- Laura Berkeley
Batik – School Wide Art Project
During our practicum, Kathleen and I had the opportunity to
initiate and organize a school wide art project. It is a healing, community building project
for the school and parents to work on together.
It was meant to be a step forward after the fire. The focal resource is a book called Seeds of Peace, by Laura Berkeley. In the
book, two men live at different ends of a rainbow. One is a hermit who lives in a cave and one
is a rich man who lives in a mansion.
During the book, the rich man realizes he is not happy like the hermit
and learns that peace is a choice and happiness does not come from
belongings. The illustrations are all
brightly coloured batik paintings. The
students will each make their own batik painting on a small square of mueslin
cloth. To make Batik, they draw a picture on the cloth with blue glue, wait for it to dry, paint over it, soak it until the glue comes off, let it dry, and then there will be white space where the glue was (see pictures below). The paintings are supposed to
symbolize peace to the students; the squares are the students’ opportunity to
show how they are choosing peace in their new school building. It is a decision to heal. Kathleen and I prepared some kits to move
between the classes so that students can work on their squares as they have
time. Once all the classes are finished,
a parent volunteer is organizing parents to sew the squares together into a
quilt that will be hung in the school foyer to cover up the previous school’s
symbol.
The following quotation will hang above the quilt:
Peace comes from within you. It is
Like a
seed. You cannot force
It to grow
or shape it into
Something
you want it to be.
You must
give it love and
Freedom so
that it can grow
Outwards
into something pure
And
beautiful. Only then will you know
True
Happiness.
(excerpt from The Seeds of Peace
– by Laura Berkeley)
When I was teaching my class about the project, I showed a video about
some children in Indonesia (where Batik originates) who also used Batik to
heal, but from an earthquake.
** Pictures taken from www.kidworldcitizen.org/2012/09/11/diy-glue-batik-t-shirts/
Wonderful project, wonderful post! I love the way this art project had a role in personal development (choosing peace), as well as community building. That is the true power of the arts, in my view, to help people connect in caring communities. And you had the global piece, too, by looking at batik in its area of origin, also with a healing purpose. Incredible!
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