This course introduces Batik at a basic level.
1. Technical skills related to the pre-production, production and post-production of batik.
2. Understanding of the elements of art and principles of design
3. To learn about the historical references of Batik in relation to regional Attendance is a requirement as there are continual and formative assessments.
Taken in: AY18 Sem 2
Grading components: Project 1 (40%), Project 2 (40%), Submission 3 – Postcard & PowerPoint Slides (20%)
Grade: SU
Difficulty rating: 0.5/5
I LOVE THIS MOD – its the perfect chill mod for my final semester in university. Just bring yourself to class, have fun with wax and silk dyes for a couple hours, and head home. Everything in this class is graded individually, so its perfect for those who hate group work. Project 1 and 2 are batik paintings to be during class hours, so there’s almost nothing to be done at home except for submission 3. Submission 3 was to design a postcard featuring our final batik artwork (Project 2) and submit a PowerPoint slide documenting our progress over the weeks.
As an Art lover, I really enjoyed myself during the class. The instructor didn’t restrict the students to a particular theme or style so we were free to unleash our creativity. My instructor was a jovial elderly lady who was well-versed in numerous types of art – she usually begun the class by gathering everyone around her table to teach us new techniques, followed by us working on our art pieces. She would walk around to provide help and critique. Since I was planning to SU the module, there wasn’t any pressure to make my artwork super nice, I simply experimented with different colours and techniques as taught. I did receive compliments for my final piece, but still decided to SU in the end as it wasn’t worth risking my GPA in my final sem.
In terms of difficulty, there was a slight learning curve in mastering the canting (clumsy me spilled wax on the table and myself), but it was otherwise quite manageable. I would think its almost impossible to fail this mod as long as one submits the artwork on time & incorporated techniques taught in class. As with most NIE UEs, this class is notoriously difficult to enter, even as a final year student in my final semester. Would definitely recommend this mod to everyone who wants a chill mod/enjoys art. Its worth the fight to get a slot for the class!
This review was reposted with the kind permission of The Beautiful Sotong. Originally published at https://thebeautifulsotong.com/2018/12/08/ntu-electives-review
