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Ketan Pomal/Studio L.M.

Judy Frater is the spring 2022 UW Division of the Arts interdisciplinary artist in residence.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChazenArtUW 

media release: The University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of the Arts (presenter) welcomes Judy Frater as the spring 2022 interdisciplinary artist-in-residence. Judy Frater is a curator, author and school director who lived in the Kutch region in Northwest India for 30 years. An award-winning Ashoka Fellow, she founded a design school for artisans currently operating as Somaiya Kala Vidya and co-founded the Kala Raksha Trust and Museum. 

For the semester, Frater is teaching a 3-credit course “Cultural Diversity, Connection, Value, Sustainability - the Role of Hand Craft.” The students in the course will learn about important issues surrounding small-scale artisan production, value and sustainability. Students will develop valuable skills working with artisan partners through craft techniques, design, quality control, branding and story-telling.  

They will also explore UW–Madison’s Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection and learn to use the holdings as inspiration. They will exhibit their co-designed products later in the semester in the Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery. Four textile artisans, a hand weaver, hand block printer and natural dyer, a bandhani (Shibori) artist and an embroiderer will virtually co-teach the studio craft sessions and coordinate the artisans partnering with students in the co-design segment. For more details about the course and residency visit: go.wisc.edu/frater.  

The first public event of the semester will be on February 17 (see below). Later this spring, the students’ exhibition “Cross Cultural Collaborations: Inspired by Tradition/Created Today” will be on view from April 20-May 27 in the Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery on campus. Scheduled events include an exhibition opening (April 20), student panel (April 28) and a trunk show (April 30). More details about the exhibition and April events will be available later this spring.  

Thurs., February 17 | 5:30 p.m. Our Kind of Happy Hour - “Embroidery: A Women’s History of Kutch” 

Virtual on the Chazen Museum of Art’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ChazenArtUW

Judy Frater will present “Embroidery: A Women’s History of Kutch.” Kutch, a desert region of northwestern India, was historically known for its myriad of craft traditions, notably a dazzling array of hand embroideries. Often called “mirror work,” the intricate hand stitching is in fact a range of styles comprising unique combinations of stitch, color, motif and pattern practiced by women of many different ethnic groups. By culture restricted to social discourse among their own community, with limited interactions beyond, women highly valued creative innovation. The embroideries they created narrate a rich history of different ethnic groups, their aesthetics and values and the influences of their intermingling over time. This event is hosted by the Chazen Museum of Art as part of their Our Kind of Happy Hour series.  

About  

Judy Frater’s residency is presented by the UW–Madison Division of the Arts and hosted by the Design Studies Department with Professor Jenny Angus as lead faculty. Residency supporters include the Art Department, Department of Art History, Bolz Center for Arts Administration, Center for Culture, History and Environment (CHE), Center for Design and Material Culture, Center for South Asia and Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.  

The UW–Madison Division of the Arts has hosted interdisciplinary artists-in-residence since 1995 and formally launched the Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program (IARP) In 1999. This program brings innovative artists to UW-Madison to teach semester-long interdisciplinary courses along with hosting public events. The program is made possible with funding from the university’s Office of the Provost.   

Biography:

Judy Frater: Living in the Kutch region in the Northwest part of India for 30 years, Judy Frater co-founded the Kala Raksha Trust and Museum. An award-winning Ashoka Fellow, she also founded the first design schools for artisans: Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya and its current structure Somaiya Kala Vidya. Previously, she was Associate Curator of The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. She is the author of “Threads of Identity: Embroidery and Adornment of the Nomadic Rabaris,” “The Art of the Dyer in Kutch: Traditional Block Printed Textiles: Culture and Technique (published in October 2021)” and numerous other publications. Frater also received the Sir Misha Black Medal for design education. Judy Frater’s longer biography can be found on her website: textileslive.com.