The Chamarajendra Audio-Visual Academy (CAVA), brainchild of the erstwhile Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, has emerged as one of the most reputed institutions in the country. It offers courses in fine arts, integrating the skills and excellence of the past with extracurricular activities.
The institute has produced hundreds of talented youths including animator Vaibhav Kumresh, painters like NS Harsha, LN Tallur, M Shanthamani, Syed Yaseen and photogrpher Mallikarjun B Katakol. It offers a five-year course in six different disciplines leading to a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in applied art, painting, sculpture, graphics, history of art, photography and photo journalism.
Founded in 1906 as the Chamarajendra Technical Institute (CTI), it was renamed CAVA in 1982 with an objective of improving the training in visual arts. It has a two-year foundation course and a three-year specialisation course among others.
This is in response to the diverse and expanding roles the creative communities play in contemporary society. The syllabus is designed to help students hone their creative instincts and craftsmanship.
CAVA has postgraduate courses in painting, graphics and sculpture. “We’re improving our infrastructure to start postgraduate courses in animation,” says VA Despande, dean, CAVA.
The campus is currently located in a heritage building on New Sayyaji Rao road. From next academic year, it will be shifted to the premises of German Press. The architects have designed and made provisions for an open-air theatre, workshop and a library with other infrastructure at a cost of Rs 87 lakh.
The institute conducts workshops at Hampi, Badami and other places in Karnataka and has invited renowned artistes like Sambaji Kadam (portrait painter), Jyotindra Bhatt (modernist painter), Sudheer Ramachandra (photographer) and Shamsundar (painter and sculptor). Slide presentations, seminars and debates are some of the highlights of the academic curricula.
The growing demand for art animators and graphic designers in ad agencies has also attracted engineering students from India and abroad to CAVA. The institute has tied up with National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, for toy
designing and animation. It also plans to start a class for ceramic metal casting, which is a first of its kind in India.
Deshpande says they have plans to set up an animation training centre with more than 30 computers with the help of experts. They’ve also planned a national student workshop inviting students and experts from major art schools in the country, and plan to display works of art for a week in the campus.
Students mastering in different areas can try their hand at graphics and animation, taking advantage of drawing, painting, photography and shading skills at the workshop.
— shivakumar@expressbuzz.com