For more than 2500 years, throughout the world, artists have used wax and dye to create patterns and images on fabric—a technique known universally as batik. Now, we welcome the World Batik Conference–Boston 2005, the first convention in the United States that will focus on batik in its totality. Its scope ranges from the anonymous Tulis batik workers of Indonesia, the innovators of Adire batik in Africa, and the Rozome masters in Asia, to the multiple enthusiasts in Europe and North America. The three-day conference, workshops, and accompanying exhibitions have attracted the interest of artists, scholars, and educators from six continents. It will focus on the development of batik around the world, the international significance of this art form and its global popularity, new innovations, education, cultural diversity, technical training, and networking.

The World Batik Conference Organizing Committee joins with our host, Massachusetts College of Art, to invite you to Boston, the art and education center of New England, for this milestone event. Surface designers, educators, collectors, designers, multi-media artists, and quilters will all find this event a valuable and stimulating opportunity. (Above: Time/Light and Shade-A Fukumoto, Shigeki, )

WORKSHOP AND CONFERENCE DATES

Pre-conference workshops: June 7–9, 2005
Conference sessions: June 10–12, 2005
Post-conference workshops: June 13–15, 2005

REGISTRATION FEES
Early conference registration is $300 and $175 for full time students with ID. After February 1, 2005 regular conference registration is $340 and $225 for students. Pre- and Post-Conference Workshops are $250 each. The one-day Demonstration/Lecture is $100. Final deadline for the conference registration is May 6, 2005. One-day conference admission is not available. Student registrations must be accompanied by a copy of a valid, full-time student ID. Visit the registration section for more info on registration fees, travel, and housing.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE
The World Batik Conference Advisory Committee is group of eleven scholars, artists, and educators from around the world. View the World Batik Conference Advisory Committee.

HOST INSTITUTION
Our host for the conference is Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. The pre- and post-conference workshops, and Friday and Saturday conference activities will take place on the MassArt campus. (Visit the registration page for more info on travel and housing in Boston.) Sunday we will travel to the mill city of Lowell for additional programs. MassArt is one of the five most selective art and design schools in the country and its facilities are among the best in the nation. It is the oldest and only free-standing state supported art college in the country. The city campus includes classrooms, workshop facilities and dorms in just under a million square feet covering a city block.

The Fibers program is part of the Three-Dimensional Fine Arts Department and offers both B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees in Fibers. In spacious and well-equipped facilities, students are able to study a broad range of media including weaving, surface design, papermaking, feltmaking, flexible structures, artist's books, and mixed media. MassArt has attracted a talented and diverse body of students not only from the U.S., but also from around the world including Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa, and the Middle East.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Mr. Kageo Miura, Professor Emeritus, Kyoto City University of Art
Japan has a long and revered history of textile innovation and production stretching back over a millennium. Wax resist—or rozome—first appeared in Japan as early as the seventh century and still appeals to modern artists today as a medium for creative expression. Mr. Kageo Miura will share his remarkable journey of over 60 years of work with rozome as encouragement for our own creativity.

QUESTIONS
Please direct specific questions to the following mailboxes:
General Questions and Mailing List: worldbatik2005@cs.com
Conference: betsysterling@cs.com
Site and MassArt Exhibitions: awessmann@hotmail.com
Registration: registrar@db-bowen.com
Workshops: jkawada@usa.net
MassArt Residence Housing: WBChousing@earthlink.net
Merchants' Mart: elin.noble@verizon.net
Trunkshow: susanlouise@moyerdesign.com

All artwork reproduced with the permission of the artists.
Web design by Holladay Weiss