Gypsy Art

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Gypsy Art

• Wooden Wagon Art

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Gypsy Vardo
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Aim of Lesson

• To appreciate the art and designs of the Gypsy
  and Traveller community.
• To understand how the designs have been developed
  through the history and culture of the Gypsy and
  Traveller community.
• To produce a piece of Gypsy Traveller art.

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Gypsy History

• The Gypsy people were originally from India.
  Their historical journey to Britain took them
  over 1000 years. The first Gypsy record in Leeds
  is found in the Parish Register of 1572.The child
  was Elizabeth Smawleye, daughter of an Egyptian.
  Gypsies were thought to be Egyptians because of
  their darker complexion and foreign language.

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Gypsy Lifestyle

• At first Gypsies lived in tents called Bender
  tents. The trades for the men was mainly
  seasonal work. This could be harvesting crops,
  mending pots and pans and general labouring. The
  trades for women could be telling fortunes,
  selling lucky heather or picking wild flowers to
  sell.

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Bender Tent
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Travelling

• Gypsies put their belongings on an open or
  flat cart. However by the 1880s the flat cart
  had been developed into a wooden wagon called a
  vardo. These wagons were pulled by horses.
  Inside there would be a double bed and underneath
  that a single bed. The single bed would be for
  the youngest child. The other children would
  sleep outside under tarpaulin.

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Gypsy Flat Cart
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Interior of a vardo
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Vardos

• Most vardos were built between 1895-1925. One
  of the most famous vardo builders in Yorkshire
  was called William Wright who lived in Rothwell.
  He and his sons, Herbert and Albert made the
  wooden wagons, the Gypsies then decorated them.
  One of Wrights vardos can be seen in Yorks
  Castle Museum.

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Designs

• The designs used by Gypsies reflected the
  countryside they travelled through. Each design
  was unique to that family. Each family designed
  their own. Family horses were a particular
  favourite. The families also liked carvings of
  birds, flowers, fruit and animals. Some Gypsy
  families liked designs from Ancient Rome that
  included grapes, lions classical lines and
  scrolls.

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Fruit Design
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Birds
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Horse Design
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Flower Design
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Lion Design
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Buffalo Design
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Designs 2

• All vardos would have lines painted on them.
  The Gypsies called the line design lined out.
  The status of the Gypsy family could be seen by
  the decorations on their vardo. The more
  intricate the design the richer the family were.
  Gold leaf was also used as part of the
  decoration. A highly painted gold leaf vardo
  would cost today well over 20,000.

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Lined Out
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Local Gypsy Designer

• Jimmy Berry a Gypsy vardo designer and painter
  painted his famous cherry design in the 1960s.
  His grandchildren still live in Leeds and attend
  local schools.

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Cherry Design
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Activities

• To produce a piece of art work that reflects the
  Gypsy and Traveller traditional art designs.