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AN EDUCATIONAL TOUR: Report on "Visit to Craft Museum"

23 / Jul

 

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AN EDUCATIONAL TOUR

Report on Visit to Craft Museum

On July 16, 2024, the Home Science students accompanied by Ma'am Rosy, their teacher, visited the National Craft Museum. This educational trip provided a deep dive into India's rich handicraft traditions and regional textiles, which are integral to the home science syllabus. Students had the opportunity to explore and learn about a variety of fabrics and techniques, including Benarasi brocade, Tamil Nadu's Kanjeevaram silk, Gujarat's Ajrakh and Itak, among others. They also learnt about historical dyes such as wood ash, turmeric, and dried pomegranate peel.

During the visit, the museum featured a temporary exhibit highlighting the works of European textile artist Ella Olosz Gazda, offering a fascinating contrast to India's indigenous crafts. Overall, this trip was a holistic and enriching educational experience for the students.

Another group of students belonging to the Heritage Club (Classes VI and VII) visited the National Crafts Museum and Hastakala Academy located near the Pragati Maidan and National Science Museum. This tradition and culture manifests itself in various forms including that in handicrafts as well. The Craft Museum in Delhi is one such place which preserves and showcases the magnificent collection of India’s rural and tribal handicrafts.  It's quite a large area with many galleries. There is an outdoor village area as well as indoor galleries.  Displays include representative works from many regions and groups The exhibits on display will make an Indian proud of his/her heritage, culture and art. There are sections on paintings, textiles, sculptures and carvings.                              

The crafts museum is divided into two parts, the museum section, which contains an assortment of decorative arts from antiquity, and the gallery of local artists. The indoor galleries are housed in a large single-storeyed building, which includes galleries on Folk Art, Cultic Objects, Textiles, and so on. There is a large and very impressive collection here of beautiful, often historic, objects from all across India, some of it utterly priceless in its beauty and intricacy. The main  indoor museum has been divided into different pockets such as the Bhuta Sculpture Gallery which exhibits a unique collection of coastal Karnataka’s Bhuta Cult, the folk and Tribal Craft Gallery where diverse selection of paintings, sculptures and other objects from folk and tribal tradition of India is put on display, Cultic Craft Gallery displays stuffs related to ritual practices of various religion, Court craft Gallery is yet another good place to learn how the houses and Palaces were decorated in early India and Last but not the least comes the Textile Gallery which is the most sought after corner of the entire museum. This small but beautiful gallery in the museum has got the exquisite collection of hand woven textile which includes different types of silk, Kashmiri Pashmina, Orissa’s Ikat fabric, Chikankari works, Bandhani works, block printed textiles fabrics of Gujarat and Maharashtra, Naga Shawls and many more.                                     

The outside areas have their own expositions of art: the walls of the museum have been painstakingly painted with fine murals by traditional folk artists; there are massive terracotta sculptures, wooden bird houses, and more. A little further on from the indoor galleries, looms stand where weavers do their work, and beyond, there is a bazaar area where artisans from across India sell handicrafts. There is a roofed area where a person from Rajasthan was singing beautiful folk songs along with that famous doll act of  and a small girl was showing her skills for folk dance. There are trees all around, and off to one side, there are reproductions, many of them full size, of huts and houses from different parts of India: Kullu, Nicobar, Gujarat, Nagaland, etc.                                    

It was indeed a very enriching experience for the children as it gave them a taste of History along with the feel of rich heritage that we Indians possess. This small but significant trip to the Museum have helped them to broaden their experiences, and have allowed them to see and learn about things that would not normally they would not be able to see, or gain an historic perspective.

Link to photo gallery : 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lzrkbVnhkfCSjMdxLPeYS2tXnaCJHPNa?usp=sharing