Batik and the Indonesian Creative Process

Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14, 2019
9:30 am–4:30 pm each day, will break for lunch
$350 registration fee ($300.00 plus $50.00 materials fee — all supplies provided!)

We are delighted to offer the rare opportunity to learn from world-renowned batik artists Agus Ismoyo (Indonesian) and Nia Fliam (American). The beautiful batik panel pictured here is Trash Can of Tradition (Tong Eampah Tradisi), by the artists from their collection. (Image courtesy The Textile Museum).

Learn more about Agus Ismoyo and Nia Fliam, who have been working collaboratively since 1985 producing contemporary textiles in their fine art batik studio, Brahma Tirta Sari in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

This workshop will stimulate the creative abilities of the participants and help them to consider the role of culture within art and batik in order to analyze their own intangible creative process.The following elements will be part of the workshop:

• Introduce the ancient ‘Tribawana/Three Worlds’ creative process that teaches the artist to look for the source of creativity within themselves while becoming one with nature and the creative source.
• Discuss the system of symbols that are used in Indonesian traditional batik as a structure to create one’s own symbol. Elements to be discussed include significance, function, value and aesthetics.
• Share with students how to integrate the use of intuitive feeling/rasa, the mind and their bodies to channel creative energies.
• Use references to Indonesian mythology found in the shadow puppet stories to illustrate the creative process.
• Share with the students to find a path to each participant’s own creative process.
• Teach batik as an art form that is integral within technique and the creative process.

Workshop: Tribawana Creative Process

Day 1: Creative Process

• Background of the Tribawana Creative Process:
• The Role of Symbols from the Vantage Point of Function, Significance, Value and Aesthetics. Several important symbols found in Javanese batik will be discussed:
  • Parang is rooted in the element of fire. Parang in Javanese means dagger.
  • Kawung symbolizes the four directions.
  • Semen is a symbol of Tribawana. Semi in Javanese means young shoot
• The Elements in Batik (batiking as an integral process)
• Wax—The Element of Fire
  • introduction to the basic technique of hand and tjap (stamped) batik
  • introduction to batiking by feeling the whole body (rasa or an intuitive understanding)
  • exercise to batiking with the whole body
  • exercise with lines and dots
  • introduction to the use of the tjap
• Dyes—The Elements of Water & Air
• An introduction to napthol dye
• Preparation for Day 2: Create a Symbol

Day 2: Creation

• Batik a cloth with one’s own symbol with two colors
• Batik a cloth with a combination of hand and tjap (cap) batik
• Evaluation of work