Museum opens doors to children

I Wayan Juniartha ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Ubud   |  Thu, 04/24/2008 12:26 PM  |  Surfing Bali

Sutedja Neka, the founder of Ubud's Neka Art Museum, was visibly happy to greet the group of children that approached the museum's entrance that Friday afternoon.

"Welcome to the Neka Museum ... I will show you the wealth of our predecessors. But, before that, lets have a photo session first," he said.

He directed the children to gather for a brief photo session. He then distributed the museum's brochures before escorting the group into the Museum's first display room.

"This is the room that houses the museum's oldest collections, the traditional Balinese paintings in Kamasan style. This style is the root of Balinese paintings," Neka said.

With unreserved enthusiasm, the 60-year-old explained in great detail the features of the ancient paintings.

"It reminds me of the time when I was a school teacher," he said.

Neka started his professional life as a teacher for a local art school in Ubud before committing himself to the art world -- first as a painting dealer and later as a patron for several celebrated artists -- before establishing the Neka Art Museum and moving on to become one of the country's most influential collectors.

The children who stood in awe before Neka were participants of a free painting workshop organized by Ubud's Yayasan Saraswati, a cultural foundation that also organizes the annual Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, the country's largest international literary gathering.

"The free workshop is one of the foundation's programs targeting school children. We hope these programs will teach the children to appreciate their cultural heritage, so in the long run they will play an active role in the preservation and continuation of that heritage," the foundation's program coordinator, Kadek Purnami, said.

The painting workshop's participants were selected from five elementary schools in Ubud. Each school sent two students to the workshop held in the backyard of Indus, an upscale restaurant belonging to Ketut Suardana, the foundation's chairman.

Amid beautiful scenery, the children learned to paint using different mediums -- from pencils, pastels and water colors on paper to oil on canvas -- all under the guidance of Ubud-based aspiring artist Made Sutakusuma.

The workshop comprised 15 individual sessions over a seven-week period.

"Its a good program, we need more programs like this to bring art to the children," Neka said.

After examining the ancient Kamasan paintings, Neka took the children on a journey that revealed step-by-step the development of Balinese paintings. He explained to the students the influences of foreign artists, such as Walter Spies, Rudolf Bonet and Arie Smit, on the birth of the island's contemporary paintings.

He also took the children to the museum's dedicated wings for Balinese and Indonesian master painters. The children were intrigued by the delicate lines of Lempad, and the bold, crisscrossed strokes of Affandi.

"We rarely get the chance to see these kinds of paintings, I really liked the painting that features Balinese dancers," fifth-grader Dewa Ayu Ari said, referring to a painting in traditional Batuan style.

The trip ended with Neka's newest pet project; the museum's kris floor. The floor houses more than 200 kris masterpieces, from both ancient and contemporary empu (master kris smiths).

"Thee museum is an educational institution. I am very happy that these schoolchildren showed great interest in the cultural heritage of our nation," Neka said as he bode the children farewell.

"We are very honored that the very founder of the museum gave these children a personal tour," Purnami said.

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