Learn about a traditional art form from Central India with a fun project – DIY Gond Folk Art Parrot Bookmarks! Easy enough for little kids to make themselves!

Sometimes we tend to ignore things lying in our own backyard as we go after shiny stuff that lies far away. It may take a certain event or a person to make us realize the treasures we have lying right in front of us. I think traditional Indian art is one such treasure that we have yet to explore more of.

India is a hugely diverse country, with many states, religions and cultures. Did you know that India has 1,652 mother tongues? It goes without saying then that this country also has almost as many different kinds of folk art forms!

Today we’re going to talk about Gond Art, one of the most popular art forms of India that has also got international appeal.

Contents hide

What is Gond Art?

Where is Gond art found in India?

DIY Gond Folk Art – Parrot Bookmarks

Supplies required:

How to make the Gond Folk Art Parrot Bookmarks:

What is Gond Art?

Gond paintings are a form of painting from folk and tribal art that is practiced by one of the largest tribes in India with whom it shares its name. Gond comes from the Dravidian expression, Kond which means ‘the green mountain’.

Where is Gond art found in India?

With its origin in the Heart of India, mainly Madhya Pradesh, Gond Art is the folk art of painting practiced by the Gond tribe of the state. While it may have originated in Madhya Pradesh, it can also be traced in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh.

We have featured Gond styled dragons and Gond style folk art on the blog, and today we’re going to do some colorful and cheery parrot bookmarks!

DIY Gond Folk Art – Parrot Bookmarks

Supplies required:

White paper
Pencil & eraser
Black sketch pen/ microtip pen/ marker pen
Color pencils / markers
Scissors
Glue

How to make the Gond Folk Art Parrot Bookmarks:

1. On a sheet of white paper, draw a circle to be the bird’s head. Make sure that your bird is not very big. We can make 3 birds from one sheet of paper.

2. Draw a straight line and an arch (like the inverted letter “D”) to make the bird’s body.

3. Add an eye, a beak, a tail, legs and a wing as shown.

4. Gond art is about making patterns (simple dots/ dash/ lines/ arches) in different sections of a painting on a colored background. So, let us make some sections on the wing and tail by drawing some lines.

5. Next, use a black sketch pen/ microtip pen/ marker to trace all the borders and section lines.

6. Slowly fill each section with patterns. For the first section, I’ve used dashes.

7. Fill alternate sections with similar patterns. Here, one section is filled with dashes, while the next section is left blank, and the following section is again filled with dashes.

8. Make these pretty birds, color them and then cut them out. Your gorgeous Gond Art parrots are ready!

9. Now use a sheet of Origami paper to make a corner bookmark following the steps in the image below.

10. Okay, final step! Stick the decorated Gond bird on the corner bookmark with glue. Your Gond bookmarks are ready!

The best part about this project is that you can decorate these birds any way you like! These Gond Art parrots can be any color you like too – pink, purple, green, blue – anything! We hope this little project will help you learn about Gond folk art and inspire you and your kids to learn more about traditional Indian art forms – they are certainly worth the effort!

Meet our Guest Artist – Srimoyee

Srimoyee (Syaaheechitra ) is a self-taught art enthusiast. Born & brought up in Kolkata, an engineer & MBA by profession, she is currently settled in Singapore where she is a stay-at-home mom to a 6-year-old boy. She started her Indian Folk Art journey about a year back & has explored various art forms like Madhubani, Waarli, Gond, Kalamkari, Pattachitra. Her son showed interest in her artwork and thus she is currently trying to develop kid-friendly folk-art projects/ worksheets.