Page 5 - prologue 2018 booklet

On the verge of

going beyond

Government College of Fine Arts is ideally
located in the heart of Thrissur; the cultural
capital of Kerala. It is well connected with
major cultural institutions which brings a social
construct and engagement with different
aspects of art. The college has been a ground
for many eminent artists who still sustain
the legacy over the years. We provide our
students an exposure to various aspects of
art- the philosophy, the abstraction, the social
implication, the critiques. They are imparted
professional skills required to succeed in life
when one choose art as a profession.
The institution started functioning in 1910 as
a ‘Technical Commercial Industrial School’.
Art education during those times was
essentially an industrial training to produce
skilled craftsmen for vocational labour. During
World War 2, the institution was renamed as
Government Trade School. From 1943 to 1975,
it was known as ‘Government Occupational
Institute’. The fundamental shift from being
a training institute for vocational labour to an
institution which dealt more with the aesthetics
of art occurred when it was upgraded as the
Government Institute of Fine Arts in 1975. In
the year 1988, five year courses which offered
a National Diploma in Painting, Sculpture and
Applied Art were introduced. From the year
2000, the institution offers four year degree
courses in the three disciplines mentioned
above. At present the college is on a verge of
expanding its graduation boundaries.

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