Description
The Koghb Art School is located in the northeastern village of Koghb, Armenia and is home to approximately 6,000 residents. The village is situated about 3 kilometers from the Azeri and Armenian border. The Art School has been providing art education to the children of the Koghb region for more than 10 years. The school is open year round, seven days a week and holds many classes for the children of Koghb and its surrounding villages. Currently, there are about 50 school-aged students and 10 university-aged students attending classes and events. The joint effort put in by the staff, volunteers and pupils, provides comprehensive cultural education for all residents interested. The Art School provides many courses including drawing, painting, composition, and art history. Additionally, the school provides applied arts workshops in pottery, carpet-making, metal arts, and woodcarving. The Koghb Art School graduates keep a close bond to the school and continue to participate exhibitions, keep in touch with teachers and help current pupils whenever possible. Events and classes at the school are an important chance to nurture talented young artists living in this border region and ensure that they have a place to practice safely and comfortably. Through support from the local government, the school operates and holds classes in a comfortable, modern building.
The Koghb Art School would like to continue its wonderful work and extend their program to try to combat the village’s unemployment problem. Individuals in Koghb and the surrounding border villages have been leaving their homes in search of employment opportunities. The Koghb Art School seeks to provide not only education, but also training in traditional Armenian crafts, a skill that can be used to create employment and business opportunities for the entire village. The school already has a small business, Yereqnuk Handicrafts, which employs many local women and helps them earn a small income. The Art School’s idea is to help increase training and employment opportunities is by creating a permanent ceramics studio, with all the necessary conditions for training both children and professionals. As of now, children who take pottery workshops at the school are not able learn correct methods of pottery. They create small projects from clay, but because the school doesn’t have a kiln, projects break quickly and cannot be painted or glazed. If the children and visiting students could make a more professional pottery product, both interest in and attendance to the pottery workshops would increase significantly. Also, with the addition of a ceramics studio, the opportunities for employment in the community will increase.
The studio will be created in our existing applied arts studio. The school will provide the teacher’s salary and tables and chairs for the studio. Sponsorship of this project will help raise funds to purchase and install a kiln and pottery to complete the ceramics department. After equipment is installed and the studio is finished, themed workshops will be provided for children and students free of charge. The pottery studio will provide a new outlet for creativity, imagination, decorative qualities, and understanding of 3-D objects for its students. Furthermore, community training courses will also be offered.
Gallery Images
The Need
A current issue in Koghb and the surrounding border villages is the lack of employment opportunities. Often times when individuals cannot find employment opportunities within their community or the surrounding areas, they relocate to Yerevan or Russia. The main objective is to find a profession that can be performed in this region, and will help keep and bring individuals back home.
Short Term Impact
The Koghb Art School Ceramics Studio will be established with a new kiln and pottery wheel to be used by all students and recent graduates (approximately 60 people). Students will have the opportunity to learn the art of pottery. Pottery workshops will be a permanent class for future students (grades 5-12) to choose from. Students, staff and interested community individuals can choose to be trained in a specific profession that they can use to support themselves over the first 2-3 years (15-20 people). Both the kiln and the pottery wheel will be made locally, thus providing local employment.
Long Term Impact
In the long term, the studio will be a place to develop skills for youth and talented individuals for the community and will also produce professional-grade products. Students can use skills learned here to apply to a higher-education institute and young adults can design and sell products made in the studio. Products can be sold under the existing brand, Yereqnuk Handicrafts, or under an individuals’ name. Creating this employment opportunity also has the potential to help keep and bring back individuals.
Sponsors Benefits
Sponsors supporting the Koghb Art School Ceramics Studio project will be presented as donors on our websites: www.koghb.am and www.koghbartschool.am . Sponsors will also be recognized in their printed materials and a sponsor plaque will be placed in the entrance of the school. Additionally, your name will be listed as a sponsor on the Paros Foundation website and in appropriate press related to this important project. The Paros Foundation will happily arrange a visit to the Koghb Art School Ceramics Studio when you are in Armenia.
Our Donors (11)
- Mr. Sarkis Sarkissian $200 In Memory of Nany & Nare Tendjoukians Oct 10, 2014
- Mr. & Mrs. Meher & Nany Tendjoukian $1,480 In Memory of Nany & Nare Tendjoukians Oct 10, 2014
- Ms. Lori Jabagchourian $50 In Memory of Nany & Nare Tendjoukians Aug 1, 2014
- Mr. & Mrs. Meher & Nany Tendjoukian $50 In Memory of Nany & Nare Tendjoukians Jul 16, 2014
- Ms. Mary Karpanian $100 In Memory of Nany & Nare Tendjoukians Jul 13, 2014
- Mr. & Mrs. Jirair & Serpouhie Sarkissian $200 In Memory of Nany & Nare Tendjoukians Jul 13, 2014
- Mr. & Mrs. Eric & Sevana Panosian $50 In Memory of Nany & Nare Tendjoukians Jul 13, 2014
- Mr. & Mrs. Armand & Tamar Kilijian $200 In Memory of Nany & Nare Tendjoukians Jul 13, 2014
- Ms. Anjel Ailanjian $100 In Memory of Nany & Nare Tendjoukians Jul 13, 2014
- Mr. & Mrs. Andre & Houri Panossian $100 In Memory of Nany & Nare Tendjoukians Jul 13, 2014
- Mr. & Mrs. Haig & Marie Kilijian $100 In Memory of Nany & Nare Tendjoukians Jul 12, 2014
Updates: Images & Information
The new kiln and pottery wheel were delivered to the Koghb Art School.
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