Travelogue: Terengganu Blog 4 (28th May 2022) : Akademi Nik Rashiddin (ANR)

 Akademi Nik Rashiddin

Location:https://www.google.com/maps/place/ANR+Akademi+Nik+Rashiddin/@5.9413338,102.4502811,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x31b6c01178f4e153:0x1caade2f0a73dfeb!8m2!3d5.9413338!4d102.4524698 

On going information session by Ms Rosnawati 

Nik Rashiddin academy is located in Bachok, Kelantan. It is located in a remote area where big vehicles cannot access the road. The area is very calm and peaceful. The walk to the academy is quite enjoyable as all we heard was trees moving with the wind and some chicken. Yes! chicken. No noise of vehicles.

Gallery

Nik Rashiddin Academy is formerly known as Kandis Resource Center and was built  in 2000. It a center which teaches and conducts workshops about the malay heritage and the wood carvings. Ms Rosnawati bt Othman, former lecturer in architecture at UTM, also wife of late Nik Rashiddin is the owner and the conductor of this academy right now. According to her they always get all age group of students who visits that academy to learn more on wood carving, craft, art and Malay traditional heritage. 

House of Nik Rashiddin

Ms Rosnawati explaining about the house of Nik Rashiddin

When we entered the compound, we saw some wakafs made out of wood, and the Malay traditional house at the front. This Rumah Terengganu is originally the house where late Nik Rashiddin lived. This house is almost 200 years old but with consistent effort put, it is well maintained. The whole compound is 6 acres which accommodates 3 malay traditional houses in total.

Artworks from gallery

Nik Rashiddin was known as one of the best wood carvers in his days. According to him, the artwork these days are made for its materialistic worth rather than the spiritual worth. Therefore, the modern artworks do not have a life to it. Nik Rashiddin was known to have put his soul into his artworks and each of his artwork had he own touch to it. He used to get a lot of dagger carvings which he made each of them as a unique art piece which will relate back to the owner.

Artworks from gallery

ANR also accommodates a gallery to showcase some of Nik Rashiddin's astonishing artworks. One of the main artworks we saw was a mimbar from the mosque of Langgar, Kota Bahru, made in 1871. Also, the woodcarving artwork around the bed we saw was just so amazing that it made the bed look so royal. However, the coolest thing I saw from there was the daggers or the wavy blades. They looked like a wand from harry potter movie.

Artworks from gallery

We were served with lunch at ANR and later was given an information about the works of ANR and a brief about Nik Rashiddin. We ended our visit to ANR with a tour of the gallery and the Malay traditional house within the compound.

The Nik Rashiddin Academy has been doing an amazing work to keep the Malay traditional carving still alive and pass it to the growing generation. Most importantly this has kept the memory of Nik Rashiddin alive as a legend through his artworks.

Artworks from gallery

I wonder how much of time and dedication was put into these pieces of artworks. It's just that all the surfaces of carvings are being touched and closely looked into. It is so perfect especially when there was no much of electric tools and equipment. But then again, I think each of the pieces are this unique and flowless because of the human flows in it. It was manually made which means it has the soul and spirit of the maker in it. So technically, this dedication puts a life into these wooden pieces. 

Ventilation panel in the gallery

Link to youtube biography of Nik Rashiddin and academy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8413TB0d3A

Group photo in front of house of Nik Rashiddin