The craft is to feature Minas Gerais and the many shows traces of the past colonial baroque. Religiosity inspire the churches and the skillful craftsmen with their hands in pieces that produce silver, tin, wood, straw, iron or clay. In addition to characterize the culture, handicrafts reflects the craftsman's relationship with the environment. The craft is correlated with the natural resources and run, necessarily, the relationship between man and the environment and reflects the system of life adopted by residents of the region.
When leave to the center of Cologne, taken by the greed for precious stones, the inputs and experiences craft carried flags, who joined with indigenous experiences and later with the black Africans, then creating a varied and wonderful cottage industry, which in days Current enchant the four corners of the world. Often come from simple and calloused hands, crafts mining, traditional or new, is a popular art marked by daring creative. Hands that shapes the clay, which moves the loom, which notch the wood, the edge cloth, which coze the straw, braid the basket, carved in stone, the metal rod, the glass melts, the nail semi-precious stones, or even producing their own raw material on plantings of roçados, reveal the soul, history, customs, identity, emotions and authentic regional traditions and social groups, through an original art, the sophistication with care.
Since the eighteenth century, workers who use their hands and any instrument as an extension of the fingers to manufacture pieces of decorative and utility use are present in the colonized areas of Minas Gerais. Workshops homemade exhibited masters, officers and trainees in a wide range of activities: production of home furnishings, jewelry, musical instruments, labor and transportation, objects of pleasure, and so on.
The economy of Mines, in the processing sector, was effective. The mining company, slave, did not rule out the scenario of social groups and independent producers free workers. By necessity, the mining created and recreated their parts with art and beauty. In the eighteenth century, the production process of artisanal mining was enriched, mainly by the creativity of mulattoes, cafusos and Mameluke. And, although it is considered remarkable experiences and cross-Portuguese mixed, the pottery, weaving and basketry were striking Indian influence, noticeable even in our days. In the nineteenth century, immigrants and their descendants - Italians, Germans, Jews, Syrian-Lebanese, Turks, Gypsies, British, French and Spanish mark, too, the history of mining culture through craft objects, typical cooking, traditions and customs.
However, not only the talent and inspiration of the people, enshrined the craft mining as one of the most admired in the most important rooms for exhibitions of handicrafts in the world, the gift of mother nature, which spent its abundant natural resources to this activity than to to rediscover. The craft is the meeting of man with his own land, spiritual symbiosis. " What is certain is that the diversity of craft, the artist brings the regional influences through the materials used, the color, shape and style.
The craft had its recognition in Minas in the year 1969 when it was founded the Palace of Arts, and in it a space dedicated to craft mining, the Center for Crafts Mineiro. Until the 70 the craft was sluggish, but after the movement hyppie, who led the craft to the streets, showing him mainly to foreigners visiting Brazil, the craft had its boom, has emerged as one of the most important artistic and cultural manifestations of the country.
Today, the crafts produced in Minas Gerais, is recognized as one of the most expressive of Latin America. The craft production is exported to Europe and the United States. Objects such as carpets Arraiolos of Diamantina, the ceramics and silverware from the Jequitinhonha Tiradentes come to art galleries, museums and shops around the world. Handicrafts mining has become a source of income and encouragement to tourism, benefiting income and distributing the most diverse population groups.
By observing craft objects, you must tell the parts that are traditional regional crafts works of artisanal popular artist. At first, we all have to make and maintain the technical characteristics of the historical process of the community. In the second, the popular artist, in addition to mastering the technique of making the community, impregnates personal characteristics in his work. Is, in pieces, their feelings, values and concepts of life. In most cases, are sculptors, jewelers and embroiderers that make individual parts.
In mastery of confection objects, using natural resources of land and imported materials, the creativity of mining has always been unique. In different cultural regions mining, according to the historical process of each, out to be different artisanal objects typical. Whoever knows the colonization history of mining is able to better understand the message of each of these objects, their uses and their peculiar characteristics, which reflect the culture and way of being of the community of origin.
