By Heidi Trautmann

The weather gods meant it well with us Thursday Artists when they made the sun shine just nicely, no wind blew the ladies’ skirts up or the wine from our lips sponsored by KÜP Wine in Girne at the reception of the art exhibition FROM LIFE at the lovingly renovated house of the Public Library in Kyrenia, opposite the Colony Hotel.

The garden of the Public Library was full with art loving people, about 300 guests had come to see our exhibition, the result of the last two years of drawing From Life. After some words of welcome where I said that we are most grateful and happy that art activities move over the mountains away from the strong art scene in Lefkoşa, to make art more accessible for the residents east and west of Girne.

To realize a project like this exhibition requires substantial support and I thanked the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture; I also thanked Ms Umure Örs, Director of the National Library in Lefkoşa and Ms Rukiye Kaymak from the Public Library in Girne, also Head of the Turkish Cypriot Librarians’ Association, for their attendance at this evening, for their support and friendship during the last months while preparing this exhibition. I have established a brochure on the history of Turkish Cypriot which is quite interesting and which you can read on my website www.heiditrautmann.com  under art news.

I continued to say that after many years of working together,  the Thursday artists – please find the names mentioned below - decided to show their work to the public in a group exhibition. 

The working with live models results in a freshness and liveliness in our drawings and studies, be it in watercolour, pencil, ink, charcoal and pastel, a freshness which can only be obtained by drawing From Life, but we often use our sketches for further paintings in acrylic and oil.  The working in a group for so many years has proven to be very helpful to all of us in order to see our work with the eyes of others.

The three rooms of the exhibition hall were packed and the guests had to queue but they did not give up and everybody showed respect and admiration for our work.

We opened all windows to let the evening sun in and the rooms were lit with Cypriot light and the guests continued to discuss art and life sessions and others were sitting in the library garden until the wine was finished and conversations had to end. A very successful evening.  

Thursday Artists

Anne Hughes, Muriel Clutten, Marilyn Bosworth, Gönen Atakol, Tüneysel Yaylalı, Margaret Bosworth, Gülseven Coles, Catharine Bayley, Monika Ottow, Ilsemarie Petzoldt, Ingrid Backhouse, Maxene Shailer, Kristina Hessenberg, Heidi Trautmann.

The drawing on the invitation and poster is by Catherine Bayley

Note: Our exhibition and talks with the artists will be shown on Sunday, Nov 6 at 12 am and 12 pm on channel BRT 2.