Hadi, a batik guru from Yogyakarta
Hadi, a batik guru from Yogyakarta
By Bambang Tiong
YOGYAKARTA (JP): It seems that Hadi Pranoto is too busy for a
man 72 years old. The resident of Ngadinegaran area remains loyal
to his profession as a batik guru, a profession he started in
1970 by accident.
The one-day and five-day courses on traditional batik, that
cost Rp 100,000 each, are highly popular among expatriates. His
students come practically from around the globe.
Hadi inherited his batik talent from his ancestors, who handed
down the skill from generation to generation. He did not learn
the art from formal training.
The painting materials he uses are all homemade. He obtains
them mostly from the garden and the woods and prepares them
himself.
He uses soga jambal wood to produce red color, high soga for
brown, tegaran soga for yellow and guava or mango or tea leaves
for gray.
It is this traditional touch that fascinates foreign batik
enthusiasts. He claims that 99 percent of his students are
foreigners -- 80 percent are Japanese.
A Japanese tourist, Taeko Marimoto, 32, said that she chose
Hadi Pranoto's batik painting course because he was interested in
the traditional techniques.
"Everyone can master what Hadi Pranoto teaches. But not
everyone prepares the traditional color agents like he does," she
said.
The same reason is also given by another Japanese tourist
Yoshiko Istikawa, 46, who said that in Japan, batik makers use
factory-made materials.
The five-day course is divided into three parts --
introduction to the materials and their composition, introduction
to batik motif, and the painting technique.
Lessons on the first three days focus on introduction to the
materials and their composition.
Hadi said this part was the key to good batik. Composition
plays a vital role in the batik making. For example, the
composition of water and wood or leaves used to produce certain
colors, and the degree of heat used to boil the mixture. The
flame should be kept constant so that the heat does not
fluctuate.
In the first three days, the trainees also learn to select the
proper cloth and how to prepare it. A solution to prepare the
cloth is made from a liter of peanut oil mixed with one half once
of caustic soda.
The lesson on batik motif lasts only a few hours. The rest of
the day is dedicated to discussion on painting technique, such as
how to hold the canting (a small, thin-walled, spouted, copper
vessel which resembles the bowl of a pipe), how to use it and the
correct sitting posture.
"The five-day course includes theory and practice. To refine
their skills, the participants should practice on a regular basis
by themselves," Hadi said.
Currently, 12 foreigners -- 10 Japanese and two Australians --
are enrolled in Hadi's course.
Hadi began teaching batik courses in 1970 when an American
asked him to make a batik decor measuring 10 m by 15 m. This
attracted many people in the U.S. and they wanted to learn from
Hadi how to make traditional batik.
Hadi said he is very happy with his profession as a batik guru
because it allows him to introduce the art to the world community
and at the same time preserve the tradition.
"What is interesting is that we don't need to wage a campaign
promoting batik because people come and learn here and then
introduce and develop it in their countries," he said.
In fact, Hadi is not the only batik guru in the city. There
are many other individuals and institutions, like the Indonesian
Institute of Arts, that give similar courses.