Batik Painting

6 December 2012

BATIK PAINTING

It was my first time to ever try Batik Painting. I always thought batik was a boring style of art. This is because most batiks are have flowers or nature patterns as their theme. However this experience had changed that thought of mine.

THE PEARL GALAXY

We got to have a try on Malaysia’s unique art – batik during a one-day trip to a family-owned batik and handicrafts retailer on the 27^th of November. It was actually our second time (first time being Urbanscapes 3 days ago) going on a field trip together with the April intake Foundation in Design students thus we got along quite well. At Jadi Batek Gallery which is located at Jalan Inai, Kuala Lumpur, we were given a brief explanation on the traditional techniques of printing batik using wax and dye on fabric and then we proceeded to work on our own designs. We were quite unsure of how to start off at first but the kind staff over there helped us a lot by standing beside us and giving guidance.

For our class, we are supposed to design our batik based on a chosen theme in a group, and all four of our designs must come together in a way that it shows harmony and unity. Our group decided to work on the theme of ‘Pearls in the Universe' by using a colour palette which is similar to the natural colour of pearls. The outcome of our batik is in a darker tone of the natural colours. We used pink, yellow, grey and black as the main colours instead of the cliché colour choices used in batik printing.

When combined together, our batik design brings the meaning of blooming beauty and success. When in the sea, a pearl is just like a tiny grain of sand; and when compared to the universe, it would just be a speck of dust, or almost non-existent.

THE CORAL PEARL GALAXY

Each and every individual in the world is the same as a pearl. People tend to overlook our unique identity as the bad traits of us tend to be more prominent to the eyes of outsiders. It is just like how you will never get to witness the beauty and shine of a pearl if you never look deep inside a clamshell to find out. It teaches us a lesson of not to look down on anyone no matter what sort of social status they are in. Although we have no idea of when is it going to happen, for sure there will be a point of time in everyone’s lives where they will shine the most.

Written by Jie Yan & Shook Leng & Marissa & Clair