eco batik

Welcome to eco•batik

For the past 14 years I have been creating textiles with my favorite medium, batik. Using 100% recycled kraft paper, I create custom lighting and window treatments to flood your environment with light, pattern, color and beauty.  eco·batik brings ancient handmade textiles to the contemporary design market.  It is a perfect marriage of old and new, form and function, design and sustainability.

At eco·batik’s showroom you will find batik lighting, fine art and window treatments as well as greeting cards and prints from my card line, Urban Bird Designs.  You will also find an assortment of thoughtful items for sacred places in your home and heart.

Almost any eco·batik pattern can be applied to any lampshade or window treatment.  Design, size and color can all be customized.  I love working with designers and clients to enrich residential and commercial spaces.

Visit eco·batik at 3385 S. Kinnickinnic Avenue, Milwaukee, WI. 

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 10 - 6 and Saturday from 10- 3

Monday and Tuesday if my sign is out!

or by appointment, 414-524-9198.

Learn more about my work here:

http://www.opb.org/programs/artbeat/segments/view/831

http://vimeo.com/9047455

The world is on your side,

Jennifer Doheny

All  designs and photographs are copyrighted and can only be used with my permission.

 

Batik Competition Awarding Ceremony

I finally got some pictures from the American Batik Design awarding ceremony that took place in November in San Francisco.  You can see more about the competition in the post below.  Here is a link to two videos.  The first one is the award ceremony.  This was at the end of a very long event/dinner hosted by the Asia Society and Chevron.  The second video is a little more interesting if you ask me!  This shows all of the finalist's batiks being made in Indonesia.  They are are masterful batik artists.  Here is an image of my finished batik. It looks exactly like my design...amazing!

Here is a picture of me on stage next to a super model wrapped in my batik.  I am holding a giant check for $2,500 for second place..... how cool is that? Second from the right is the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Indonesia.  He recieved an economic award from the Asia Society that night.  Next to him is Indonesia's Ambassador, Dr. Dino Patti Djalal.  He gave a wonderful presentation as did his gorgeous wife....she also awarded me a beautiful book on Indonesian batik.

It was a great honor to be a part of this competition.  All of the people that I worked with at the Embassy were so lovely.  Special thanks to Josh Benishek for his graphic design help on this project, he is truly talented and a great friend.  Thank you to the Bay View Compass for writing a nice little piece on this. Special thanks also goes out to my mumma!  She accompanied me on a super fun five day trip to San Fran and lifted me up when I got pouty about not winning first place!  She's the best!

Batik Design Finalist!

I am very happy to report that I am one of nine finalist in the national Batik Design Competition offered by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia.  The theme of the competition is "The Spirit of America in the Heritage of Batik," chosen to reflect the expression of cultural fusion between United States and Indonesia through batik, and to bring American values in the tradition of Indonesian Batik.  Batik is a big part of Indonesian culture and commerce. The craftsmanship exhibited in Indonesian batik is inspiring!

When I began crafting a theme for this competition my thoughts kept returning to the Native American people and the land itself.  I also kept thinking about what an abundant place the United States is; abundant in land, resources, opportunity, and food.  These ideas are what led to my batik design theme, ABUNDANCE. My design centers on the buffalo, the blueberry, and wheat.  The background motif as well as the overall layout is inspired by traditional Indonesian batik design.

I will be traveling, with my very proud mother, to San Francisco for the award ceremony on November 8th.  My design is currently being batiked by Indonesian batik artists and will hopefully be done by the event. 

Special thanks goes to Joshua Benishek for his graphic design wisdom and skills!

ABUNDANCE - Jennifer Doheny  (click on to see larger vesion)

The finished piece is quite large measuring 45 x 88 inches.

Portlandia lampshades........

This lampshade design was inspired by my 15 years spent in Portland.  Portland overflows with roses.  It is known for it's spectacular rose garden that overlooks the city and Mt. Hood.  Every Portlander has a picture of them and their visiting family and friends standing in the Rose garden with Mt. Hood in the background.  Roses grow up telephone poles and create fragrant splashes of beauty all over the city.  This is one of the may things I miss about Portland......

    

eco∙batik hosts field trip from Thomas More High School!

eco • batik was full of creative students from Thomas More High School last week!  Art teacher, Jodi Brzezinski, arranged a field trip (a two block walk) for her fiber arts class to come learn batik at eco•batik.  This is the first time I have ever really taught batik!  I explain it everyday to customers in the shop, many of them never having heard of batik, but this is the first time I have worked directly with students.

I am so impressed with how prepared the girls were with their beautiful designs.  Ms. B gave them great instruction on how to prepare their pattern for batik.  I am even more impressed with how well the girls worked with the tools and wax.  Wax is a very unforgiving material that drips and bleeds into places where you don't want it to go.  Learning how the wax performs is a big part of batik and Ms. B's class did an outstanding job! 

You will be able to see the finished batik's on Gallery Night weekend, October 21st and 22nd at eco•batik!

 

In the studio at eco•batik

 

Blue batik roses

New textile pattern

Here is a VERY LARGE pencil drawing of one of my new patterns called "Instinct". I originally intended to batik it but after I spent two days just drawing the pattern on this 7 foot by 10 foot piece (only two of four panels are shown here), I knew batiking it would take longer than I thought.  I ended up liking how the pencil drawing looked anyway, so I spent quite a bit of time coloring in the pattern at home while I watched too many episodes of Storage Wars!  You can see these being used as room dividers in the shop.  They let in lots of light and create a nice neutral backdrop for the shop.

Sketches for eco•batik lampshades and pillows

Here you can see how I develop a new design.  It usually starts with a rough doodle and then I refine the sketch down a crisp black and white drawing that can be scanned in and turned into a vector image.  The vector image can then be sized up or down or colors can be changed, patterns can be repeated. I use graphic designers for all of that. I like my pencil and paper! 

Click on any of these images to make them larger.

ILLUSION

 

INNOCENCE

 

MANIFEST

THE SKy COLLECTON @ HOME pillows at eco•batik

eco • batik is excited to introduce THE SKy COLLECTION @ HOME pillows!  They are made of upholstery weight, cotton twill and measure 16" x 16".  It was an interesting process having my original drawings digitally converted for the printing process.  Whenever you are having your artwork reproduced in another medium like a print, greeting card or fabric, you never quite know how it will turn out or if colors will match your expectations.   I love how they turned out!  To me they look and feel like my favorite t-shirt that I always feel good in and love to put on!  I look forward to bringing more designs to life through textiles!

KINNICKINNIC AND INNOCENCE  - BLACK

MANIFEST AND ILLUSION - BLACK

KINNICKINNIC AND INNOCENCE - SKY

MANIFEST AND ILLUSION - SUNSET

 

SPACE BLOSSOM

New Lampshade designs at eco•batik!

 
ILLUSION - BLACK AND KRAFT

INNOCENCE - BLACK AND KRAFT

INNOCENCE - BURNT ORANGE AND KRAFT

HAZY HORSE HAIR - SUNSET

HAZY HORSE HAIR - SKY

PORTLANDIA - SKY

PORTLANDIA - SUNSET