Made Griyawan
“Painting is one of the Balinese cultures recorded in the Batuan Village inscription which is more than 1000 years old. By sharing this experience I hope that children will know that this is one of our cultures, also as an offering to ourselves and the universe and also as a form of cultural responsibility.
This Batuan style painting technique also provides character building, as well as how the children work together through their differences, so that they become one unit like the works they create.”
- Made Griyawan
All photography by Martino Wayan
The large village of Batuan in central Bali is well known today for its performing artists and its particular style of painting. Remarkably, Batuan’s artist community dates back to at least 1022 CE, the earliest known written record mentioning the village.
I Made Griyawan was born in Batuan, and he acknowledges as his teachers both his father, the respected painter I Wayan Taweng (1926–2005), and his mother, Ni Wayan Bari. “My father always told me, ‘don’t imitate me; paint what you see’,” he says. Made Griyawan developed his own style within the Batuan tradition and pushed its boundaries. He now stands as an internationally recognized artist on his own, whose work has been shown in Japan and the United States as well as in Bali and Java.
“We are thrilled to have welcomed Balinese painter Made Griyawan as our recent Artist in Residence, and grateful he shared his knowledge and skill with children from our banjar and wider Bali community through our first Artist led kids painting workshop.
I have long admired Made Griyawan’s work, ever since being blown away by his solo show at the Arma Museum, Ubud, five years ago.
His world is inhabited by the spirits of Bali, of myths and of nature itself. His work holds up a mirror to ourselves, where if we look deep enough we might glimpse the multiple layers of our soul.”
- Erika Kurihara, Curator Rumah Hujan Artists in Residence
Thank you all participating children and their families:
Ni Putu Aishwarya Aprillia, Ni Wayan Isyana Cahya Dewi, Ni Kadek Pani Swandari, Ni Wayan Alika Andara, A A Istri Ayu Mahira Harshita, Ni Kadek Anis Keysa Putri, I Wayan Azka Purnama, Anak Agung Istri Ema Mayastra, Mabel Inskip, Lucas Kerthyasa, Ava Georgieff, Elin Georgieff, Mark Georgieff, Ava Khanom Mohammed, Ivan Stepanov, Arlo Oldfield, Theo Mitchell, Isaiah Mitchell, Niyam Patel, Bei Rao-Davidson, Neel Detilleux, I Komang Wiguna, Pia-Sophie Lauber Sabater, Django Jencquel and Umi Cook Kurihara.
Special thanks to the students from Studio Gelombang, who assisted Made Griyawan in teaching the children:
Ni Wayan Tiksna Gangga, I Made Arya Krisna, Ni Wayan Indah, I Putu Prabu and I Bagus Sahadewa.
Donations from the class will support the work of Studio Gelombang, Made Griyawan’s art school providing art classes for children in the Batuan community.