Artisans by Design
An Odyssey of Education for Textile Artisans in India
Judy Frater
Schiffer Publishing
‘Craftsmanship in an ability to do’ - Harkhuben Bhojraj Rabari, (Chapter Four)
Doesn’t this simplistic statement take the weight from the active actions which bring together development within an arts practice?
Craftsmanship - what does it take? What does it mean? More importantly, what can we discover via a look into the Indian traditions and heritage? Judy Frater is the women, the writer to tell you. Classed as a social entrepreneur, who has dedicated herself to not only the physicality of textile art within the Indian community, but the real people behind the practice. This flows through this book, where she identifies the women especially, who really are the makers within the community.
This book is not for those who are looking for an education in embroidering themselves. It is about understanding a community, the role of textiles in the every day, the exploration of a land which we may have never visited, nor will ever be likely to. We can travel, experience through Frater and her impassioned way of life.
‘Art becomes an extension of self’ (Frater, Page 16) Do we feel like that ourselves?
The book has been written very much as a narration of her life and thus relation to this area of art - it’s personal.
Image wise, it its raw, the truth of the land, the reality, its got that newspaper journalism realism with the magic of colour and texture involved. This is no title where we will find planned and thought out photographs, with finished pieces of embroidery and textiles carefully planted and placed with a certain background for a certain reason….no. This is edgy and real.