International Educational Services

photo by Adam Protass

 photo by Vanessa Tripp

photo by Natalie Gray

photo by Natalie Gray

photo by Natalie Gray

photo by Vanessa Tripp

photo by Vanessa Tripp

photo by Adam Protass

photo by Adama Sulema

photo by Natalie Gray

Natalie Gray, IES Director, was first introduced to the art of Batik design in Ghana, West Africa in 1996.  Since her awareness of the economic potential of Batik production in the impoverished communities served by IES, Natalie has promoted Batik Workshops in all rural areas touched by her help, through International Educational Services (IES), her non-profit organization based in Brooklyn, New York.

Self- taught in basic sewing skills, Natalie has also brought Batik to New York City in the form of hand crafted aprons, bags, pants, skirts and belts. She sells these items every weekend in the P.S. 321 playground on Seventh Ave. and 1st Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

What is Batik?  The word "batik" means to print on cloth.This beautiful art, brought to West Africa from the island of Java by Dutch colonials seeking new customers for their Indonesian subjects' creativity, is a form of wax-resist textile design. In this labor-intensive process of waxing and dyeing, hand crafted stamps constructed of wood or foam are the essential tools used in Ghana to create unique pieces of wearable art.

Cynthia Brakwa (on the right) is the IES Batik design instructor. A child of the rural sector herslf, she and Natalie traveled to the village of Teacher Mante in June 2009,Cynthia's birthplace and still home to her mother and many siblings.  On regular IES travels throughout the different regions of Ghana, Cynthia has always displayed the quiet strength of one who has internalized the local knowledge that gives her the ability to teach unschooled subsistence farmers how to add meaning to their lives through art and economic empowerment.

The workshop setting in rural Ghana is always out-of-doors in some sort of makeshift area, such as the front yard of Cynthia's mother's house.  The basic requirements are few: tables (one large or two small), Batik stamps, metal pot and coal burner to heat the wax, fabric and dye.  Word spreads quickly whenever IES arrives to teach Batik, so new students arrive in droves to partake of free classes.

IES Batik workshops began in Ghana at Kwabenya Village (Greater Accra Region) in 1998.  At that time, IES had just completed construction on a junior high school in the village (in the background) and wanted to help heal some of the hard feelings between parents and teachers, as well as to possibly put much-needed money into the hands of participants, mostly female.

Natalie's  high school students in New York City contributed used clothing, which was taken to Ghana and sold for the project start-up funds. Approximately $800 was made from the selling of clothing, which instantly set Kwabenya participants on track for success.

On August 15, 2009, IES, under Natalie's leadership, conducted the first Batik Workshop in New York City at the Brooklyn Museum.  Held in the museum's beautiful Sculpture Garden, the environment and participants were a world away from the usual workshop setting to which IES has become accustomed. 

Nevertheless, the effect was the same;given the opportunity to create  something totally new using the natural imagination which all humans have, all participants immersed themselves into this extraordinary world, which was not so rural, after all.

Natalie demonstrates to a workshop participant the Batik technique called "cracking" in which a waxed piece of fabric is gently pinched to produce a veined effect. Other techniqes, such as "stamping" and "free style" were also introduced. It would take years to become a proficient Batik designer, but the fundamentals can be achieved in several weeks of daily practice.

Vanessa, a regular supporter of IES, shows off a group project in which she participated at the workshop. Each member of the group took home a segment of the finished product to frame.

IES has been invited to lead more workshops during the next school year, which will allow students the privilege and pleasure of learning one aspect of African textile design.

One of the largest IES  Batik Workshops was in Yabraso Village(2006), which numbered over sixty women and six men. It is typical in Ghana that the number of women far exceeds men in the textile industry.

These participants were in the process of "marbling" a piece of fabric: after folding or bunching together a piece of cloth, dye of one or more colors is poured over it.  The excess dye is drained off and the fabic is spread out to dry.  No wax is used in this technique.

Adam, Augustine, and Vanessa, all volunteers at the workshop.  Thank you all!

We also wish to thank Susan Richardson-Sanabria, IES Co-director, for her help (seen here with Adam), especially with the transporting of Batik equipment.

Thanks, cuz!