PAPER
TOUCH 2 – KKSD/ Association of Cyprus Paper Artists
Exhibition
and Activities at SOL Atelier Nicosia April 17-28, 2018
By
Heidi Trautmann
The
second PAPER TOUCH Exhibition will take place this year at the charming SOL
Atelier in the heart of Old Nicosia. The
address: Baf Sokak, Yediler Bölgesi, Suriçi, Nicosia (not far from Lokmacı
Crossing).
27 artists
from Turkey, Israel and Cyrpus are participating with their works:
Ahmet
Albayrak - Arzu Altınkılıç - Aslı Bolayır - Berna Aydın -
Emel Samioğlu - Eser Keçeci
- Gökçe Keçeci – Hakan Pehlivan – Hana
Altaratz – Heidi Trautmann – İnci Kansu – İsmet Tatar – Kemal Behcet Caymaz –
Klein Hedva – Laura Behar – Mustafa Öztunç – Nilgün Güney – Nurith Eppstein –
Nurtaç Özler – Omid Kalantar Motamedi – Roya
Alaqhehand – Ruth Shomroni – Sefi Gal - Sevil Savgı – Simge Uygur – Ulviye Perçinci
plus Sofia Hadjipapa talking about her
work during an afternoon presentation.
The
exhibition will be opened on April 17 at 19:00 hrs by the President of the
Association Ismet Tatar together with Esra Plümer Bardak. The exhibition will be open daily from 10:00
– 18:00 hrs. There will be individual
presentations by the artists …
Sofia
Hadjipapa on Friday, April 20 at 17:00 hrs, artist from Cyprus, on "The Persistence of the symbols: a contemporary book of hours";
On
April 24 at 15:00 hrs will be a workshop led by the artist Laura Behar
‘Painting with Pulp’.
Here
is a link to her website: http://www.lauraart.co.il/about.html
People
interested in participating in the workshop, should please give their names to
Facebook Messenger : Kağit Sanatcıları Dernek Üyeleri until April 04, or
contact Ismet Tatar or me, Heidi Trautmann (Tel. 0533 876 7470) for further
details. Costs for Non-members is Euro 25 or TL 125.
Please
read the following if you want to learn more about the Association and its
vision and work:
The young
Association of Cyprus Paper Artists – its development and its tasks
In
the whole of Cyprus paper making for the use of art was not an established
discipline, only when in 1989 the artist Inci Kansu took over a pioneering role
while searching for a more satisfying form of art. She was given a Fulbright
scholarship for plastic arts in the USA and that is when she fell in love with
paper and paper making. ‘The life cycle of paper is the same as of human
beings, it is born, it lives, changes, dies and is reborn’. This became Inci
Kansu’s philosophy and she discovered for herself a wide field of art
activities.
Three
years later she became a member of IAPMA and profited immensely from
participating in the many activities that were offered. She shared her
excitement with her art friends and colleagues and recruited four of them,
Ismet Tatar, Emel Samioğlu and Simge Uygur, to join in the adventure of discovering
their own world in the wide field of paper making and paper art; their IAPMA
membership followed, so now four pioneers went to participate in worldwide
IAPMA encounters for workshops, lectures and exhibitions.
The
road, these four first pioneers of paper art followed, was from the very
beginning a very individual one; Inci Kansu’s famous works took sometimes a
decade to finish like her Cupper Tunnel Project or the Tulipa Cypria the theme
of which recurred many times in varied forms: Ismet Tatar who has always been
working on Cypriot heritage, combines her themes homeland and soil with paper
art using paper made from native plants. Emel Samioğlu found exciting new ways
on the basis of her family’s history of seamanship, repeating basic symbols in
her art, the sea and the boat. And finally Simge Uygur who worked on matters of
life, sculptures of bodies, female bodies, symbolism of emerging life in many
forms.
Having
gathered constantly growing experience, the four pioneers set out to do joint
and/or personal exhibitions in order to make this fascinating form of art -
which goes back to the very basic origins of nature – known among their fellow
artists on the island. They continued to travel to international paper art
events to participate in conferences, workshops and exhibitions, they
communicated and learnt. In the meantime paper art museums were opened around
the world and could be viewed for many interested.
For
the 25th anniversary of IAPMA the four pioneers invited and organized a most
unforgettable event in North Cyprus at the Near East University in April 2011
with workshops and exhibition and a fashion show on the programme.
19 artists have displayed their breathtaking work in the
hall of the Communication Faculty: Helene Tschacher, (then President of
IAPMA) Eva Maria Juras (today President of IAPMA), Joachim
Tschacher, Kathrin Biffi, Ute Breitenberger, Johann Söhl, Anne Lise Studer, Jan
Fairbairn Edwards, Nur Gökbulut,
Nurtaç Özler, Yurdagül Pakalin, Hakan Pehlivan, Anne Räisänen, Bara
Lehman-Schulz, Aliza Thomas plus our local artists Inci Kansu, Ismet Tatar,
Emel Samioğlu and Simge Uygur.
They came from all over Europe, individualists with their
own cultural background and traditions, woven into their artwork and it was
most interesting to hear the personal story and connection to the artform when
they introduced themselves on stage.
A fashion show created by the artists and some beautiful
students of the design faculty gave us a further impression of the wide
possibilities of the use of paper art. It was most obvious to me that the
students had the fun of their life.
In the short time of three days many students attended
the workshops given by the artists in several rooms and on various subjects,
and I could see the students develop objects which they have not thought
possible before.
The Vice Rector of the NEU, Dr. Şenol Bektaş and the
Management Commitee, Prof.Dr. Orhan Çiftçi (Dean, Communication Faculty),
Assist.Prof.Dr. Gökçe Keçeci Şekeroğlu (Head of the Visual Communication and
Design Department), Mine Okur (Lecturer), Gamze Anıl Baykan (Lecturer) and many
others helped to make the sojourn of the artists a pleasant one. They were also
taken around the island to see the multi-layered culture and nature of Cyprus.
After
this event the philosophy of paper art became more widely known in the local
art scene so that on 17 October 2015 a long expected dream became reality with
the establishment of an own paper art association in North Cyprus. The number
of artists joining increased rapidly, artists who in one or other form had
worked with paper. In May 2016 the association had registered 21 members.
Besides the many preparatory works regarding the infrastructure of the
association the first year passed rapidly with organizing, instructing and
advising by means of workshops, lectures and exhibitions.
The
purpose is to promote paper art and the art of making paper for use in the
arts, and so they had first appearances in the public as an association:
-Ismet
Tatar gave a presentation to the members of the Inner Wheel Club of the
Rotarians.
-In
May 2016, the association organized workshops and an exhibition with works of
their members at the METU in Kalkanli in cooperation with Serhat Selişik, Dept.
of Arts.
On
May 11, Inci Kansu held a seminar to an interested audience, mostly teachers
and students, about paper as such, its beginnings and its journey from the East
across the globe and finally about the history of the use of paper for the
arts.
During
the following days Inci Kansu, Ismet Tatar and Emel Samioğlu have led separate
workshops to teach the making of paper from recycled paper, the further use of
the produced paper and how to make objects from paper pulp. The workshops met
with high interest.
-There
was a further in 2016 with workshop and seminar at the Eastern Mediterranean
University (EMU) in Famagusta.
Finally
there was the first anniversary in November 2016, with a retrospect on a
fruitful first year. The members of the Association of Cyprus Paper Artists have done
everything to make this event a big success, which it truly was, through to
beginning of December. Threads of communication had been established to other
artists of IAPMA celebrating its 30thanniversary and thus many
postcards from its members around the world with artistic birthday wishes had
come in and were attached to a traditional wishing tree in the middle of the
hall, so very touching. This project was a gift from the IAPMA presidency,
for which the association is deeply grateful.
The
participating artists in the anniversary exhibition were:
Alptekin
SOY, Anber ONAR, Arzu Emel ALTINKILIÇ, Aslı BOLAYIR, Atila TÜRK, Bahar ÇIRALI,
Bedia KALE, Berna İŞBİLİR AYDIN, Daniela TODOROVA, Ecem Necla ÖZOĞUL,
Emel
Samioğlu, Eser KEÇECİ, Gökçe KEÇECİ, Hakan PEHLİVAN, Heidi TRAUTMANN,
Helene
TSCHACHER, Hikmet ULUÇAM, İnci KANSU, İsmet TATAR, JoachimTSCHACHER
Kemal
Behçet CAYMAZ, Mustafa HASTÜRK, Mustafa ÖZTUNÇ, Nilgün GÜNEY, Nur GÖKBULUT, Nurtaç
ÖZLER, Özden SELENGE, Simge UYGUR, Sophia HADJIPAPA, Şükran TÜMER, Todor
TODOROVA, Vedat ÇOLAK.
The
present year 2017 continued with similar activities, one of which was an
invitation by an EU organization on the occasion of the International Green Week, to hold a workshop in
their premises to show to an interested group of adults and children from the
age of 6 years and teens. The workshop was about the making of objects using
waste paper such as old newspaper in this case. The artists Inci Kansu and
Ismet Tatar have led the workshop of three hours, there were 23 students
present in the workshop.
A home for the Association was
finally found in 2017, the host is the Arabahmet Cultural Centre which is
supported by the Girne American University.
On the occasion of the General
Election Meeting the programme for the coming season 2017/2018 was presented
including some interesting highlights, workshops at local universities with the
project of paper making for the purpose of printing; another workshop will show
the sewing of paper, folding techniques, and also burning patterns into paper.
Another project is to do EBRU art. There will also be workshops which will be
led by guest artists, for example Laura Behar from Israel who will attend the
association’s next anniversary. At the end of 2018 a great IAPMA Exhibition
which is planned to tour in European countries will also come to the TRNC which
will be a great experience for all artists on the island of Cyprus.
The Association of Cyprus
Paper Artists is deeply grateful to the former and present presidency of IAPMA
for all their support and interest. They offered many opportunities to the
Associations members to learn new ways and experience cooperation on a
worldwide basis.
The more members are joining
the association, the more awareness on this nature conserving art form can be
built up, and the more variations of the theme will develop.
(These
are my links referring to events)
http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=5654231783#.WdCywluCyUk
https://www.facebook.com/kibriskagitsanatcilaridernegi/?rc=p
http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=2848273326#.WdCz3FuCyUn
http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=6217718748#.WdC0qluCyUk
http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=5815523856#.WdDPqluCyUk