Nukilan Jiwaku - Art Clinic & Shibori Workshop

A special workshop on Shibori - The Art of Dyeing was conducted by Fatimah Chik for special artists and their helpers (mainly mothers, friends, volunteers, Maybank staff). but as the chairman rightly said these are not people with disabilities but more, people with a special ability - they channel their energies and focus onto art to express themselves.

Special artists, their helpers, volunteers and instructors

Here, the participants were taught how to fold & tie a piece of cotton fabric in the way of Shibori.  Fatimah Chik began by mixing the dyes with volunteers. Pails of water were transported to this makeshift workshop area which will also be the location of the Nukilan Jiwa 2013 exhibition in mid December - a space formerly known as Maybank Gallery, in Menara Maybank, KL. This exhibition will showcase works by 22 artists with various physical & learning disabilities but are artistically inclined. This is following the success of last year's Nukilan Jiwa art exhibiiton 2012.

Participants were shown how to fold, roll, scrunch and tie pieces of cotton. These were then soaked in plain water for 10 mins for the water to permeate the fibres.  Then they were taken out, squeezed as dry as possible and then placed in a basin of catalyst. After 5 mins, they were removed from the basin with gloves and squeezed as dry as possible and then rinsed with plain water. This is repeated with the dyes in a similar manner.

Everyone was excited to see the outcome! These are some of the examples of the results they got :

Fatimah Chik with one of the participants, Lim Anuar (far left) and volunteers, ACG members

Lim Anuar, who has a hearing disability, paints in batik and is currently taking a Masters in Art from Universiti Malaya, under the tutelage of Fatimah Chik.