By Heidi Trautmann

Artin Demirci – Umut Germeç – Mesut Eren – Kadir Selçuk Yaşa, Mediha Sevinç –Ilkay Önsoy – Hikmet Uluçam – Nurtane Karagil – Mustafa Öztunc – Ipek Denizli Karagöz – Cevdet Alparslan......These were the artists that came together for the Engraving Days at the Eastern Mediterranean University, an event curated by the artist Ayhatun Ateşin. The first five artists mentioned above came from Istanbul, very fine artists whose albums of work you may find on the internet, and the other five are renown Turkish Cypriot artists.

Engraving is an art form, an early art form, unfortunately not so widely and importantly taught and performed as it should be, as it requires a printing press which is expensive and is not available for purchase in Cyprus, for example. The one press that was used for the Engraving Workshop is the property of the wood cutting artist Mustafa Öztunç who has his studio in Nicosia.

The artists were joined by quite a number of students who tried their mind and hand on the process of engraving, be it lino or wood cut, or be it etching or any other engraving form. The event took place in the EMU Activity Centre which provides ample place for such activities. Students and art lovers could lean over the shoulders of the experts mentioned above and study their technique.

I had reported on one of the first events in 2012 with the same goal to raise awareness for these art forms, see link

http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=1167673243#.VUDA99KqpBc

The final exhibition took place on April 24 and many art lovers came, also the students and their families. I had taken the bus from Girne which took me right in front of the university gates and I had only 200 m to walk to reach the Activity Centre.

I took many pictures for the readers to see the kind of work they did. The art pieces will remain with EMU and be added to the collection of earlier workshops.

The exhibition is still open until May 15 from 8:00 – 20:00 hrs.