Issan has long been acclaimed for its textile weaving traditions. Recently I had the opportunity to visit a weaving village, Ban Ton, on the edge of the town of Ban Khwaow in northeastern Thailand, know as Issan. I met Ms. Nujuang who kindly shared a wealth of information translated by my friend and guide, Mr. [...]
INDIGO
April 29, 2012 – 2:10 pm
Indigo is making a resurgence in contemporary batik. It had been the primary source of blue color in batik for many years up until the introduction of chemical dyes at the turn of the century.There are a number of contemporary batik-makers who are discovering the beauty of indigo blue. Some are even growing there own [...]
Would you like your very own Botero, Van Gogh, Ver Meer?
April 14, 2012 – 4:40 am
Then you should visit Vietnam where countless numbers of young artists, painters, copiers, entrepreneurs, students, whatever, produce paintings sold by the size. You can find copies of fine art, copies of photographs, original paintings, paintings in the style of other artists, whatever. Studio/galleries line the streets of the back-packer ghettos and paintings can be had [...]
SAIGON
April 14, 2012 – 4:24 am
A recent trip to Ho Chi Minh City, surprisingly referred to as Saigon by most locals, especially younger ones, stimulated every sense to maximum levels. The visual of course is probably the most immediate sense to be stimulated. Here are a few photos yet to be labeled to show you what I mean by stimulating. [...]
SBO Children’s Center, Giriloyo, Bantul
March 27, 2012 – 4:53 pm
Three young students at SBO Children’s Center proudly showing off their work.
SBO Children’s Center is an organization started by an online group on Facebook (Sidang Batik Online) to maintain integrity and share information among batik artists and enthusiasts who exhibit and market their work online. It provides an ongoing forum for problem solving, creative inspiration, [...]
Kelompok Batik Tulis, “Berkah Lestari”, Giriloyo, Bantul
March 26, 2012 – 2:57 am
(Click in this photo to enter the gallery of photos from this workshop.)
Young trainee at the kelopmpok who is only 17 and very skilled with the canting. She is very proud of this batik and has been working on it for many weeks.
My friend and extraordinary batik artist Abdul Syukar (first person ton the left [...]
Batik Cirebon
March 16, 2012 – 12:07 am
Another distinguishing characteristic of Cirebonese batik is the skill with which fine lines of color are produced. The most common fine lines seen in a batik in general are made using a canting (a pen-like tool used to apply wax to the cloth. After dyeing when the wax is removed from the cloth by immersing [...]
Batik Cirebon: Mega mendung
March 13, 2012 – 8:46 pm
The batik of Cirebon has long been a favorite of mine. There are several techniques used there that distinguish the work from the batik of other areas in Java. One is the amazing gradation effect produced by multiple applications of lines of wax and the alyternating multiple applications of color to the mega mendung, or [...]
Tribal Art and Textile Show
February 16, 2012 – 11:19 am
I assisted Rudolph Smend from Cologne, Germany again February 10,12, and 13th at Fort Mason in San Francisco with his booth at the annual Tribal Art and textile Show, installing another collection of extraordinary batik kain panjang, sarongs, kemben, and iket. Click on the images below to see more.
Detail of kain panjang with very skillfully [...]
Arts of Pacific Asia Show
February 2, 2012 – 3:54 pm
I have the wonderful opportunity to assist Rudloph Smend in presenting a beautiful collection of museum quality batik sarongs and kain panjang in the San Francisco Arts of Pacific Asia Exhibition. He is a very gracious and knowledgeable man who is as passionate as I am about batik. He has been collecting for 38 yerars. Here are [...]
