It is the hand that draws, but named after the pen
Kalamkari’s problem of plenty Copies, fakes, imitations may be inevitable part of life. But, in the field of art the disruptions created by imitations have a long term impact. More the merrier, but not in the case of screen printing or block prints imitating the hand drawn pen kalamkaris. Srikalahasti’s pen kalamkari, the hand drawn, hand filled paints on fabrics has been flourishing having been resurrected twice in the last century. First the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya’s art revival lifted it out of extinction in the 1950s, and later in the century when it moved out of being a wall art to adorning the sarees and later fabrics. Today it is a problem of plenty for Kalamkari. There are many trained artists involved in the craft at Srikalahasti, a small town around 40 kilometers from Tirupati on the banks of river Swarnamukhi. Business has been good, visibility as good as it can ever be, but threatened by the fake printed version that has proliferated from the oth...