Summary
Wonders of Waste, The Maker’s Collaborative and Karkhana Kolkata came together for the winter edition of the exhibition
From sustainable environment and upcycling to working with metals and tiles, Maker’s Connect is a platform for all things arty and educative
From painting on salpata to making zines, The Maker’s Connect: Winter Edition saw a variety of handmade items that were exhibited at Smart Art Gallery, Newtown from December 15 to 19.
Three organisations — Wonders of Waste, The Maker’s Collaborative, and Karkhana Kolkata — came together for this unique initiative for the students. They aim to make learning enjoyable, practical, skill-based and sustainable.
Wonders of Waste is an educational start-up that teaches students upcycling and repurposing industrial and dry waste. The Makers Collaborative, an edu-cultural initiative that imparts project-based learning through educational materials, zine and 3D models, curriculums and workshops for students. Karkhana Kolkata aims to impart hands-on skills while working with rustic materials like bamboo, cement, tiles, and different metals. All three organisations worked with students and displayed various items they had made at this exhibition.
‘’We have conducted various workshops with students of Loreto Rainbow Homes, Magic Bus (NGO), and schools under Hope Foundation to enhance their critical thinking, aesthetic and artistic skills. We have worked with students of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Loreto Day School Sealdah, St. Xavier’s College, Lady Brabourne College, Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, IIT Roorkee, Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. Special schools such as the Ideal School for the Deaf have also attended our art sessions at Indian Museum where they had sketched artifacts that were on display. Institutes like Techno India University and Jadavpur University also collaborated to make notepads, cards, bookmarks and paper bags out of recycled paper, some of which are displayed here,’’ said Swati Mishra, co-founder of The Maker’s Collaborative.
Wonders of Waste collaborated with Disappearing Dialogues, an independent organisation that works towards the welfare of schools at East Kolkata Wetlands, for mPower, a project that taught students recycling and upcycling of household materials. Students from schools at East Kolkata Wetlands were sent instructions on Whatsapp. They were given story cards and voice notes on different situations, festivals, and environmental topics. Students expressed their thoughts and opinions through painting and sketching on eco-friendly salpata. They also made paper bags from old newspapers.
“Before the lockdown, we used to learn various arts and crafts at school. But after the lockdown, everything shifted online. We have a Whatsapp group that helps us stay connected. We have drawn pictures, taken photographs, made craft items with paper and recycled old items to create something new. This has been a learning experience,” said Nibedita Naskar, a Class IX student of Bamanghata High School, whose painting was displayed at the exhibition.
The Maker’s Collaborative makes student life easier by engaging them with various 3D models, prototypes and visual aids for solving maths and science problems, creating educative zines, and applying the basics of sustainability in their daily life. Through a mix of offline and online workshops students from various institutions have been involved in learning the art of zine-making. Zines are special magazines, which students make under the guidance of The Maker’s Collaborative. Several zines on topics including heritage monuments, health, and the environment were on display.
“It was a fun exhibition with a scope of learning about waste management and how to integrate art into the concept of recycling. I took part in a puzzle-solving activity and also learned how to make zines. I made a zine for sports. Here you get to explore the practical applications of science,” said Abhradip Pal, a Class XII student of Delhi Public School Ruby Park.
Karkhana Kolkata focuses on interdisciplinary projects through “unlearning, re-learning, and experimentation”. Aimed for 16-year-olds and above, the participants will be mainly working with metal, bamboo, wood, cement and tiles. On display were some of the prototypes of the work like welding stools, designer tiles, and model houses. They plan to tie up with schools, colleges and universities.
“Our mission is to promote skill-oriented development and retain traditional fine motor skills, bringing experts from all fields of artisans, handicraft, design and architecture under one roof. Preparing for the future while retaining the past is our goal. We are in talks with a few prominent institutes like Jamia Millia Islamia, Lovely Professional University, Punjab, and Amity University, Kolkata for exchange programmes,” said Sk. Farhan Ali, co-founder and principal architect, Karkhana Kolkata.
Last updated on 21 Dec 2021
