Eric Armentrout

Batik Artist Eric Armentrout: Still Melting After All These Years

Growing up as an Air Force brat, Eric Armentrout moved around a lot. He spent a good part of his childhood living on military bases in Germany and Spain, where he was exposed to the world of fine art (Many thanks to his Mom and Dad for dragging him to see just about every art museum in Spain!). Eric has been creating art as long as he can remember. "I knew I was an artist when I was 10 years old -- my first love was clay; I'm a sculptor at heart."

First exposed to tie-dye via The Grateful Dead, Eric was introduced to Batik while attending a Virginia high school in 1981. Since then, he has been studying and exploring the art of Batik and dyes with a passion. It wasn't until 1986, while earning his bachelor's degree in three-dimensional design, that he was formally taught the "traditional" style of Batik.

An art professor, Dr. Halide Salam, who taught Fiber Design at Radford University in Virginia, took interest in Eric's budding talents. A native of Bangladesh, Dr. Salam helped guide Eric as his own process and style of Batik evolved. It wasn't long before Eric was known around campus as the "wax artist." But the odd title didn't bother him -- selling Batik T-shirts to fraternities, clubs, and Dead-Heads on campus helped finance his art education.

Eric still believes Batik is a challenging art form because the artist has to have the ability to adapt and improvise with winging-it when the hot molten wax takes the design in an unexpected direction. "That's why I'm still doing this after 20 years; I never feel like I'm doing the same design twice, even when I am repeating a design. Each one is unique due to the nature of the medium."

After college, Eric moved to Tucson, Arizona where his wife, Michele, earned her Master's degree at the University of Arizona. "We came to Tucson for two years and liked it so much we stayed for nine." His wife Michele says, "We make a great couple because we both have a great passion for our art -- I'm a writer, and Eric is a Batik artist." In Tucson, Eric polished his skills creating Batik clothing for arts & crafts shows and street fairs around Arizona and the West Coast.

In 1994 he connected with the New Orleans Radiators, who were in Tucson promoting their Southwest tour. A long time Fish Head (a fan of the Radiators), Eric proposed making one-of-a-kind T-shirts for the band. Over a period of months an alliance was formed. If you have a chance to see the Rads in concert, you'll no doubt see Eric's shirts dancing around the crowd with their happy owners.

Eric has been using Procion Dyes and Dharma clothing which he regularly gets from his favorite dye supply store, Dharma Trading Co. since at least 1987.