Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya - Kala Raksha Preservation of Traditional Arts

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 received the Sir Misha Black Medal for Distinguished Services to Design Education. And in 2011, she received the Crafts Council of India Kamala award for service to the field of crafts.

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 modular classes 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.

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 two 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 FILMS!

With generous funding from UNESCO and Eileen Fisher, Kala Raksha produced the film “Artisans Design!” documenting the first year of Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya. In 2010 we completed “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 supported by Dorabji Tata Trust, Seagate and Global Giving. The films present a poignant portrayal of traditions in transition, and a tribute to the creativity of the artisan.

	Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya


	KRV Celebrates its Seventh CONVOCATION MELA! This wonderful annual event was held on 1-2 December 2012. The Convocation is always a time to look back and see what we all have achieved in the year, to appreciate, and to give thanks. This was the Year of Emergence of The Artisan Designer. Australian Fashion Designer Rebecca Paterson inaugurated this year's Fashion show on 1 December evening, and the graduate collections delighted the enthusiastic crowd. Kala Raksha welcomed Chief Guest and keynote speaker for the Convoation, National Institute of Design Director Pradyumna Vyas. Professor Vyas celebrated the artisan designer's triumph.



	YEAR SEVEN AT KALA RAKSHA VIDHYALA The Convocation marked the completion of Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya's seventh year of classes. The event, generously sponsored by Adani Foundation, CGPL-Tata Power, and Somaiya Group, began with a final jury conducted by experts in craft and design, including Radhi Parekh- founder of Artisans Gallery, Subrata Bhowmick- internationally renowned designer, Sonal Chitranshi, designer for Fabindia, Sangita Shroff, designer and former Director, Indian Institute of Craft and Design, and Lesley Mitchison-faculty Manchester Metropolitan University (UK). The convocation Mela, drew visitors from UK, Australia, Scotland, USA, and all over India. Visitors purchased fresh artisan designs. Many graduates recovered their annual fees in a few hours-- incontrovertible proof that their year of hard work was worthwhile. Everyone enjoyed Kutchi folk music, food and hands-on craft demonstrations. After seven years of KRV we have begun to see the blossoming of Artisan Designers. KARVADA members impressed an international audience at the "Make it New Again" Symposium held at NID in November. Women graduates initiated and created collections for this year's fashion show. We saw new collections from graduates who had gone back to production work, for several years. After some time, they gathered all that they had learned and made it their own, and they started making new designs. It reminds us that things take time. There is a movement in the world today called Slow Cloth. The idea comes from Slow Food- a response to the realization that satisfaction is missing in fast food. Slow cloth values quality, meaning, beauty and the time it takes-- the human dimension of craft. This essentially human aspect is what we love in craft. Craft is about the hand, the mind and the heart. Craft is also about the uniqueness of each crafts person. In educating artisans we begin to see each person as singular-- not as an example of a group. At KRV we strive to nurture the special quality of each individual.