Transcript Slide 1

REVIVING RURAL INDUSTRIAL
HERITAGE - TOWARDS AN ECONOMIC
VALORIZATION OF
ART-CRAFT TRADITIONS
Ion IMBRESCU
West University of Timisoara
Conf. univ. dr. Ion Imbrescu
Universitatea de Vest Timişoara
Facultatea de Economie şi de Administrare a Afacerilor
Involution of quality of life in rural area
•
The last 30 years was characterized by a deterioration of
quality of life in the Romanian rural area. The principal causes
were:
1. in the last years of “communism” the appearance and
development of huge industrial sites generated a migration of
labor force from the rural area to these sites, and often the
workers bring with them another members of families
2. after the 1990 “revolution”, there was a lack of
investments in industrial sector but also in agricultural sector,
and that situation generated the increasing of unemployment
and a migration reflux to rural area, but also a migration flux to
other countries (the official data underline that the biggest
Romanian community is in Spain)
Specificity of Romanian rural area
•
•
“What is that impulse, that irresistible force which will not
let the peasant rest content with the merely useful, but drives
him to seek the best proportioned and most harmonious
forms that appeal to the eye by color and line, are pleasant to
the touch and produce that rare sense of contentment, poise
of mind and joy which characterize aesthetic enjoyment?
(Peasant Art in Romania, George Oprescu, 1929)
Wood
• Trees of life, twisted rope, moons,
stars, flowers and wolf teeth to ward
off evil spirits are associated with
myths and superstitions. They show
up in furniture, spoons, ladles,
walking sticks, keepsake chests and
other decorative objects, sometimes
embellished with paint. Wooden
flutes and recorders are also
elaborately carved. Most prized are
the multi-piped pan flutes, which are
now very rare, as few artisans know
how to make them and even fewer
know how to play them.
Wood
• Homes are trimmed in
elaborately carved wood,
wooden gates and even
fences are intricately
carved. Historically, in this
area, a family’s community
status was displayed through
the gate – the more
elaborate, the more
important the family.
Painted eggs
• Painting of real hollowedout eggs was an integral
part of preparations for this
festival of renewal. Women
and children gathered in
someone’s home and spent
a day painting and
gossiping. Intricate patterns
were actually secret
languages known only to
residents of the regions
where they were painted.
Masks
• Masks are linked to folk
festivals. Typically made
from the hides of sheep,
goats or cows, the masks
are adorned with fabric,
hats, pompoms, metallic
bits, feathers, beans,
straw and animal horns
to represent bears and
goats.
Rugs and blankets
• As varied as different areas’
attractions, so too are the rugs
that are displayed on
surrounding fences. Most are
flat-weave kilims, probably
introduced centuries ago by the
controlling Ottoman
Empire. Today’s hand-weavers
mix traditional vegetable-dyed
yarns with commercial anilinedyed yarns to produce startling
accents within traditional
patterns and colors.
Rugs
• Rugs from Oltenia reflect
nature, with flowers, trees
and birds. Those of
Moldavia have patterns of
little branches repeated in
rows to create a tree of
life. Rugs from Maramures
tend to have geometric
shapes, resembling those
from Turkey and the
Caucasian mountains.
Pottery
• Romanian pottery is still
made mainly on
traditional kick-wheels
with simple finishing
tools. Shapes, sizes and
patterns reflect the
different clays and
cultures of diverse areas
where are produced.
Pottery
• Color glazes and
decorations vary from
strong geometrics, to
delicate florally, animals
and humans. There are
approximately 30
pottery centers
throughout the country,
each with its own
distinctive style.
Folk costumes
• Embroidery on folk
costumes worn for
holidays and special
occasions (like
weddings) follows strict
regional patterns and
serves also as a sort of
secret language known
only to people within
the different regions.
Metals
Mapping of craft production
»
The necessity of mapping the local artisans
and to collect relevant information about them,
because a lot of them working as “amateurs” not
as “professionals”, the characteristics of
production are: non continuity and seasonality,
the quantity of the products is not high and the
probability for a consequent production is very
low. The actions for this direction must involve
the local administrative bodies and, where is
possible, the representatives of cultural agencies.
“Modernization”
•
The insufficient attention paid to artisans, a lot of
local representative considering that the products of
handicrafts can transmit the idea that the area are un-evolved
and they tend to press the artisans to product “modern”
goods. This tendency to “modernization” can destroy a lot of
valuable objects or even places (in one of my research travel
in a village of Banat, one specialist in architecture told me that
he cannot convinced the owner of a house to restore it in
original way because a local governmental representative told
him that is the most ugly house in the region, so the last
house with a cultural traditional value was “modernized”; also
some wood artisans were “convinced” to renounce to
traditional products in order to product modern furniture).
Advertising
•
The insufficient advertising of
goods and services, caused by the
characteristics of local production of
artisans; they know how to do but
did not know how to transmit a
message that can penetrated through
the abundance of other messages to
potential clients.
Access to the market
•
The insufficient access to the
market, even if we refer to a real market
or to a virtual one. Few artisans have
knowledge about using the internet as a
potential market and almost all have real
problems with the costs of
transportation their products to real
markets.
Market creation
•
The difficulty to be present to a
market can be surmounted through the
creation of a local market where clients
can be attracted using different
methods: preparing catalogues with the
products, preparing some sample
souvenirs, organizing exhibitions.
Price mechanism
•
The inconsistency of a price formation mechanism in
the area of handicrafts can be considering a very important
element that “contributes” to the underdevelopment of supply
side of the market. The materials used by artisans have more
prices variations because there regular are only occasionally
acquisitions so is almost impossible to know the production
costs. Also there are a lot of problems with evaluation of labor
costs and all that have a negative influence on the market
mechanism. The solution can be represented by the
cooperation between artisans, local representatives and
universities because all almost all artisans are “dreaming”
about profit but very few have the habit to “economic
thinking” about profit, so the training involvement in this
direction must be consistent.
Cooperation
•
One of the keyword is “cooperation” but the people are
reticent about it because in socialism the “Agricultural
Cooperative of Production” meant that the state collects the
production and the workers were paid with high “proud
currency” and with very low wages. Interesting to present that
in a lot of communities the cooperation has different aspects,
for example in sheep subsistence farm there were 10-12 families
that cooperated in these activities from preparing the fields till
the allocation of the results, or in construction and exploitation
of water mills also manifested a positive form of cooperation.
But, when we tried to formalize the cooperation in some
handicraft activities, the reticence was very high because we can
“smell” some untrusted positions related to the fair allocation of
positive results.
Accommodation
•
The lack of accommodation places can
be surmounted through the development of
some specific programs, such as “the front
room”, in the Banat area almost every house
has a special room for guests, but the rule is
that the guests are family friends and hosts
cannot accept a payment for
accommodations.
Conclusions
•
The art-craft production can resist and
be developed only if artisans will be “rediscover” by the demand-side, and that is
possible if they will collaborate with local
governmental representatives and the
bodies involved in cultural activities
(including universities) and the processes
of administrative conformity (especially
financial rules) will not represent a “scary”
factor.
•
The appearance and development of
some “guidance centers” can represent a
positive factor for increasing the
characteristics of market – oriented
production of artisans.
• The attributes and competences of such a
“guidance center” must be specific to
every crafts and also to the local area of
artisans.
Thank you!