage pole has a fork that a piece of cloth will be tied to after the new bride has arrived. The color of the cloth be white or red show the status of the bride and her attachment. These poles are placed along the pathways to a compound (soukhala) about ten meters apart. Some poles about halfway down have a tied bundle of leaves made from Shea like the pole itself and this is called kha.  The dye and the leaves are gifts from the bridegroom’s father. The dye is to encourage the bride to stay put and the leaves are a medicine to bring rain therefore it brings prosperity. However, when these leaves dry it can bring harm to others who touch it spiritually. The poles are placed in red clay and small clay figures can be found at the base of some marriage poles that are half buried in a small mound and huddled together. These are just one of the various types of “art” that exist in the Lobi culture.