Art and Design Commons^™

He Creators A Look At The Changing Work Of Potters And The Future Of Their Craft In Thimi, Nepal, Natalie Silver

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Newari sur-name Prajapati has been associated with those who are of the potter caste in the Kathmandu valley. In the past 30 years ceramics in the historic pottery town of Thimi has changed drastically from being an essential and necessary craft and the only occupation for Prajapatis, to a struggling population of visually aging potters. This paper examines the workshop Everest Pottery in Thimi nepal as a case study for the state of ceramics in Thimi today. The author traces the origins of the workshop's founder Shiva Prajapati and examines the shift that Shiva made from traditional Newari pottery …

La Brigada Ramona Parra; Muralismo Y Cambio Social En Chile / La Brigada Ramona Parra ; Muralismo And Social Change In Chile, Sarah Baumann

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mi motivación para esta proyecto era mi interés en el poder de murales en Chile, y los cambias sociales que arte callejero pueden iniciar. Arte callejero he tenido un efecto muy grande en la historia y políticos de Chile. Yo quería descubrir más sobre esta historia, y también cómo los organizaciones que hacen murales, cómo la Brigada de Ramona Parra, funciona hoy. Para mi proyecto, yo usé entrevista, guías de arte callejero, observaciones en escuelas de Bellas Artes, y un exposición de murales. En mis resultas, yo encontré que la Brigada de Ramona Parra ha cambiado la escena política en …

Who Are You Wearing? A Study Of Moroccan Fashion Discourse, Identity Performance, And Social Change, Leah Michalove

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Clothes and their consumption become almost invisible in their very ubiquity, yet fashion acts as a sort of optical litmus test for the mood of society. Clothing can express cultural norms, serve as shorthand for social grouping, and provide a kind of corpus of visual allusion; in short, clothes and how we wear them constitute a system of signification, a visual language as dynamic, complex, and arbitrary as any spoken communication. I set out to investigate the grammar and syntax of Moroccan fashion, to explore what the diversity of observed choices meant to the people who made them and how …

Traditional, Transitional, And Contemporary Approaches To Textile Printing In Ghana, Le’Ecia Farmer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Objectives:

• to learn the practical methods involved in traditional, transitional, and contemporary design and textile printing in Ghana
• to gain an understanding of the history and social aspects of printed textiles, design, and symbols.

Methodology: My methodology involved interviews, participatory research, observation, and literature research. I interviewed a traditional Adinkra printer, a Teaching Assistant and previous textile design student, a screen technician at KNUST and a screen technician at Ntonso.

Findings: I collected information about processes involved in traditional, transitional, and contemporary design and printing. I learned that the method of printing traditional Adinkra at Ntonso village where stamps and …

The Art Of Survival: Bengali Pats, Patuas And The Evolution Of Folk Art In India, Pilar Jefferson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The process of becoming a part of a globalized world has made India as a nation worry about what makes it culturally unique. Since the beginning of its relationship with Britain folk artists in particular have been directly connected to cultural preservation efforts in India. The impetus to preserve this uniqueness usually falls on rural folk cultures, whose traditions change more slowly because they have less access to modernizing influences. The problem with idealizing the static nature of folk art is that it keeps the artists from improving their lives, at the risk of abandoning their work to seek out …

The Sacred Practice Of Patra, Rob Granfelt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study was conducted at the National Institute for Zorig Chusum in Thimphu, Bhutan in April, 2014. The majority of the study was a full-time enrollment in the school’s carving program, meeting 6 days per week and taking classes with the second year carving students. Along with learning the techniques and methods of Bhutanese woodcarving, I sought to understand the socio-cultural importance of woodcarving in Bhutan both historically and contemporarily. In addition to a cultural analysis, this study attempts to locate the Institute within a rapidly developing Bhutan, seeking to understand the ways in which it is maintaining traditional means …

Immaterial Traditions: Evolving Values In The Practice & Preservation Of Bhutanese Calligraphy, Madeline Johnson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Lying somewhere between art, craft and document, the place of calligraphy in Bhutanese culture is difficult to singularly define: individual practice and motivation conform to the predetermined aesthetic of alphabets, and creativity serves the pragmatic end of documentation. In Bhutan's ancient history, the art of handwriting developed out of necessity, used for religious records and correspondences Bhutanese society, given the convenience of digital text. While cultural preservation has been a political imperative in Bhutan since the 1960's, the preservation of traditional crafts is mostly limited to those that appeal to increasing tourist market. While the active preservation of Bhutan's unique …

Mixed Fabric: Ghanaian Identity In Contemporary Ghanaian Fashion And Design, Dakota Lancour

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Methodology: I resided in Accra for the beginning portion of the ISP time, where I interviewed shopkeepers and laypeople about their opinion on Ghanaian fashion. I then traveled to Kumasi for five days, where I interviewed Professors of Textiles and Design at KNUST. I also interviewed recent graduates of the Textile program. When I returned to Accra for the remainder of the ISP period I talked to more designers and salespeople.

Findings: My findings were a compilation of all the interview results that I gathered throughout the ISP period. I found that Africa Print fabric played a crucial …