Rosi Robinson
There is something about batik that is magical and alluring and it has inspired Rosi Robinson for over 46 years. She is a member of The Sussex Guild, a group of highly-skilled designer makers living in Sussex and the adjoining counties. Rosi exhibits and teaches batik. She has lectured and exhibited at Batik Symposiums in China, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Indonesia, Canada and in the USA. She was one of only three UK textile artists to exhibit at the International Textile Art Biennale in Haacht, Belgium in February, 2015. She divides her time between the UK, Nova Scotia, Canada, and the USA. and continues to offer batik workshops for both adults and children and gives lectures and presentations to art societies, embroidery guilds etc. throughout the UK, USA and Canada. Rosi has written three books on Batik: - Decorative Fabric Painting (Merehurst) 1994; Creative Batik 2001 (which was relaunched as a Search Press Classic in 2016); and Start to Batik (Search Press) 2009. In 2012, Rosi produced a DVD ‘Batik Workshop - Fun with Paper and Fabric,’ Studio Galli; and a 7-minute video on You Tube called ‘Reflections in Batik with Rosi Robinson’ 2010. In Feb 2014, Rosi was a finalist in the International Artist Magazine competition - ‘Seascapes, Rivers and Lakes’. As a result she was invited to write a ten-page, stage-by-stage article, ‘Capturing the World in Wax and Dye’ for the Aug/Sept 2015 issue 104 of the International Artist Magazine. Rosi’s batiks are more like figurative watercolour paintings on fabric than traditional batik. She works mainly on cotton. She waxes areas she wants to keep white and then applies washes of coloured dye over the fabric, working from light to dark, capturing the detail under wax at each stage. The waxed areas resist the dyes, whilst gradually the picture begins to emerge. Rosi’s subject matter covers a wide spectrum - land and seascapes, sporting scenes, animals, birds, boats, reflections, abstract images - mainly influenced by her interests, her travels and commissions. Batik is such a captivating technique, offering so many possibilities. It is no wonder that it continues to inspire Rosi and has been her overriding passion over the last 46 years.
