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OVERVIEW:
Beauty has its own
intelligence, its own evolving, complex symmetries and, yes, its lavish
delights. This is the ground Trudy Kraft has explored in her paintings
over the last twenty years.
Kraft's new work
reveals the mature integration of her lifelong absorption of a generous
range of influences. Her sources include traditional arts of Japan,
the visual culture of Hispanic America, Australian Aboriginal dream
paintings, and such daring color-masters as the Fauvists Andre Derain,
and Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.
During several long
stays in Japan (her husband, Kenneth Kraft, is a scholar of Buddhism),
Kraft built on her training in Western figurative art, studying sumi-e,
the art of Japanese brush and ink painting. While there she began a
series of fans, freely painted but constructed by traditional craftsman,
in a striking synthesis of two cultures. But it was the decorative borders
found in Japanese prints, fabric, and architecture that affected her
the most. Those borders stayed with her: in the checkerboard pattern
undulating through the painting Phosphorescence, border has engulfed
the center, suggesting the pattern-distending folds of antique cloth.
These latest works
are most frankly and deeply flavored by Kraft's experience of the Southwest
and Mexico: from childhood stays in the art community of Taos and family
trips to Oaxaca, to several long artist's residencies in the desert
landscape of Arizona's Rancho Linda Vista. The spiky flowering forms
pushing up from the lower sections of several of these paintings recall
the yucca (as well as the Buddhist lotus!), and their colors - brick
red, sky blue and earth yellow - flaunt the saturated intensity of the
Southwestern landscape.
An implicit cosmology
can be discerned in paintings such as "Along the Mora," and
"Much as You" will find underlying maps of meaning in the
patterned forms of a Navajo sand painting. Here, the lushly vegetative
lower quadrant is balanced at the top by a bobbing line of domes: earth
and sky, connected by a waving vibration matrix in the center that could
be rain, or waterfall (another Buddhist allusion), or energy itself.
Passages like this move close to the visionary qualities of, say, shamanic
art of the Mexican Huichol.
Like such Pattern
& Decoration artists as Miriam Schapiro and Robert Zakanitch, Kraft
embraces the associations of her strong patterning with such traditional
women's arts as embroidery and weaving. Her technique, too, suggests
a kind of over-and-under weaving of the painting's surface: laying in
washes of pure color, creating fluid, batik-like negative areas with
frisket (a masking medium), and revisiting these with the smoky sumi
ink and opaque gouache accents.
In their flowing
layers and luminous encrustations, these paintings thus convey both
world-view and the ecstasy of visual pleasure making. Shadow and color,
figure and ground, meaning and presence - all these aspects of Trudy
Kraft's work are as intimately interwoven as beauty and delight.
DISCUSSION:
Show the students
the work of Trudy Kraft and discuss the appearance of her work. Stress
the depth of overlapping colors, the decorative patterns in her composition,
and the solid accents of opaque paint in the small details.
- In a word, what
strikes you most in this artwork?
- Do you recognize
any objects or symbols?
- Do you enjoy
the color and if so what about the color do you like the most?
- Do you see patterns
in the design?
- Do the patterns
seem to be arranged in some kind of structure?
- Does light seem
to play a factor in the design?
- Would you like
to hang something like this in your room or home?
ASSIGNMENT:
Students will create
a batik painting using imagery at is original but also based on ideas
of Trudy Kraft's overlapping transparent color, decorative pattern,
and unifying opaque details.
After presenting
the work of Trudy Kraft, tell the students they will be making a unique
piece of artwork that has many of the beautiful characteristics of Mrs.
Kraft's paintings. The project will utilize a method of painting on
fabric with dyes and wax, called Batik.
Explain the history
and tradition of Batik. (See Internet links below for information.)
PROCEDURE:
- Have the students
plan their design. Tell them to concentrate on developing decorative
patterns of shapes and overlapping areas of transparent color. Tell
the students the design can be created by painting washes of color
over or under the decorative pattern. Opaque details can be created
with permanent markers after the batik process is complete.
- Create 3 to 4
thumbnail sketches of ideas. Think about organizing the space with
an under lying grid or panel design, placing patterns and shapes in
or on top of that composition.
- Choose the best
thumbnail sketch and draw the design on a large sheet of white construction
paper.
- After the drawing
is complete, go over the lines with a sharpie marker.
- Tape the drawing
to the work surface and place the cotton fabric over the drawing.
Tape the fabric to the work surface.
- Trace the design
onto the fabric with a pencil.
- Allow the students
to practice applying dye and wax to scrap pieces of fabric wrapped
around small pieces of cardboard. Experiment with how colors will
react when applied in layers and how the wax resist works. Demonstrate
the techniques first.
- Wrap the fabric
to a large stiff piece of cardboard.
- Begin the batik
process:
- Apply wax to
any areas in the design that are to remain white. (Optional - The
lines of the design can be waxed at this point and will be kept white.
Apply the wax to the outside edge of the pencil, so the pencil marks
will not be so noticeable.)
- Apply the first
application of dye to chosen areas of the design. The application
can be one color or a few depending on the desired affect. Allow that
application to dry.
- Wax out any
areas in the design that are to retain the pure color of the previous
dye application.
- Apply the next
layer of dye to chosen areas of the design. Allow the dye to dry and
wax out areas that are to be preserved.
- Repeat this
process until all the areas of the design have been dyed and the necessary
resists have applied.
- (Optional step)
If the student would like to include the dark crackle lines traditional
of some batiks, they should apply a solid layer of wax over the entire
surface of the fabric. Allow the wax to dry and remove the fabric
from the cardboard backing. Develop cracks in the wax by crumpling
it in their hands. They may need to break the wax with their fingers
in a purposeful manner along the cracked lines. Shake off the broken
chunks of wax and brush India ink or very dark dye onto the cracked
surface. Again a more purposeful effort of brushing the dye into the
cracks may be required (You can tell if the dye is penetrating the
wax if you see the inked lines on the back). Wipe the excess ink off
the surface of the wax with a damp sponge and allow the ink to dye.
If any dye remains on the surface, scrape it off with a scotchbrite
pad. (Ink left on the surface of the wax will melt to the fabric when
the wax is removed.)
- After the ink
has dried and the wax has completely cooled, break off any large chucks
of wax by carefully breaking it with your hands and removing it. Then
remove the rest of the wax by ironing it between several sheets of
newspaper. Replace the newspaper when it becomes saturated with wax.
- The final batik
project can be completed by inking desired areas in the design with
permanent markers. Areas of color can be outlined and small details
or patterns can be added.
SUGGESTIONS:
- The shapes uses
in the design can be traditional batik motifs such as, flowers, birds,
fish, butterflies, shells, plants and other objects from nature. The
students can also use some of Trudy Kraft's ideas of checker patterns,
curving lines, dots and dashes.
- The wax must
be kept at the correct temperature. Wax that is too cool will not
penetrate the fabric and the dyes will run underneath. (When the wax
adheres to the cardboard under the fabric you know is has penetrated.)
Wax that is too hot will spread on the fabric too quickly. Experiment
with the temperature to achieve the correct setting.
- If using copper
objects to stamp wax designs on the fabric, heat the copper in some
hot water to prevent the wax for cooling on the surface of the tool.
(These tools can be purchased from art supply catalogs.)
- Set up two workstations:
one for waxing and one for applying the dyes.
- Do not apply
wax to an area that has wet dye. It will cool too quickly. Wait until
the dye has dried before applying the wax.
- Watercolor paint
or colored inks may be substituted for fabric dye. Colored inks seem
to have the most brilliant color, but are also the most expensive.
- A second on going
project may be necessary, if the students have to wait for their turn
at the waxing and dyeing stations.
- Hang the Batik
projects when completed. Ask to students to discuss the process and
techniques they used in their batik and what they would do differently
if they were to repeat the project. Critique the work for placement
in a portfolio.
RESOURCES:
Read about Trudy
Kraft
Publications:
Katz, Elizabeth L., Lankford, E. Louis, Plank, Jan D. Themes and
Foundations of Art. St. Paul: West, 1995. p.192.
Internet Links:
http://www.Story-of-Batik.com/
http://www.serve.com/aberges/batikpag.htm
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