The Government College of Art, Chandigarh (GCA) is one of the oldest Institutions of our country. It was set up under the name of Mayo School of Art, Lahore (Now in Pakistan) in 1875, during the reign of the British. John Lockwood Kipling was the founder Principal of this premier Institution. Among the members of teaching faculty who served the institution were such luminaries as B.C. Sanyal, Dhan Raj Bhagat, S.L. Prasher, Munshi Miran Baksh, Abdur Rahman Chughtai. Sumarendra Nath Gupta became the first Indian Principal of this prestigious Art Institution in the year 1930 who was successor to British Principal Lionel Heath. The School had excellent crafts teachers. Hazi Saheb, Sarder Sunder Singh, Sadhu Singh were the most eminent. Craftsmen. The partition in 1947 saw India divided into Hindustan and Pakistan. The Mayo School of Art was left in Pakistan (now known as National College of Art, Lahore), The Government of Punjab was pleased to accord the administrative approval for setting of a School of Art, Shimla (Punjab) on the pattern of Mayo School of Art. The school was given a new name Government School of Art and Craft, Punjab. It was finally established on 16th. August 1951 with a thought it should take the place of the Mayo School of Art in East Punjab S.L. Prasher, was asked to organise the Art school. He was the Vice Principal of Art School in Lahore at the time of partition and was appointed as the first principal of this institution. His search for teachers continued and he succeeded in getting creative people of his choice to join hands with him. P.N. Mago, Satish Gujral, Baldev Raj Rattan, Kanwal Nain A.C. Gautam, Sunirmal Chatterjee, P. R. Trivedi, , N. K. Dey, were the illustrious teachers. They were trained by different teachers under different centres of Art, like Calcutta School of Art, Mayo School of Art Lahore, Viswa Bharti University Santiniketan, Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai and Delhi College of Art So many Master Craftsmen like Pritam Singh, Master Sujan Singh, Jit Singh, Master Hazara Singh, Maghar Singh, Beli Ram were recruited to impart training in allied courses like jewellery designing, repousse work, lacquer work, ivory and inlay carving, sheet metal work with the aim to maintain a sound tradition of craftsmanship. S.L. Prasher retired in 1959 and Sushil Sarkar replaced him as Principal in the year 1960. He was an eminent Artist and a protagonist of the Bengal School of Art. When Chandigarh came up as the new Capital of Punjab, the school of Art shifted here in 1962. The Institution has big studios with a full-fledged lighting and infrastructure facilities. Where the students can be seen doing their creative exercises. The Institution had a full-fledged Art and Craft section where lot of new craft was introduced. Following the reorganisation of the Punjab State with effect from Ist November 1966 the control of this institution had come over to Chandigarh Administration with a new name Government College of Art and Craft Chandigarh.