American batik artist paints loving odes to children's spirit
By G. Rahayu
JAKARTA (JP): Self-taught artist Linda Kaun can testify to the uniqueness and intricacy of using the batik technique in painting on fabric.
The American said she had been trapped in the thrall of combining wax and dyes since she started in the medium more than 20 years ago.
She termed the process a "personal mystery" which only ended when the wax was boiled and the finished cloth revealed.
But she probably never imagined that her study of batik painting would require such intensive study.
Kaun admitted she was still trying to fathom the mystery.
"It is so challenging and rewarding when I can successfully bring a person to life on the cloth... It also allows me the chance to combine my lifelong love of photography with my artworks."
She said batik captured the spirit and imagination of the Javanese, requiring deep immersion just to produce one painting.
Kaun, whose works are on display at Koi Gallery in South Jakarta through tomorrow, said a painting required 15 different steps which could take days, weeks or even months to complete.
Patience is not just a virtue, but a necessity for the art. Kaun has proven this during her long residence in Yogyakarta, the center of batik-making, since 1992.
She began to study batik painting in 1975 while conducting postgraduate research in social work as a student at the University of Kentucky.
The batik proved more challenging than pursuing her master's.
Kaun eventually decided to make what began as an avocation into her vocation. She taught about batik in her community.
To learn more about batik painting, she traveled to Indonesia in 1981. For almost two years, she studied with Bagong Kusudiardjo and several other renowned batik artists in Yogyakarta.
Kaun returned to the city five years ago to continue the learning process.
Her initial stabs at batik painting reflected her background, but later efforts have adapted to show the Indonesian culture and people she has grown to know.
"I have become more 'in tune' with my newly adopted culture," Kaun said. "One of the major shifts came about as the result of the work I began at a play school here in Yogyakarta with children aged two years to four years ...
"In addition, two children who live at the end of my street, aged eight and 13 years, started visiting me and we'd play and talk with each other. They still come almost every day to keep me company. We learn a lot from each other."
She does not have children of her own, and impish children of her acquaintance have touched her because "it is their spirit that I wish to share".
This innocent joy in life pervades works such as Narti's Dance, Narti's Delight and Tamansari's Guides, showing three boys from the historic Yogyakarta water palace who earn some extra cash by giving tours.
Smiles and friendly looks do not obscure the toil of their young lives, revealed in their eyes.
Simple elements in her paintings -- blue skies, plants, paddy fields and trees -- honor a happy childhood unshackled by adult concerns.
On the Road to Lendang Nangka has two boys and a girl strolling along the path near the paddy fields. Its homey message invites viewers to take a moment to breath in the fresh air of the countryside, an escape from the pollution of our urban, cramped surroundings.
The uninhibited spirit of youth is also found in Schoolgirl Secrets at Seni Sono, depicting three girls laughing and talking happily as they sit around a table.
The carefree quality of her works reminds us how children's lives should be, despite the grim realities that many of them endure.