What is Batik?
The
word "batik" is Indonesian in origin, even if the concept was known by
Egyptians and Indians. It is known to be more than a millenium old, and
there are evidences that cloth decorated through some form of resist
technique was in use in the early centuries AD in several West African,
Middle-Eastern and Asian communities.
The
word Batik is originally an Idonesian-Malay word and means to dot .This
art of textile is spread in the hindu and malay world, but Indonesia is
certainly the heart of the Batik.This way of painting and coloring
textile has reached its higher degree of excellence in the Island of
Java , in cities like Solo, Yogyakarta, Pekalongan or Cirebon. From Java
this 'batik' cloth was exported to other islands of the archipelago and
to the Malay peninsula.
On
the 17th century, the Javanese sultanate of Mataram accorded important
ceremonial functions to the Batik clothes. Sultan Agung of Mataram is
known to have dressed in white cotton decorated with Indigo blue, and
his court dancers wore kain kembangan colored with a red organic dye.
Traditional
batik in Java was made with a copper stamp or drawn on cloth by hand
using a tool called a chanting. A chanting is a little copper bowl with a
spout attached to a wood or bamboo handle. The chanting is dipped into
hot wax. The artist draws with the chanting by using the law of gravity.
The wax to pours out of the spout and penetrates the fabric.
The Process of Batik Making
Traditional
batik, either tulis (hand drawn) or stamped, requires many application
of wax and dye, but in modern times the process has been simplified.
Joanie and Barbara do some work which they call double process; the
fabric is pre colored. But mostly they work directly on white rayon.
When the wax is removed, the lines are white. The art lies in the
skillful drawing and the unique painting technique, which is best
considered as watercolor on fabric.
Draw with washable markers so the original lines will disappear once the piece is waxed.
After wax has been applied to our line drawings, the
fabric is stretched flat on a frame. The dyes we use to paint spread easily, too easily. The art is in controlling
where they go, and how each color interacts with others, when to use a lot of water and when to use none at all.
The final product is a beautiful, durable and washable painting of fabric. These batiks will not fade, shrink or bleed.
Works of a famous Batik artist
This is John Tinger. A famous Batik Artist. And these are some of his batik works.
One Famous Batik Artist
One of a Famous Batik Artist we have research on is David Kibuuka.David
Kibuuka started painting at an early age in Uganda. His talent became
quickly apparent at the age of 11 as he was able to sell his paintings
in art galleries, such as Nomo Gallery in Kampala. At that time, David’s
strength was pencil drawing and water color.
