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KALA RAKSHA VIDHYALAYA:
AN INSTITUTION OF DESIGN FOR TRADITIONAL ARTISANS
In its second decade, Kala Raksha is addressing India’s most
pressing need: Education. In October 2005, Kala Raksha launched a
design school for working traditional artisans of Kutch. This
educational institution, whose environment, curriculum and
methodology are designed to be appropriate for traditional artisans,
is intended to model a new approach to the rejuvenation of
traditional arts. Project Director of KRV, Judy Frater, was awarded
an
Ashoka Foundation Fellowship
to realize the project. In March 2009 she was also awarded the
Sir Misha Black Medal
for Distinguished Services to Design Education.
Concept of the Design School for Artisans
Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya is an educational institution with a direct
marketing link, open to working artisans of Kutch, conservatively
estimated at 50,000. The focus of the school is on acquiring
knowledge and skills that can be directly applied in the artisan’s
own art to enable innovation appropriate to contemporary markets.
Rationale and Structure
Working artisans rarely have the luxury of leaving their home and
profession for long periods of time. Therefore, the curriculum
is designed as a series of workshops which are conducted over a
period of one year in a residential local setting.
Design Instruction and Institutional
Links
Kala Raksha has well established links with premier Indian design
institutions, including the National Institution of Design (NID),
the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Srishti Design
Institute, and the Indian Institute of Crafts & Design (IICD).
Faculty from NID and NIFT are advisors in establishing Kala Raksha
Vidhyalaya. In addition, Project Director Judy Frater
mobilized a team including faculty from the Fashion Institute of
Technology, NY, and the Rhode Island School of Design to develop the
basic curriculum for Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya.
Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya is situated on 8 acres in Mundra Taluka, a
peaceful rural setting near the coast of the Gulf of Kutch. A
spacious guest house designed by Architect R. J. Vasavada, and craft
studios and student hostels and exhibition hall designed by
Architect Hemen Sanghvi today host the courses.
CAD Center
A Computer Aided Design Center is a vital part of the educational
program. Presently, this Center as well as a sampling studio
are housed in the existing facilities.
Course Content and Development
Kala
Raksha Vidhyalaya’s curriculum is a work in process. In its quest to
insure the relevance of education specifically for traditional
artisans, the institute observes impacts and innovates on content
and structure of courses. Revisions are also made to address
the changing needs of the artisans and the ever developing market
scenario. The year long course now has six intensive two week
sessions: 1. Colour: Sourcing from Heritage and Nature, 2. Basic
Design, Sourcing from Nature and Heritage, 3. Market Orientation, 4.
Concept, Communication, Projects, 5. Finishing and Collection
Development, 6. Presentation. Together these form a
comprehensive process in developing tradition-based products for
contemporary markets.
Examples of innovations that have evolved in our four years
of operation are the addition of a critical component of
meeting craft consumers as well as visiting shops in a field
trip to Ahmedabad, and equipping non-literate artisans with
a language of visual symbols to analyze their experiences,
transcending the lack of conventional literacy.
In the finishing and presentation courses, mock juries of
Kala Raksha staff and artisans’ relatives were added.
These prepare the students for their final professional
jury, and engage family members in the students’ hard work.
In the third year, the problem of product design was
addressed. Textile artisans cannot learn effective product
design in a year. Yet, as product is supremely important, we
sought a sustainable solution. Urban design school students
were engaged, not to give designs to KRV students, but to be
their clients. The artisan students presented their briefs
and chose from concepts presented by the urban design
students. The result was a range of new product designs, and
the introduction of new perceptions in roles and abilities.
Male and female artisans attend courses separately,
conforming to social norms. We have learned to appreciate
and support the courage it takes for women to participate in
the KRV course. The pressure against women’s education is
great.
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Visiting Faculty are design education professionals from
India and abroad, and well prepared to work with traditional
artisans. Students and Visiting Faculty reside together on
the campus. Course content is presented in the craft
studios as well as classrooms, and the priority is always
for artisans to implement theory in their respective media.
Students and faculty access Kala Raksha’s local resources:
Master Artisans from our Advisory Board, the local natural
surroundings, and Kala Raksha Center, where they study
contemporary work in the shop and traditional pieces in the
Kala Raksha Museum. Through the course, the students learn
to critique and question. KRV is increasingly a place where
learning is mutual. The wide range of ages in classes
enables everyone to understand that there is no age limit
for learning. The elders’ experience enables grasping new
concepts, and the younger members learn of tradition from
elders.
Each student works toward creating a final collection.
These are juried by
a panel of
eminent experts in craft. The Convocation Mela is a much
anticipated three days of celebration, with over 6,000
people visiting the campus. This
is a chance for the students to test their work on buyers
and professionals in the field. One student said it was
worth another whole class. At the same time KRV is
educating artisans to become designers, the public must be
educated about their creativity and capacity. The annual
Convocation fashion show has motivated students, and has
been an important instrument in educating the public to
think about craft in other ways.
As
one student eloquently expressed his experiences, “When a visiting
designer talked about giving designs to artisans and our
teacher told her we are doing something completely
different, I felt good. The importance of Kala Raksha is
that it respects us as creative people. This will insure the
perpetuation of our craft.” This fundamental change in
awareness, self respect and confidence is cultural
sustainability, which will insure the vibrancy of
traditional art.
EVALUATION
An
evaluation of the Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya program was conducted by
Mr. Ashoke Chatterjee, President of Crafts Council of India and
former Director, National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad. The
thorough analysis of the project has been the basis of development
of a plan for scaling up the institute. A copy of the evaluation and
scaling up plan are available on request.
DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNING MATERIALS
From the first class it became clear that to insure that the
institution is successful in terms of its vision, guidelines
in curriculum and syllabus development, as well as in
methodology must be provided to the visiting faculty. A unit
to teach fibers and structures has been produced. Efforts
are now concentrated on developing material to elucidate the
indigenous concepts of design and aesthetics, including
indigenous vocabulary and means of assessing quality.
MARKET INPUT
Efforts in the development of the institute will also focus
on establishing long lasting market links for graduates.
Kala Raksha will play a key role in this aspect of
development, and plans to expand its Marketing Department to
accommodate increased and varied production.
This year, e-portfolios of graduate artisan designers will
be added to the Kala Raksha website.
KRV
FILM!
With
generous funding from UNESCO and Eileen Fisher, Kala Raksha
produced the film “Artisans Design!” documenting the first
year of Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya. After two years of hard
work, we have completed
the project “The Masters’ Voices” a series
of six
short films on Master Artisans’ understanding design in
traditional textiles,
and a single summary film framed as a discussion among
artisans of different crafts.
The project was completed with support from Dorabji
Tata Trust and Seagate. The films present a
poignant portrayal of traditions in transition, and a
tribute to the creativity of the artisan.
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YEAR 5 AT KALA RAKSHA VIDHYALAYA
The fifth
class of Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya began in January 2010. This
year’s men’s and women’s classes are as ever filled with
eager and talented textile artists. By now we have
completed four of six courses.
The fourth
course, Concept, Communication, Projects, is critical in
taking artisans to a new level of conscious expression in
their work. In the men’s session, conducted by Harini
Chandrasekar, field trips to the natural corners of Kutch
made a dramatic impact on the artsans’ capability to extend
their work to evoke moods, textures and ideas. The men
learned to create theme boards, and worked in our studios to
sketch out their concepts. The results were refreshingly
new, and as always, delightfully diverse.
The women’s course, conducted by Smita Singh,
mirrored the men’s. The women studied current trends, and
interpreted them in the context of their own lives. They struggled
to arrive at abstract portrayals. A breakthrough came with a short
exercise of choosing an object from nature and evoking it in
embroidery. Finally, and easily, they broke away from conventional
symmetry. They completed imaginative theme boards, also inspired by
local field trips to mirrored temples, the night seashore and lotus
ponds.
KRV Impact
Continuing our assessment of KRV’s impact,
Project Leader Dipam Joshi conducted an indepth survey of 50 of our
78 graduates to date. He found that
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100% of the students are
of the opinion that they have learned something new in their craft
and are completely satisfied.
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Nearly 34% who have gotten
employment have become independent because of Kala Raksha and the
learning they received at Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya.
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14% have increased their
income by 50%.
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20% have doubled their
income.
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4% have raised their
income by five times.
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4% have raised their
income by ten times.
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1% have raised their
earning by twenty times.
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28% of students are
recent graduates from Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya and are hopeful for
the future and about to start something new soon.
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20% to 25% have started
working on their own instead of doing job work.
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Nearly 50% to 60% have
come in contact with and begun collaboration with other NGOs and
Clients through Kala Raksha.
Some excerpts from interviews with KRV graduates
follow:
Lachhuben Raja- “After studying at KRV it seems
to me that I have stepped in to new world, where I myself make new
designs and prepare design as per the demand, the seasons and the
place of course.”
Tejuben- “Stepping into KRV, we started using our
brains.”
Halimabai- “I find a difference in my past work
and present work. Earlier we got threads and fabrics and did the
embroidery any way. In the class we learned many things and the
Ahmedabad visit was an amazing experience of my life,”
Varsha P- “I have come out of my shell through
Kala Raksha. Earlier I was too shy to speak and now I can address a
large audience.”
Hariyaben- “Coming to Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, I
not only learned but also got involved in the process of teaching. I
observed the teaching process and for six months afterwards ran
classes to guide artisans to make new designs in Suf.”
Murjibhai- “It was a challenge for us to do
something new in our craft. We needed so many changes and were at
the edge to demise, but KRV appeared as a lighthouse for a derelict
ship. Earlier we were afraid of what would happen with our craft and
livelihood. But now all the fears have gone forever. We make new
designs, new products and have received good markets.”
Ramjibhai- “My weaving earned me only Rs. 2000 or
2500 per month and I was going to stop weaving and join a factory to
earn at least Rs. 3000 to 4000 per month, but suddenly KRV gave me
an opportunity and not only my art but also my life survived…We wove
just by copying others; we didn’t know the term “market,” and
“costing” was something strange to us. Now we prepare products
looking to the needs of the customers, seasons and even the country
to which they belong.”
Sohel- "The concept of my craft and my mind set
are completely changed.”
Aziz- “Earlier we were afraid to take risks in
our craft and when I came to Kala Raksha, in the beginning I thought
KRV people will starve us if I follow them and their ideas. But
suddenly in the marketing course I learned everything gradually and
understood the depth of business and now I am quite happy to have
studied at Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya.After I completed my graduation I
started implementing new ideas and my brother, father and other
people laughed at me. But when I received a good response in the
market after a short period, everyone started appreciating me and we
sent my brother to KRV so that he can also help me doing new
things.”
Suleman- “We knew only 10% of our craft and
learned 90% from Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya.KRV has not taught us the
technique of our art, yet we received exposure there and suddenly we
got inspired from KRV and started doing new things. Before, we did
job work most of the time and they worked for only two or three
months a year. Now we work on our own throughout the year. We can
create fifty designs out of a single object and out of fifty, five
will be sold at extempore and the other forty five would be well
received in the near future. And out of our twenty samples,
customers would pick up fifteen on the spot and the other five soon
after.”
Rajesh- “The most important thing I have learned from Kala Raksha is
love for my craft.”
THE FUTURE OF KRV
KRV is truly an institution now with a life of
its own. However, in spite of our resounding success, we
struggle to make ends meet. The location of our physical
structure may have to change due to construction of two massive coal
fed thermal power plants in extremely close proximity. Living in
limbo for several years has taken a toll on expansion of our dreams.
And observing the shrinking natural environment makes the campus
seem a vulnerable haven. Relocation will incur huge costs in terms
of money, time and spiritual energy.
As we gather forces for the changes ahead, we look to our supporters to help us.
With your
support, KRV will reach new heights in the
value of Artisan Design!
For further information, contact designschool@kala-raksha.org or judyf@kala-raksha.org
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