MIDORI ABE is an associate professor at Osaka Seika University, Faculty of Art and Design in Osaka, Japan. Her monumental rozome works, inspired by nature, have been exhibited in numerous shows in Japan and have won more than 16 different awards. Internationally, her work has been shown in Edinburgh, Scotland (2001) and at the 2004 Olympiad in Athens, Greece and is in the collection of the Kyoto Sogoshirokan. Exhibition: "Rozome Masters OF Japan," MassArt.

BETSY STERLING BENJAMIN has been working with wax resist for over 35 years with solo exhibitions in Asia, Europe, North and Central America. She is the author of The World of Rozome: Wax Resist Textiles of Japan (1996, 2002), and has written about Japanese textiles and crafts for Surface Design Journal, Fiberarts, American Craft, and Textile Fiber Forum (Australia). The Event Coordinator of the 2005 World Batik Conference in Boston, she also coordinated, "Behind the Mask: A Cultural Exploration of Japan," for Arizona State University, College of Fine Arts. A long-time resident of Kyoto, Benjamin now resides in the USA and teaches Surface Design at MassArt and the New Hampshire Institute of Art. Exhibition: "Visual Meditations: A Collaboration," MassArt.

DOROTHY BUNNY BOWEN has degrees in art history and painting from the Randolph-Macon Woman's University and the University of New Mexico. Formerly a Research Associate in Textiles at the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe NM, and a gallery co-owner, Bowen has been working in batik or wax-resist since 1980. She has exhibited her work, inspired by the Southwest landscape, throughout the Western States. She has received recognition and multiple awards in shows such as the "Art of Albuquerque Magnifico" and New Mexico State Fair Fine Arts Exhibitions. www.db-bowen.com

TONY DYER, a native of Victoria Australia, has been an exhibiting textile craftsperson since 1970. He was a senior lecturer in textiles at the University of Melbourne (1995-98), and at Victoria College of Art (1972-98). His abstract layered batik work has been featured in over 17 major exhibitions and more than 100 group shows worldwide. Dyer's work is in numerous collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria, Guizhou Provincial Museum, China, Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Queen Victoria and Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania, and in private collections throughout Australia, USA, and Europe. Dyer is the Australian Advisor for the World Batik Conference. Exhibition: "Layered Meaning," MassArt.

NIA FLIAM, originally from Denver, Colorado, USA and AGUS ISMOYO of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, have been working collaboratively at their Yogya Brahma Tirta Sari Batik Studio since its founding in 1985. Their batiks, elaborate multi-layered cap (tjap) cloths presented as a fine art medium, have been exhibited in solo and group shows throughout Indonesia and Australia as well as in Europe, N. America and other countries of Asia. Their work is found in major museums in Canberra, Darwin, Sydney and Wollegon, Australia. Ford Foundation grant recipients, they were featured in the 1996 film "Hot Wax," which documented their collaboration with the Utopia Australian Aborigine Batik community. Exhibition: "Out of Indonesia: Brahma Tirta Sari Studio Batik Collaborations," Cambridge Multi-Cultural Center, Cambridge.

CYNTHIA FOWLER is an assistant professor in art at Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, and received her Ph.D. in 2002 from the University of Delaware, where she studied American art. Her interest in batik originates from her doctoral dissertation on American artist Marguerite Zorach, an early 20th century embroiderer and batik artist. Fowler has written several articles on the shared philosophy among American artists during this period. She has received awards and fellowships from Harvard University (1994) and the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities (2003).

MARY EDNA FRASER is a widely recognized textile artist with more than 350 large-scale silk batiks to her credit. Her specialty is aerial batik landscapes. Exhibitions and commissions include the National Air and Space Museum, the Charleston International Airport, and 30 years of commission work utilizing her batik skills. Collaborating with poets, musicians, dancers and scientists, she has shown her work at the Fayetteville, South Carolina Museum, Duke Museum of Art, American Embassies in London, and Bangkok and Emory University. In addition, her work appears in Orrin Pilkey's book, "A Celebration of the World's Barrier Islands"(2003). Her artistic preparation includes shooting photographs from her family's open cockpit airplane, as well as consulting satellite imagery from NASA. www.maryedna.com.

FUKUMOTO SHIGEKI, a professor of art at Osaka University, Japan, is an international award-winning artist, author and researcher. He has exhibited in more than 15 solo shows throughout Japan and in group shows in London, Paris, Jakarta, Lausanne (13th Biennial), Lodz, Beijing, Guiyang, Cleveland and Ghent. His prizes include Grand Prizes in the 38th Kyoto Prefectural Art and Craft Exhibition, Osaka Vision 21 and eight prizes at the "Exposition France - Japon"(1984-1992). Fukumoto's work is included in numerous collections including the national Museum of Modern Art Tokyo and Kyoto, The Museum of Kyoto, Cleveland Museum of Art and the Korean Craft Museum, Cheongji. Exhibition: "Rozome Masters of Japan," MassArt.

DIANE GAFFNEY has a degree from Leeds University UK, and has worked as a textile collector, museum consultant, writer and lecturer. She specializes in SE Asian and Turkish textiles. She focused first on the weaving of Turkey (1980), and then her interests expanded to include both weaving and surface design from Indonesia, Thailand, and Laos. She has been a consultant to Leeds Museum (1991), Birmingham Museum (1989), and Liverpool Museum (1987). Gafney curated two exhibitions for Creative Exhibitions, "Batik-Classical Cloth of Java" (1996) and "Silk of the Ancient Kingdom" (2004) that have traveled from London to Dublin and Harrogate. She is currently working on the UK Batik Guild's 20th Anniversary exhibition (2006). She is the owner of the textile import company: Textile Techniques.

LEESA HUBBELL has worked in the design and fashion industry for 25 years. She first studied batik, at age 16, at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and later graduated from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio with a one-woman thesis show of batik and woven textiles (1978). From her base in New York City, she has been a sales assistant in the Norma Kamali fashion showroom (1982) and a print-driven clothing collection in collaboration with the Javanese batik artisans who work in the garment center of Denpasar, Bali (1994-1996). Currently she teaches at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and writes regularly for the Surface Design Journal on fashion, design, and the business of creating. Hubbell is the curator of the "Batik Fashion/American Designers Exhibition" at the American Textile History Museum, Lowell.

KEIJIN IHAYA is a professor of textile design at Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan. An award winning artist and leader in the rozome community, he has been the juror for the Kyoten, Shinkoei and Nitten exhibitions more than 11 times. He has been cited as a supportive teacher with a "philosophy of simplicity, a strong connection with nature as source and a clear vision." Ihaya has exhibited regularly throughout Japan as well as in Edinburgh, Scotland and Seoul, Korea. He is the Asian Advisor to the World Batik Conference and has worked tirelessly to help bring the Rozome Masters Exhibition to the USA. Exhibition: "Rozome Masters of Japan," MassArt.

LINDA KAUN, a long-time resident of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, has been working in batik for 30 years. Her work combines a love of photography and batik to "create visual stories of the people of (her) adopted homeland." Originally from California, Kaun has exhibited throughout the USA and in Germany, Belgium and Japan. Her solo shows include "Children of Indonesia," (Jakarta 1997) and "Passages of the Spirit Guardians," (Ubud, Bali 1993). She has promoted world batik through lectures in Australia, Indonesia and the USA. Exhibition: "Batik: The Narrative Voice," Wheelock College, Boston.

FIONA KERLOGUE Ph.D. is the Curator of Asian Anthropology at the Horniman Museum, London. She has degrees from London University and Dartington College of Arts, where she specialized in textiles. From 1989-1991 she was a lecturer at the University of Jambi in Sumatra and pursued her interest in batik during this time, making it the subject of her doctoral thesis on her return to the UK. Her recent publications include: The Book of Batik (2004), published by Didier Millet, and Arts of Southeast Asia (2003), in the Thames and Hudson World of Art series.

ABBY LILLETHUN is a faculty member of the University of Rhode Island, where she teaches "Historic and Socio-cultural Aspects of Dress." Her Ph.D. dissertation examines batik in America from 1893 to 1937. Her research presentations at national conferences include: "Dutch Immigrant Textile Artist Pieter Mijer", "Batik Artist and Radical Feminist Ami Mali Hicks", and "The Appropriation and Transformations of Batik in Modern Textiles of the Early Twentieth-century". Her research interests extend to "Javanese Influences on Western Dress," and "Aegean Bronze Age Dress," presented at the 2004 Cultural Olympiad in Greece.

SUSAN MCLEAN is a graduate of Hawthorne Institute of Education, Melbourne University, Victoria, Australia, and is currently studying for a Masters of Visual Arts Degree. She teaches at Euroa Secondary College. Susan has lectured at national and regional conferences in Australia and has conducted workshops in batik, shibori and design in Australia and Belgium. Exhibitions include group shows in Canada, Belgium and her home country as well as a solo show, "Nature's Memory," at the Benalla Art Gallery (2003) in Victoria, Australia.

KAGEO MIURA is an esteemed and honored Professor Emeritus of Kyoto City University of Art, NITTEN Exhibition Councilor, founder of the Japan New Craft Artist Association and member of Seiryukai, whose purpose and Miura's life work are the same: a dedication to promoting and enriching Senshoku (dyeing art) of Kyoto in the modern world. Our keynote speaker comes from a seventh generation screen mounting family. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Kyoto Prefectural Special Award of Cultural Merit and the Enku Grand Award. Miura's work is found in both public and private collections, including the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto and Tokyo, the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, the Kyoto Prefectural Library and Archive and the Kyoto City University of Art. Exhibition: "Rozome Masters of Japan," MassArt.

SUSAN LOUISE MOYER is a professional silk painter, author, and teacher who has been presenting workshops on silk painting techniques and design concepts for 15 years throughout the USA. Her fashion designs have been sold to major clothing manufacturers including Perry Ellis, Yves St. Laurent and Saks Fifth Avenue. President of Moyer Design Inc., Moyer is also the author of Silk Painting (1991) and Silk Painting for Fashion and Fine Art (1995, 2004). Her work has been shown throughout the United States, in Canada and Germany. www.moyerdesign.com

CHIE OTANI has exhibited in over fifteen solo shows and multiple group exhibitions through out Japan including the Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo and the Museum of Kyoto. She began winning awards for her work the 1970's when she was 22. Otani has exhibited in Heidelberg, Munich, and Kassela, Germany; Ghent, Belgium; Beijing, China and a solo show at the Nippon Gallery in NYC. Working with a number of rozome techniques, including han-bosen or half-resist style she creates 25 to 30 pieces of work each year and teaches at Nara College of Art. Exhibition: "Rozome Masters of Japan," MassArt.

MARGARET C. PERIVOLIOTIS is an assistant professor of textile design and decoration and head of the Textile Design Workshop at Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Athens, Greece. Her research and lectures in the field of Greek design and fashion history have been presented at conferences and symposiums in Hungary, Germany, Finland, UK, Portugal and Ukraine. A freelance designer and avid batik artist, she has exhibited her work in Europe since 1981. Her recent publications in Greek include Textile Art and Weaving, Interlacing, and Batik (2003) by Ion Publications.

ROSI ROBINSON, a graduate of Vassar College, completed qualifications as a teacher and has worked in primary and preparatory schools in the UK for 33 years. Well-known for her narrative batik paintings, she has exhibited in China, Japan, Canada, Belgium and Germany. Robinson has taught workshops in the UK, France, and Canada and has lectured abroad, including a talk to 400 teacher trainees in SW China. She is the author of two books, Decorative Fabric Painting (1994) and Creative Batik (2001). Exhibition: "Batik: The Narrative Voice," Wheelock College, Boston

RAY PIEROTTI, artist, lecturer and consultant, was educated at Brigham Young University in Utah and La Sorbonne, Paris. A keynote speaker at Batik 2003 in Ghent, Belgium), Pierrotti has a love of batik and layered design images. His drawings, screens and paintings are in over 250 public, corporate and private collections throughout the USA and 17 European and Asian countries. Between 1966 and 1993, Pierotti was the Assistant Director of the America Craft Museum, the Director of Regional Programs for the American Craft Council, Executive Director of Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and later, Acting Director of Atlanta International Museum of Art and Design. He is now a full-time studio artist working in Atlanta, Georgia.

SUSAN JOY SAGER is an artist and administrator who founded ArtBiz in 1993 to provide professional development for artists and craftspeople, from the aspiring to the professional, by offering business seminars and individual career counseling sessions. Her work as an arts administrator includes: Program of Artistry, Boston University, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and Portland School of Art. A graduate of Lake Placid School of Art and Hampshire College (MA), she has written for "Craft Reports Magazine" and authored Selling Your Crafts (1998) and The ArtBiz Workbook (1996).

NICOLA SHILLIAM was an Assistant Curator in the Department of Textiles at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from 1987-98, curating a number of important exhibitions. Her publications include Early Modern Textiles: From Arts and Crafts to Art Deco (with Marianne Carlano) and numerous articles. Shilliam has taught in the Cooper-Hewitt/Parsons Masters program, at Harvard University and Yale University. The recipient of numerous awards for her research, she received a Ph.D. in the History of Art from Warwick University, UK and is now a bibliographer of art history at Princeton University.

RUDOLF SMEND, author, editor, lecturer, collector and gallery owner; he was first introduced to batik in 1972 at Yogyakarta, Indonesia. From that time on, his life has been dedicated to batik. He has often been invited as an authoritative speaker to textile conferences and events (Yogyakarta, Jambi, Washington DC, Ghent, Berlin, and Hannover). He is the owner of the Smend Gallery in Koln, Germany which exhibits the work of international textile artists and recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. Smend has edited and published numerous books on batik and silk dyeing including Seidenmalerei Handbuch I -VI and Javanese and Sumatran Batiks from Courts and Palaces: Rudolf Smend Collection. He is the European Advisor to the World Batik Conference and will speak at the American Textile History Museum's exhibition of "Batik from Courtyards and Palaces Exhibition: the Rudolf Smend Collection."

JANET STOYEL of Devon, England is well known for her research work at the Royal College of Art where she pioneered applications of ultrasound and laser cutting technology to textiles. Stoyel has exhibited her innovative work extensively throughout the UK as well as in the USA, Japan, Italy and Germany. Her awards include Texprint: Technical Innovation Award, the Crafts Council Development Award, British Steel Melchett Award and Shima Siki Design Award. She has presented conference papers on Textiles for the New Millennium in Lisbon and Edinburgh. She holds two patents on process and machinery for production of textiles and is currently introducing laser-cutting technology to art schools and universities throughout the UK. www.clothclinic.com

MITSUO TAKAYA has been a Professor of Art/ Textile Design at Kyoto Seika University in Japan since 1990. With numerous distinguished prizes and awards for work shown at museums including the Museum of Kyoto, Hakone Open-air Museum, and the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, he has exhibited in more than 90 solo and group exhibitions since 1975. Known for his large screens in the difficult han-bosen technique (half-resist), he has exhibited abroad at the Caulfield Arts Complex, Australia (1988) and the Edinburgh City Art Center (2001). Exhibition: "Rozome Masters of Japan," MassArt.

WILLIAM THRASHER is an independent curator specializing in both traditional and contemporary Japanese crafts. His focus in recent years has shifted from the older, regional craft traditions to contemporary studio crafts of the 21st century. He has curated a number of museum exhibitions, including: "Kindred Spirits-The Aesthetics of Function in American Shaker and Japanese Arts of Daily Life", and "Shaped With a Passion-The Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Collection of Japanese Ceramics from the 1970s" (with Samuel Morse and Louise Cort). Thrasher is a member of the World Batik Conference Board of Advisors.

LUANN UDELL is a mixed media artist whose clay and fiber work has appeared in more than nine books within the past five years. She has been profiled in magazines such as The Craft Report, Niche Magazine and Ornament. Her enthusiasm for marketing and promotion has led her to share her personal style and successes through workshops and seminar for artists. Udell appeared on WMUR-TV's popular "New Hampshire Chronicles" in 2003, which can be viewed at her website: www.durable-goods.com.

PETER WENGER was born in Berlin, but since 1962 he has lived abroad, working as a batik artist primarily in Ireland and France. German artist Richard Dolker introduced him to batik in the early 1950's. Following college and travels in Indonesia, his work has focused more and more on the minimalist qualities of pure batik. Exhibitions include group shows in Japan, Indonesia, Belgium, and Denmark and solo shows at the Smend Gallery, Koln, Germany (1989, 1997), County Hall, Kilkenny (2001) and Garter Lane Arts Center, Waterford, Ireland (1993). He is a well-known lecturer on the philosophy of wax resist. Exhibition: "Transient Surface: European Abstraction," MassArt.

ANN WESSMANN, Site Coordinator for the World Batik Conference-Boston 2005, is a fiber artist with degrees from Skidmore College and Cranbrook Academy of Art. A full Professor in Fine Arts-3D Department at Massachusetts College of Art, and the fibers area coordinator for the past ten years, she has also participated in over 30 solo and group exhibitions through out the USA since 1974. Wessmann is the recipient of several distinguished awards and her work is found in both private and public art collections.