Lecture, Workshop and Textile Sale at the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising Celebrate Indian Embroidery

The Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising at Colorado State University will host “Textiles from India – A Fort Collins Celebration” on July 16 and 17.

The event kicks off at 7 p.m. July 16 in Room 136 of the University Center for the Arts Annex with a free lecture by Judy Frater. Frater is the author of the highly acclaimed “Threads of Identity: Embroidery and Adornment of the Nomadic Rabaris.”

The Rabari are a formerly nomadic people now scattered throughout several states in northwest India. Frater has worked with Kala Raksha, a Rabari artisan group in Kutch, India, since its founding in 1993.

Kala Raksha aims to preserve and present Kutch ethnic cultures through their traditional arts to encourage understanding and appreciation as well as to generate income for the artisans. Frater was awarded an Ashoka Foundation Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship to design Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, a school for traditional artists, in 2003. In 2009, she received the Sir Misha Black Medal for Distinguished Service to Design Education, a prestigious international award.

From 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 17, in Room 136 of the University Center for the Arts Annex, Meghiben Meriya and Harkhuben Bhojraj Rabari, two highly accomplished Rabari embroiderers representing Kala Raksha, will conduct an embroidery workshop. Frater will serve as translator. Participants will learn mirror work embroidery as they make small bags to take home. Registration is required and space is limited. The fee for the workshop is $50 and includes supplies.

A trunk sale of textiles, many featuring mirror and embroidery work, will be held from 1-5 p.m. Friday, July 16. The sale will resume after the 7 p.m. Friday lecture and be open again from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, July 17, after the workshop.

To learn more about Kala Raksha, visit www.kala-raksha.org

To register for the workshop or for more information on the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising, contact Linda Carlson, curator, at (970) 491-1983 or Linda.Carlson@colostate.edu.

The Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising is a part of the Department of Design and Merchandising in the College of Applied Human Sciences at Colorado State University.

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