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Workshops

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Music Workshop

Music and Dance have livened up the courts of rulers be it The Mughals, The Rajpuths, The Marathas kings or the rulers of Travancore and formed an integral part of the cultural ethos of India. With exponents like Tansen and Thyagaraja, India has a very rich musical history. However, as Indians we take pride in not just preserving our culture but in its evolution with the times to suit a variety of people forming the varied strata of our society. While we strengthen our roots, we aim to branch out and have easily infused Pop, Jazz, Rock and other forms of music from the outside world and evolved a new musical tradition in recent times. Little wonder then that we find our music making great inroads across the globe. Dream theater, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Metallica, The Yardbirds - what do all these icons of music have in common? Blazing riffs, super-fast shreds, racy double bass lines and spaced out solos? Kaapi at Saarang gives you a chance to not just say “Thankyou for the Music” but also attempts to satisfy your insatiable appetite for musical knowledge by telling you all about what goes into a musical composition, what drives a virtuoso musician, how a simple set of natural notes, sharps and flats produce ethereal compositions and soulful music et al. We are proud to provide you an opportunity to interact with professional musicians like Jeoraj ,an advanced jazz drummer through the Saarang music workshop series to stimulate your musical senses and if you’re smart enough, you could probably make them spill the beans on their trade secrets too! Make your presence felt, share a technique or too but definitely turn up at HSB 133 IIT Madras to quiz the Jazz master. Watch this space for details of the timings to be put up soon. EVENT COORDINATORS : ABHINAV ( 250 , TAPTI ) - 9840463205 PAAPI ( 150 , GANGA ) - 9840590323

Mask Making Workshop

Remember the days of childhood when you accompanied your family for fairs and exhibitions and yearned for that mask? The days when being a monkey or a clown or a mythological character or just about anything was just a mask away? Indeed, clay or papier mashie or any other mask on your face had the immense power of transforming you and putting you onto a different pedestal altogether! Perhaps you’ve outgrown the lovely collection of masks you possessed as a kid and don’t dare to put on one for fear of being ridiculed. Sure you miss those days and with Kaapi@Saarang we are attempting to revive those memories in an effort to help each other connect to our roots and to strengthen them so that the art of mask making remains alive and finds patrons amongst us so that future generations don’t miss out on the fun filled summer afternoons when they could just run out with a mask and amuse everyone around. This year we are bringing home the traditional art of mask making with Leema Sam along with her brother Kumeran. They specialize in making masks, Thanjavur dolls and dancing horses. Their creations have even reached the Gallery Lafayette in Paris and Harrods in U.K. The masks depicting facial expressions of the pantheon of Indian Gods and Goddesses look sublimely beautiful when hung on the walls. Prices for them fluctuate, depending on the size of the product and the choice of colours - water colours or enamel as the order warrants. Their vivid nature, the millions of guises offered by them and the emotions portrayed are coercing Europeans to make a bee line for them. The success story of this traditional art form penetrating the western market has been one of struggle, perseverance dedication and sheer hard work. Leema has been on a roller coaster ride in an attempt to popularize and more importantly revive the dying art form and at one point of time was groping for a foothold in the small-scale handicraft industry. In an attempt to expose enthusiastic learners to the varied and vibrant craft traditions of this region, and to learn and innovate from them, Leema has agreed to hold a series of two workshops of half hour duration each for registered participants. In a two day period we’ll watch you create some amazing masks that will surely be ‘neighbours envy, owner’s pride’.

Paper Modelling and Papier Mache

How many times have you seen the stalls put up by kashmiri craftsmen displaying beautifully crafted bells, boxes, lamp shades, Christmas decorations etc. and wondered how they could come up with fine specimens that wouldn’t break even when dropped a thousand times? More importantly, have you ever given a thought to what materials they use in making these remarkably popular pieces? If you hadn’t known this already, you’ll be surprised to learn that the old stocks of paper dumped in your attic ready for the next sale to the local ‘paper wala’ is all that it takes along with a little bit of your time, patience and creativity to make beautiful craft items. Be it mugs, jars, pencil holders, lamp stands and shades or even the model for your next technical assignment, papier mashie is a really simple medium to work with. Kaapi at Saarang realizes the value of such traditional arts and how most people who use these products don’t spare a minute of thought for how it must have come about. So the papier mashie workshop enables you to take a peek into the world of newspapers from a different perspective and lets you transform pages and pages of newsprint dealing in mundane events, shocking stories and political decisions into gifts, wall hangings and any thing else you may fancy. We make the resources available, lets see where your creativity takes you from there!

Reverse Glass painting

Life is a canvas, choose your colours and paint it the way you want to live it! Painting has evolved as a medium of expression over the ages from being just a medium of communication for the pre-historic man who drew sketches on cave walls with charcoal to a mind boggling collection of techniques and media being implemented. Most people attend art classes in school and sketch and colour with water colours, crayons and pencils. How many people actually take up the art seriously and study the techniques and opportunities it offers? At Kaapi we feel there are many amongst us who are itching to explore new mediums of expression. So here’s an opportunity knocking at your doors in the form of a workshop in glass painting. Our craftsmen teach you the techniques that go into creating the beautiful paintings that are known the world over as Madhubani and Tanjore paintings. As you tread along the unconventional path of painting the background over the foreground, watch the surprise and astonishment on the faces of friends and acquaintances when you proudly present a wall painting as your own creation. You can be rest assured that the techniques that you’ll learn at this work shop will make you value and appreciate the efforts that go into creating them. The next time you see some one bargaining with a villager for a painting he has done, you’ll know that it isn’t overpriced, it’s too much of an effort and the man is rightfully demanding his due.

Candle and Candle Holder making

The wick burns silently away, melting the wax in its wake… From being just another means of illumination to becoming therapeutic and decorative pieces, the traditional candle has come a long way through the ages. Today the market is abuzz with aromatic candles, gel candles, frosted candles, tuty- fruity candles… A visit to the gift store next door could leave you quite astonished at the variety that’s available and the purposes that are served by them. From curing illnesses to bringing good luck, from feng shui to vaastu the modern candle seems to be doing everything other than what it was traditionally designed for. What’s more , all it takes to come up with these innovative pieces is ten minutes of your time, some wax and of course the knowledge of how to combine these two to impress yourself with what you can create! Kaapi at Saarang is bringing you an opportunity to learn the art of candle making in a few simple steps that can be followed in the comfort of your homes. Register yourselves for the workshop well in advance so that you don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to make these candles and what can we say? Come, light them up!

Carving on Chalk, Soft stone and soft wood

Well, if you thought chalk was just for writing, come experience the joy of writing life into it! Really beautiful pieces carved out of not just chalk but also out of soft stone and soft wood will only leave you asking for more!!

Macrame

Macrame is a simple form of textile-making using knotting rather than weaving or knitting. It is used in making elaborate or ornamental knotting forms which could be used as key chains, purses, cell phone pouches, bottles holders, wall hangings etc. They also find good use as decorative enhancements for any household item ranging from knife handles to telephone mats.

Film-making

People are born, live out their lives, and then accept their deaths. Without the least effort and without any sudden jerks, Ray paints his picture, but its effect on the audience is to stir up deep passions. How does he achieve this? "There is something that might be called cinematic beauty. It can only be expressed in a film, and it must be present for that film to be a moving work. When it is very well expressed, one experiences a particularly deep emotion while watching that film. I believe that it is this quality that draws people to come and see a film, and that it is the hope of attaining this quality that inspires the director to make the film in the first place."- Akira Kurosawa “If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed.” - Stanley Kubrick Don’t just stop with admiration for the masters of cinema! Gear up and head to Saarang where we provide you with a extraordinary opportunity to interact and learn all you ever wanted to about film making. Grab this rare chance of having a no-holds barred interaction with the ace director Nagesh Kukunoor, (the engineer who went on to make it big in the movie world, scripting success in his own way) to spruce up your knowledge on movie-making. Sit back with a bag of pop corn and Pepsi and relish expert reviews and discussions of quintessential Indian and foreign cinema.

Rug Making

Saarang gives you a new reason to redecorate you living room! Land up at Kaapi for an enjoyable hands-on experience in making small pieces of rug which find very common use as telephone mats. Latch hook needles are used to work ones way through double knitted wool for the purpose. The technique is very simple and is neither time consuming nor effort intensive. We also have a demonstration of the making of small pieces of rug which find very common use as telephone mats. Latch hook needles are used to work ones way through double knitted wool for the purpose. The technique is very simple and is neither time consuming nor effort intensive.

Lac Modelling

Kaapi gives you a reason for delving deep into the world of exotic arts. Lac, a resinous substance produced by a female Lac insect, is extensively used for making attractive ornaments. Lac bangles, both plain and those studded with glass pieces, bright stones, beads, etc are highly popular and are also considered to be a sign of good omen. The workshop provides you with an opportunity to learn how to make Lac earrings and bangles, a perfect gift for your loved ones.

Palm Leaf Decoration

One of the most ancient crafts of the world, etching and paintings on the palm leaf still thrives in the state of Orissa in India. Called Talapatrachitras there, today, the art has reached new heights. Palm leaf etchings are treasured decorations of Indian households. This workshop will teach you to make decorative pieces by twisting, turning and twirling palm leaves. The intricacies involved are certain to catch your attention. With a trick or two learnt here, you can use your imagination on coconut leaves or any leaves of your choice to make beautiful wall-hangings, thoranas etc.

Animation

Ever been inspired by the works of modern animators like Genndy Tartakovsky or Hayao Miyazaki? Ever wondered how a dream transforms into an animation classic? Always wanted an avenue to channel your creative skills and waiting for the right place to start? Kaapi @ Saarang is where you ought to be. This Saarang we are overjoyed to collaborate with Animaster for a workshop on animation. "The art of capturing a series of individual movements, whether on film or in digital form and replaying them in rapid succession to give the illusion of movement", is how Animaster, the only animation institute to explore the complete creative potential of students , defines animation! We promise to take you behind the curtains to show how figments of imagination could be transformed into animated wonders. Learn from the masters the steps involved in fusing life and anthropomorphizing your stocked up collection of sketches.

Photography

“A catalyst is required to transform the dormant creativity into an appreciable art form” – Ambitions 4 Photography Academy A workshop at the end of which we believe that you would have learnt enough about the intricacies of photography, this one will be conducted Mr K L Ponsing, the founder of Ambitions 4 Photography Academy. Ambitions 4 Photography Academy is the first of its kind in Chennai, which trains students in the techniques of photography and videography. Mr Ponsing conducts regular workshops for professional photographers at Kodak India Ltd and for students of various colleges. A picture is worth a thousand words. We at Kaapi promise to teach you what it takes to create one. Learn the nuances of capturing that perfect photograph which you have always dreamt of. Kaapi is just the place to be to make your amateur pictures that are "just there" being slightly hazy or out of focus, into those picture perfect images that professionals boast about. It is not necessary to possess a camera to attend this workshop; enthusiasm for photography is all that counts!