Heritage Malta is offering the possibility to artists and all those interested in art to participate in a batik workshop together with renowned batik artist Sarkasi Said. The workshop will compliment an exhibition of works by Said which will be mounted at the National Museum of Fine Arts between mid June and the end of July.

Batik is an art form and craft that is hardly known in Malta. It is a wax-resist dyeing technique, which has been applied to textiles for nearly a thousand years.

Sarkasi Said has exhibited, lectured and held work-shops worldwide. Examples of his art are found in countless museums, expos, banks, airports and other public spaces, as well as in numerous residences of royalty, heads-of-state, and diplomats and in trendy private collections.

In his birth-city of Singapore, Sarkasi’s Taman Gallery is a focal point of the Malay Heritage Centre and community. Sarkasi also allocates considerable time to tutoring and nurturing young artists at his batik studio in Java, Indonesia. He has received many awards besides holding the Guinness book of Records for creating the world’s longest batik painting.

The Batik artists work by applying malam to a cloth. Malam usually consists of bees wax and paraffin wax. The bees wax holds to the fabric while the paraffin wax allows cracking. Wherever the wax seeps through the fabric the dye does not penetrate. Sometimes several colours are used, with a series of dyeing, drying and waxing steps. The exhibition will be open to the public from the 14th of June to the 27th of July.

The workshop will be held on Wednesday 18th June between 09:00 hrs and 12:00hrs at the National Museum of Fine Arts in South Street, Valletta. The price for the workshop which includes the material to be used in the workshop and a coffee break is Euro 45. Limited places are available and booking is strictly on a first come first served basis from the Heritage Malta Head Office in Merchants Street, Valletta. For further information please phone 22954312.

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