History In The Making!

A Three-Day Workshop Module

There are those who believe that a Museum is always only a serious institution. It is a place where you must always be quiet, even reverential; observe everything, do nothing. Above all, it is unthinkable to have ‘fun’ at a museum.

Remember these people. Spare a thought for them at Christmas. For they will miss out on all the fabulous and fun things we will be doing at the Museum this Christmas vacation!!!

This December, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly Prince of Wales Museum of Western India) and The Pomegranate Workshop present History In The Making! - a unique opportunity for children to explore the rich and vast treasures of the Museum with ingenious new workshops that include visual art, creative writing, clay modelling and calligraphy.

Over the course of the workshop, the children will literally experience history in the making, as they revisit the techniques and materials used in the creative arts down the ages. Our multidisciplinary faculty boasts of a number of experts who have developed simple, tailor-made workshops where children apply their own imagination to spin new myths, paint their own stories, create ancient seals using clay and churn out water colour paintings of the museum itself.

And that’s not all: every session will include a visit to a part of the Museum conducted by the Museum Curators, where children can develop a familiarity with the pieces of heritage that reside within the Museum.

After all, if you’ve got all these cool things lying around since a thousand years, from totally way-out places like ancient India, China, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Europe, it would be a pity not to have some ‘fun’ with them. Right?

The schedule for the workshops is as follows:

Saturday, 26^th December 2009

Outdoor Water Colour Painting

Participants will be taken through a brief history of the Museum and its Grade I heritage building and then taking advantage of the most suitable December weather, the participants will sit outdoors and paint their own picture of the Museum’s heritage building in water colours. Artists will take them through the basic process of visually breaking down the structure into basic forms and gradually building up a water colour painting complete the foliage surrounding the monument just as the children see it from where they sit.

Monday, 28^th December, 2009

Seal of Approval

The participants will be taken to the Coins’ Gallery and the Pre & Proto History Gallery of the Museum showcasing ancient seals and coins, with some information on the period in which they were used, stories about illustrious kings who introduced new seals or a different system of coinage. Then the participants can make their own seals using clay.

Tuesday, 29^th December 2009

Quilling Time

In this workshop, participants will be made to explore the effect created by different scripts of calligraphy by practicing the use of different tools of calligraphy and then to create their own calligraphic compositions.

CONTACT:

Museum Office/ Publication Counter

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya,

159/61, M. G. Road, Fort Mumbai - 400 023

Ph.: 2284 4484, 2284 4519.

Email: csmvs@hathway.com, csmvsmumbai@gamil.com

For further queries please contact:

Prasanna Mangrulkar, Asst Curator, CSMVS (ph 22844484 / 22844519)

Priya Srinivasan, Director, The Pomegranate Workshop (9892210539)

The Pomegranate Workshop

Room 14, Shantaram Niwas

Gokhale Rd (North)

Near Portuguese Church
Above Waman Hari Pethe showroom

Dadar West Mumbai 28

Ph 32159952

Email: pomegranateworkshop@gmail.com

PICK UP A BRUSH!

The Pomegranate Workshop is back with a magical opportunity for children: to learn Art with professional Artists! Pick Up a Brush! is a workshop where children can interact with experts who will introduce them to the basic elements and techniques of Art. Pick Up a Brush! is a one-of-a-kind platform where five different artists will impart their skills to children across a variety of media: water colour, oil paints, charcoal shading, freehand drawing, pencil sketching, etc.

At Pick Up a Brush! children can look forward to acquiring or improving their skills in drawing, painting and sketching using a creative approach. Our distinguished faculty includes Artists such as Manjiri Thakoor, Anupam Singh, Sonie Thakkar, Prajakta Madane and Shriniwas Agawane who will interact with the children and introduce them to the basic techniques used to create Art with different mediums. Under the guidance of these masters of the Fine Arts, the children will create multiple artworks, explore different styles and materials, and gain exposure to different styles.

Pick Up a Brush! is an intensive workshop that seeks to equip children with basic skills in art that will last them a lifetime. Over 12 sessions held across 3 months, the children can look forward to developing their artistic imagination, channelising their inherent creative impulse and, most importantly, exploring new ways of creating magic with a paintbrush!

Workshop Details
Age Group: 10 – 14 yrs
Dates: 5th Dec – 20th Feb (SATURDAYS ONLY)
Timings: 4.30 – 6.30pm
Venue: P L Deshpande Academy, Ravindra Natya Mandir, Prabhadevi
Fees: Rs. 5,000/- incl. of all materials
Contact: Priya – 9892210539
Akshat – 9833012484

Note: All Cheques to be made out to Pomegranate Eduworkshop Pvt. Ltd. Payments can be couriered to the office. In case of cash payments, the timings are 11 am – 4 pm, Monday – Saturday. Our address:

The Pomegranate Workshop,
14, Shantaram Nivas,
Gokhale Rd (North)
Dadar (West)
Mumbai – 400 028
Tel: 32159952
(Just above the WHP Jewelers showroom near Portuguese Church)

KALA SMRITI - INDIAN ART APPRECIATION

Kala, n: A Fine Art, an Art form
Smriti, n: "That which is remembered"

The Pomegranate Workshop proudly launches the 4TH edition of Kala Smriti - a basic, comprehensive course in Indian Art Appreciation, with diverse faculty who are established practitioners in the areas of visual art and cultural history.

With five leading experts drawn from the areas of visual art education, contemporary art practices and cultural and art history of India, this course encompasses the philosophical and mythological arenas of the Indian sub continent which are crucial to the understanding of this vast country’s visual art traditions and its current day practices.

Kala Smriti consists of 10 weekly sessions, and will be conducted by a pantheon of established and reputed professionals, teachers and practitioners of art such as Santosh Kshirsagar, Dr Radha Kumar, Manjiri Thakoor, Anupam Singh, and Geetu Hinduja. The sessions will consist of extensive slide shows and interactive discussions with the resource persons.

The course will cover ancient and medieval art (murals, temple sculptures, miniature painting) and then move into the realm of the modern with the Bengal School artists, before exploring the Bombay Progressive Artists Group and progress into contemporary and non representational art practices of well known 20th and 21st century Indian artists.

About Santosh Kshirsagar: With a Bachelor’s degree in applied art specializing in typography and calligraphy, and a master’s degree in Teaching Methodology from the J. J. Institute of Applied Art, Santosh has been teaching art at the undergraduate level for nearly two decades, first at the Sophia Polytechnic, and later, at the J.J. Institute of Applied Art. He is also a visiting faculty member at the Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay and the National Institute of Fashion Design. Santosh’s own work has been shown in several countries, including Australia, Belgium, Germany and Japan. His collected calligraphic art has been displayed at the Berlin Museum. He has also lectured at the British Museum and the Manheim Design School in Germany.

About Manjiri Thakoor: Manjiri combines two unique disciplines - Art and Ancient History. A Bachelor of Fine Art from the JJ School of Art, she has also pursued a Masters program in ancient Indian culture from the Mumbai University and is currently pursuing a PhD in Buddhist Art. She was former head of department of the Academy of Fine Art at Rachana Sansad, has taught heritage architecture at NM College and is currently working with the Prince of Wales museum on curatorial projects. She is also a consultant on various international heritage conservation projects.

About Dr Radha Kumar: Prof Kumar has been teaching Ancient Indian history, Culture and archeology at St Xaviers College, Mumbai for the last 16 years. She is an accomplished Bharat Natyam dancer and Sitar player with a Masters degree in both subjects. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Early Buddhism and is a free lance writer for various publications. She has the unique ability of being able to integrate the performing arts in the area of teaching and in her classes all lines between various disciplines disappear to present participants with a unique seamless experience.

About Anupam Singh: Anupam Singh is a visual artist, with several creative interests. He received his art education from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata (Bachelors in Visual Arts, 1997) and M.S. University, Baroda (Masters in Fine Arts, 1999) respectively. He has received fellowships which included an Artists Exchange Program to Amsterdam (Netherlands) and an Artists Residency at the Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad. He has participated in several exhibitions, artists workshops and public art projects. He currently lives and works in Navi Mumbai.

About Geetu Hinduja: A gallerist and art consultant, Geetu Hinduja has been running The Fine Art Company, an art consultancy firm for the last 12 years. She will deal with the current market scenario and various media in use in the art world today.

Workshop Details:

Dates: 8th Dec – 23rd Feb (TUESDAYS ONLY)
Timings: 7 – 9pm
Venue: P L Deshpande Kala Academy, Prabhadevi
Course Fee: Rs. 5000/-
Contact: Priya – 9892201539
Akshat – 9833012484

Note: All Cheques to be made out to Pomegranate Eduworkshop Pvt. Ltd. Payments can be couriered to the office. In case of cash payments, the timings are 11 am – 4 pm, Monday – Saturday. Our address:

The Pomegranate Workshop,
14, Shantaram Nivas,
Gokhale Rd (North)
Dadar (West)
Mumbai – 400 028
Tel: 32159952
(Just above the WHP Jewelers showroom near Portuguese Church)

ART WORKSHOP FOR GROWNUPS

Feeling Blue? Seeing Red? Wanna Go Green?

Life is colour, and it is colour that reveals life to us. The Pomegranate Workshop presents Coloured Views by renowned artist Renu Iyer: a workshop that seeks to explore life – its various hues and shades – using colours that depict moods and give art its flavour.

Coloured Views is a 2-day workshop where participants can discover how colours help create evocative art, reveal character and enable a deeper understanding of personality. Under the guidance of our expert faculty, participants can use colours to depict themes and moods, portray emotions, and present feelings through their art. The workshop promises exciting experiments with different materials, painting and collage-making exercises – and a journey through the entire landscape of human emotions. Technique and self-expression combine to transform the way you view art – and yourself.

This workshop is open to all, irrespective of skill level or experience. Don’t be yellow!

Renu Iyer is a visual artist who studied Fine Arts at LS Raheja, Mumbai and MS University, Baroda. She has participated in many exhibitions -- most notably the Olympic Fine Arts (OFA) exhibition in 2008 in Beijing. She has been combining art and storytelling in workshops for children over the last few years, and has conducted numerous workshops for The Pomegranate Workshop.

Renu’s approach involves exploring art in different ways to arrive at fundamental art concepts – from line and form to aspects of colour. Her sessions combine self expression and technique and allow the participants to explore the basics of composition through an integrated step-by-step approach that involves observation, simple exercises and discussion.


Workshop Details

Dates: 31st Oct and 1st Nov (Sat and Sun)
Timings: 10am – 1pm
Venue: Ravindra Natya Mandir, Prabhadevi
Fees: Rs. 1,000/- incl of all materials

Contact: Akshat – 9833012484

Note: All Cheques to be made out to Pomegranate Eduworkshop Pvt. Ltd. Payments can be couriered to the office. In case of cash payments, the timings are 11 am – 4 pm, Monday – Saturday. Our address:

The Pomegranate Workshop,
14, Shantaram Nivas,
Gokhale Rd (North)
Dadar (West)
Mumbai – 400 028
Tel: 32159952
(Just above the WHP Jewelers showroom near Portuguese Church)

WRITING WORKSHOP FOR GROWN UPS!

What’s Your Story? with Meera Krishnamurthy

‘The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean.’

– Robert Louis Stevenson

Writing is an art, writing is a skill, writing is staring at a blank page the night before you have to submit an article, deliver a speech. Or you’re writing a script, and you can’t make it past the interval. Yet write you must. But how to go about it? How do you best present your ideas, how do you tell a good story?

It’s not so difficult really, once you know the basics. We will explore the fundamentals and process of writing through the world of fiction.

What’s Your Story? is an 8-session writing workshop where writers of any level of proficiency – beginners or professionals – can find their voice and hone their craft under the guidance of author Meera Krishnamurthy. The workshop will explore the elements of Fiction such as Plot, Character, Setting, Conflict, Dialogue, Language, etc. through exercises and assignments geared towards achieving a mastery over the elements that make for good writing in general and good fiction in particular. The workshop promises a wide selection of representative reading, challenging writing activities and extensive feedback through collective critiques of the participants’ writing.

This workshop is open to all those looking to improve their writing skills – in fiction or non-fiction, irrespective of profession or previous experience. If you have a novel idea, we assure you it’s a likely story.

Meera Godbole-Krishnamurthy was born in Mumbai and has lived in the Philippines, France, and the United States. She studied art and architecture at Oberlin College and Columbia University and received a Masters of Architecture from the University of Virginia. In the past several years, she has participated in writing workshops at Stanford University, the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival, UC San Diego Extension and the La Jolla Writers Conference. She has been an Adjunct at the New School of Architecture and Design in San Diego. As an artist, she has sold several paintings and shown her work at exhibitions in California. Back in India since 2006, she is a consulting editor for Zubaan Mumbai. Balancing Act, her first novel, published jointly by Zubaan and Penguin India will be released in October.

Dates: 1^st November – 20^th December (SUNDAYS ONLY)

Timings: 10am – 1pm

Venue: P L Deshpande Academy, Ravindra Natya Mandir,

Sayani Rd, Prabhadevi

Fees: Rs. 4,800/- incl of all materials

Contact:

Priya Srinivasan – 9892210539

Akshat Nigam – 9833012484

Note: All Cheques to be made out to Pomegranate Eduworkshop Pvt. Ltd. Payments can be couriered to the office. In case of cash payments, the timings are 11 am – 4 pm, Monday – Saturday. Our address:

The Pomegranate Workshop,

14, Shantaram Nivas,

Gokhale Rd (North)

Dadar (West)

Mumbai – 400 028

Tel: 32159952

(Just above the WHP Jewelers showroom near Portuguese Church)

Japanese Screen Painting with Manjiri Thakoor

Our most popular One-Stop workshop is back! So don't stop to think: stop for a One-Stop Workshop at Pomegranate!

Discover the famous and ancient art form using handmade paper of different textures and colours; use a variety of materials ranging from watercolours to tea water. Explore breathtaking styles, compositions and techniques on a 3-hour trip to 'a long, long time ago in a land far, far away'!

The workshop too is open to all, from beginners to advanced. We don't 'screen' our participants!

Date & Time: Sunday 11^th Oct, 10 am – 1 pm

Venue: P L Deshpande Academy, Ravindra Natya Mandir,

Sayani Rd, Prabhadevi.

Cost: Rs. 600/- (inclusive of all materials)

Manjiri Thakoor combines two unique disciplines - Art and Ancient History. A Bachelor of Fine Art from the JJ School of Art, she has also pursued a Masters program in ancient Indian culture from the Mumbai University and is currently pursuing a PhD in Buddhist Art. She was former head of department of the Academy of Fine Art at Rachana Sansad, has taught heritage architecture at NM College and is currently working with the Prince of Wales museum on curatorial projects. She is also a consultant on various international heritage conservation projects.

Contact:

Priya Srinivasan – 9892210539

Akshat Nigam – 9833012484

Note: All Cheques to be made out to Pomegranate Eduworkshop Pvt. Ltd. Payments can be couriered to the office. In case of cash payments, the timings are 11 am – 4 pm, Monday – Saturday. Our address:

The Pomegranate Workshop,

14, Shantaram Nivas,

Gokhale Rd (North)

Dadar (West)

Mumbai – 400 028

Tel: 32159952

(Just above the WHP Jewelers showroom near Portuguese Church)

TANFORMERS!

This September, gear up for a unique Math Challenge. Brains will buzz; fractions and primes will flow thick and fast; wild, imaginative designs of all shapes and contours will rise from mere tiles. The Pomegranate Workshop presents TANFORMERS, a brand new workshop that blends Creativity and Mathematical Reasoning in a dazzling combination for children.

Tangram, believed by some to be "the oldest Chinese puzzle," is an ancient Chinese play-puzzle with unique geometric pieces (called ‘Tan’) assembled into a square. These 7 geometric shapes can be assembled and reassembled in a range of imaginative designs to form cats, rabbits, birds, houses, people, robots, spaceships and countless more. Tangrams have fascinated children and adults alike for centuries, and were particularly popular in Europe. Children can develop Visual Thinking and Geometric Reasoning by making shapes from their own imagination and weaving visual narratives out of them.

Prof A G Rao of IIT-Bombay (Industrial Design Centre), who will be conducting the workshop, takes this ancient puzzle a step further to create new challenges for children. At Tanformers, children will explore not only the visual possibilities of Tangrams, but mathematical ones too. Prof Rao will include puzzles and exercises where the Tans are assigned numerical values and the children link them up to arrive at Math Concepts that actually form a design and can be creatively visualised. In addition, every child will receive a ‘Tangram Kit’ specially designed and manufactured for the workshop by Prof Rao.

At Tanformers, ‘learning’ comes out of the classroom and the boundaries between Math and Art are erased. If that’s a puzzling thought, your child will solve it here.

ABOUT PROF A G RAO

Prof Rao has been teaching at the Industrial Design Center (IDC) of IIT Bombay, the country's premier design institute for nearly 40 years. He runs a unique project called the Bamboo Studio at IDC. He has been studying bamboo as a medium for the last couple of decades, and works with craftspersons and artisans across the country.

Prof Rao has been designing and conducting some very unique workshops for The Pomegranate Workshop over the past year and has introduced the children to some fundamental concepts in design even as they had a whole load of fun in the process. His methods involve very hands on techniques where children conceptualize, visualize and execute in one seamless effort.

Workshop Details:

Ages: 11 – 14 yrs

Dates: 19^th and 20^th September (Sat and Sun)

Timings: 10am – 12.30pm

Venue: P L Deshpande Academy,

Ravindra Natya Mandir

Sayani Road

Prabhadevi

Fees: Rs. 1000/-, incl of Tangram Kit and other materials

Contact: Priya – 9892210539

Akshat – 9833012484

Note: All Cheques to be made out to Pomegranate Eduworkshop Pvt. Ltd. Payments can be couriered to the office. In case of cash payments, the timings are 11 am – 4 pm, Monday – Saturday. Our address:

The Pomegranate Workshop,

14, Shantaram Nivas,

Gokhale Rd (North)

Dadar (West)

Mumbai – 400 028

Tel: 32159952

(Just above the WHP Jewelers showroom near Portuguese Church)