Jakarta - The image of women`s activities as mere accessory to men`s - as left by the new order rule, might have not entirely fade away but some women grouped in the Mitra Seni Indonesia foundation try to break away from the stereotype.
They started their activities from the very simple thing they have - their love of art.
"We started from the small things that we know and we have. We call ourselves mitra seni (arts partners), so we didn`t limited ourselves to any kind arts. Whatever we like, whatever we enjoy, we start learning them," the organization`s chairwoman Nana Irawan told The Jakarta Post.
The organization was set up by about 30 women in August last year with the main missions to conserve Indonesian culture, improve people`s appreciation to culture and encouraging art making creativity.
Nana said the organization was set up by some of them, who have less activities at home since their children have grew up, already retired or whose husbands had retired.
"For us, retirement is not the end of the world," said Irawan.
The age of the group`s members, which range from 40 to 74, has made Tourism and Culture Minister Jero Wacik to dub them as "old and adroit women" during the celebration of it first anniversary recently.
Until now the group has brought together 262 artists and art-lovers, who have regularly held trainings, exhibitions, talk-shows, seminars on arts, cultural visits around the country as well as charity and fund-raising events to help unfortunate artists.
The trainings are closely related to its members interests area, such as painting and drawing, ceramics art, embroidery, flower arranging, jewelry making, sculpture, art of batik-making, fashion, choir, traditional music of angklung bamboo instrument as well as modern and traditional dancing.
"Starting form simple trainings, we found out some of our artistic talents. Some of us have already organized our own exhibitions by attending only four session of trainings," said Nana, who also presented some of his paintings at the exhibition.
While the trainings and seminars are aimed to boost skills of the group`s members, cultural visits to certain parts of the country are organized to improve knowledge on the country diverse culture and art. The trips are also intended to discover unknown artists or craftman.
"On one occasion, when visiting Garut in West Java, we found many talented craftsman and artists who lacked working capital and equipments," she said.
The artists and craftsmen were then given financial assistance and information. "We are happy because we can do what we are interested while also helping people and preserve our culture and art at the same time."
For their first anniversary, the group organized an art exhibition and bazaar, featuring exhibits from 30 selected artists from across the country.
According to chairman of the exhibition and bazaar organizing committee, Amah Sulfiah Ambardy, the exhibition was held to promote the artwork of the group`s members, while the bazaar was held to raise funds for 22 unfortunate artists from around the country.
The 22 artists were selected with the help of local tourism agencies and local artists.
The artists included painters, glass painters, wood carving artists, bamboo craftsman, mask craftsman, ceramics artists and batik-makers from Jakarta, Bekasi, Yogyakarta, Klaten in Central Java, Garut in West Java, and Malang in East Java.
Each artist received a grant of Rp 2.5 millions (US$270) each to improve their business. Matheos Viktor Messakh
Source: http://old.thejakartapost.com (October 08, 2008)