Indonesian culture inspires Poland's batikmakers

By Sri Wahyuni

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The name Maria Haseic of Poland may not be well-known in Indonesia, especially to batik lovers, but her work gained much admiration.

Haseic had not been to Indonesia before nor learned to make batik formally, yet she managed to learn the traditional art on her own and even taught students in her home country.

On her first visit here, she displayed works created by her students, aged between nine and 27 years old, at her Slupsk Batik workshop, which was established 12 years ago.

"This is my first visit to Indonesia," said Haseic, who is one of the few batik teachers in her country.

She discovered batik 20 years ago when visiting the Museum of Central Pomerania in Slupsk, the northern part of Poland, where a collection of Indonesian batik arts belonged to Andrzej Wawrzyniak, the museum's director, were exhibited.

"They were so fascinating that I decided to learn more about batik, especially because I'm an artist," said the graduate of the Fine Arts Academy in Gdansk, also in the northern part of Poland.

With all the limitations she had at that time, Haseic, who is more fascinated by the batik-making process and the culture of Asia, tried her best to create her first batik.

All the batik paintings -- produced between 1996 and 2001 -- were exhibited at Bentara Budaya Yogyakarta from Sept. 13 to Sept. 19.

This was not the first exhibition in the country as the workshop had displayed its 64 works at the Taman Ismail Marzuki in Central Jakarta in May 1999.

"But I didn't come to Indonesia at that time," said Haseic, who speaks broken English and a little Indonesian. She was assisted in the interview by Polish student Anita Czormor, who is learning Bahasa Indonesia at Gadjah Mada University.

Haseic said her students' main inspiration was the Asian culture. Some of their works include Wayang Golek by 13-year-old Olga Kowalska, Garuda by 12-year-old Dominika Seweryniuk, Sailing on the Java Sea by Mateusz Tyborski, Stupas by 19-year-old Monika Rdest and Sidomukti by 20-year-old Alicja Marcinkiewicz.

However, some students preferred to keep the oriental technique but took a theme from home including Slupsk Tower of Witches by nine-year-old Ewa Lenart, Slupsk Town Hall by 10-year- old Paulina Mieczniwkowska, Playing at the Snowballs by 11-year- old Gabriela Ochnik, Winter Trip by 14-year-old Malgorzata Pajak and Slupsk-Part of the Building in Sienkiewicz Avenue by 12-year- old Dominika Seweryniuk.

Some Polish batik had the traditional batik color of soga (dominated by brown) but some others were made in blue, green or in a variety of colors that required repeated dyeing.

Marks left by the wax cracking in the dyeing process produced an even more interesting effect, just like the batik made by talented Javanese batikmakers.

Not easy

It was not easy at the beginning for Haseic because fabrics and dyes in Poland were completely different from those in Indonesia. Instead of using mori (unbleached plain cloth), she used either canvas or linen to make batik paintings. It was also difficult to get to know the technical details.

She said that batik used a difficult technique that required patience and hard work. Good quality batik created by children and teenagers will easily win people's deep admiration.

Haseic was greatly supported by the Warsaw Museum of Asia and Pacific, which has issued publications on batik paintings. She also got an offer to join workshops at the Warsaw Center of Animation and Culture, which has encouraged her to experiment more on batik-making.

In 1989, she decided to set up her own workshop, which is reportedly one of the most important batik centers in Poland, and started teaching batik painting.

Haseic is currently teaching 87 students at her workshop.

Most of their works have been exhibited across Europe, including in Spain, Russia and Denmark. This excludes the numerous exhibitions in Poland.

The workshop also stages an annual exhibition at the Higher Teacher Training School in Slupsk.

In 1998, the Poland Museum of Asia and Pacific organized the Slupsk Workshop's batik exhibition at its Dong Nam Gallery of Oriental Art in Warsaw. Titled The Magic of Nusantara, the exhibition's organizers received support from the Indonesian Ambassador to Poland Nuraina Labde Hamimyar.

Haseic said of her students: "I love working with children. They are open-minded to learning (how to make batik) and they are much easier to handle."

Batik lovers in Poland have been visiting Haseic's workshop for new patterns and technical solutions for their difficulties.

During her stay in Yogyakarta, Haseic took many pictures of Indonesia to take home with her. Among her snapshots were the Yogyakarta Palace, the beautiful scenery of the city, the social and cultural activities in the community and, of course, batik patterns.

"I'll give the pictures to my pupils to stimulate their creativity in making new motifs for their paintings," she said.