Textile Museum offers range of batik programs

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

To welcome the school holidays and also Jakarta's 478th Anniversary this month, the Textile Museum is offering a number of interesting batik painting programs in addition to its regular ones.

Meanwhile, starting on June 15 (Wednesday), the museum is scheduled start an 11-day exhibition of Madurese batik, displaying more than 100 batik fabrics.

The uniqueness of Madurese batik, compared to those of Yogyakarta or Cirebon, is its festive colors using bright yellows and radiant greens.

Aside from the exhibition, the museum hosts a number of booths selling traditional crafts and also presents a fashion show titled "Collaboration of Madura and Yogya", parading the works of a young Yogyakarta designer Rosso.

For batik lovers who want to know more about batik from Madura, the museum holds a seminar about Madurese batik development, featuring batik maker Hasnah Gasim.

Madura, an island northeast of Java island is popular for its tasty sate and the traditional karapan sapi bull races.

The people are well-known -- perhaps even notorious -- for their rough characters, some say due to the island's arid lands and unforgiving heat.

However, Madura also has a glorious history of its Sumenep Kingdom, which built large ships with magnificent carvings and developed its own batik art.

Some of the workshop packages offered by museum:
Making hand-painted batik on handkerchief-size cotton fabric using one color for dyeing.
One day (two-hour session)
Fee: Rp 25,000

Making hand-painted batik on a handkerchief-size cotton fabric using several colors for the dyeing.
Two days (two-hour session)
Rp 50,000

Making hand-painted batik on 25 x 25 centimeter silk using several colors for the dyeing.
One day (three-hour session)
Rp 75,000

Making batik using jumputan technique (tying and dying the fabric).
One day (two-hour session)
Rp 50,000

For further information:
Museum Textile Indonesia, Jl. KS Tubun No. 4, West Jakarta
Tel 021 5606613, E-mail: mustekstil@telkom.net, contact person: Mindari/Ari.