Istanbul Mail Art Project is over... And a beautiful MAIL ARTWORK arrived today...My first personal mail artwork...HAPPY!!!

Today at ARTS-In Istanbul we had a different day. Generally we have a very cheerful atmosphere in the gallery and we are always in a very very positive mood. Bu today was somehow different. You could feel it!!!  We were happy-cheerful  and sad at the same time... We were happy because our gallery had been enlightened with precious artworks from all over the world for more than two weeks. Seeing all those beautiful, clever, shocking, unique, classical, modern, abstract, conceptual artworks around us, on our walls, pouring upon us from our ceiling has been an incredible experience for all of us. But we were sad at the same time because it was all over!!! Meral carefully took down all artworks from their places. She collected them, one by one in a very beautiful dossier. That is going to be our ''mail art archives''. That even can be the first corner stone of our dream ''mail art museum'' :)) So here are some pictures from this special day of ours. Thank you to all!!! 

Meral taking down the artworks

Meral putting everything in a dossier

Our mail art archives

Türkan, happy... I LOVE OIL PAINTİNG smile!

Still happy

Another subject now:
Today is a special day for me! Because I received my first ''personal'' mail art piece... Keith S. Chambers sent me a very impressive artwork and a package of goodies... Things like stamps, cigar labels and some headlines from newspapers...I am definitely going to use them for my artworks...Thank you Keith!!! YOU WILL ALWAYS BE SPECIAL FOR ME! 
So here are some pictures of this first mail art arrived today...

Front

Back

Envelope

Goodies

From my Sketch Book

Salute to Klee I

Salute to Klee II

Pink Vase

Asemşc Letter in Colors

Island Boat

Living Room I

Living Room II

Everybody says that having a small sketch notebook helps to maintain creativity alive. Having a notebook and pen/pencil/etc in your hands, stimulates the creative part of our brain.
So a few days ago, I started this small, pocket size notebook. With my colored brush pens, I am putting on paper the color combination of whatever I see around. I started with my living room. Apart from that, I did some doodles imitating Klee's BAUHAUS paintings...

microbo.net ... MİCROBOOK PROJECT

Everything started last autumn.
I started to join ARTS-IN team for my activities and MERAL, the motivator, told that there was this project of art in MİLANO. It was my first ''THING''... The good thing was that every single art work sent there, was going to be displayed at an art gallery in MİLANO. The place was of ASSOCIAZIONE CIRCUITI DINAMICI... If you google them, you'll see that this is a very active art and design projects association. I love them. They are honest and serius about what they do.
My microbook was what you see above. I called it ''THE SOUND OF MUSIC'' MICROBOOK.
That was my first! And then I started to do more notebooks called SOUND OF MUSIC. I'll post them too...
So here it is... MY FIRST DISPLAYED ARTWORK EVER!!!

Another Day in ARTS-IN

Well...It's been a while that we, four of us, didn't come together at the gallery. We all had our reasons... First of all Türkan's brother, who lives in Izmir, had an operation and Türkan was naturally busy to take care of the patient and the rest of the family. Hilal, who has a very talented son, is always busy, she runs here and there to keep everything in order. She was at the gallery on Tuesday BUT I was not there... I had a ''GIRLS BREKFAST'' at my best friends house, with 5 other friends, so I couldn't join ARTS-IN team. Meral, the motivator, is most of the time at the gallery. She lives on one of the islands of Istanbul and she spends a lot of time at the gallery. Now that we have our exhibition on MAIL ART, she comes to ARTS-IN 4 days a week.
These three ladies I mentioned above are the founders of this art heaven. Apart from them, we have other friends who share the place with us. Like Gülcan for example... She is a very good oil painter... Then there is Öznur, whose collages are the best; she will give us a course on monochrome painting next week.
Every Tuesday and Thursday we, the ARTS-IN artists, meet at the gallery. We work together, we talk, laugh and share the best time of our lives. We learn a lot from books, from art works which arrive from all over the world and especially from each other. I feel very lucky to be with them sharing this wonderful atmosphere.
OK... Now the last works of mine!!!
Well, honestly speaking my last few days are gone reading a lot about watercolor technique.  I always dreamed of doing nice sketches and coloring them with watercolors. BUT, I am terrible!!! I am definitely the worst watercolor-lover of the history of mankind!!! I should give it up BUT I simply can't!!! That's my dream!!! I always envied those people who sit in a quite corner in one of the mighty temples of, for example, BAGAN in MYANMAR and start to do some quick sketches and then add some colors here and there easily... I am not one of them!!! I struggle...But with watercolor, you shouldn't struggle... You should set yourself free and just do it! BUT I can't let myself go! I try!!! And I try... No way!!! But one day I'll do it! Hopefully in this lifetime:))
So here is the collage I did today... Everything started with the map of METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART NEW YORK... So here it is...

Osman Erk's Photo Exhibition

The countdown has already started! The big day is approaching and I am getting excited day by day. Osman, my significant other, is a photographer. Although he doesn't call himself an ''artist'',  I know he is a very good one and he has a wonderful eye!!! I am very much fond of his art. And this summer, is going to be a special one because he is opening a photo exhibition at UKKSA, near the wonderful town of DATÇA.
UKKSA is an International Art Academy in one of the most beautiful regions of Turkey. That's the place where Egean Sea meets Mediterranean. That's the place where the city called KNIDOS was born. And the whole area is one of the last secluded places in western Turkey. The nature still keeps its wilderness. You still can HEAR THE SİLENCE flowing between the almond trees that cover all the hills. And I simply love the place!
The funny thing is that, when we were there, in DATÇA, in autumn of the last year, we didn't have any idea that such academy existed! While driving around, we ended up in front of this incredible sculpture garden, that proved to be the fruit of a refined taste. But we didn't know who the people were and what the garden was. The first time we saw the garden, we didn't have time to stop and explore it because I was determined to catch the sunset in ancient KNIDOS. On our way back, we drove past again the garden. But this time it was late and dark. So we said, OK NEXT TİME!!! By saying next time we meant next year... BUT GOD had other plans! So the next day, driving again, I chose another road. We drove along the coast and after that I decided to take another smaller road which seemed to be a shortcut. Yes it was!!! And it took us directly in front of the sculpture garden AGAIN!!! We HAD TO STOP this time!!! That was a kind of sign! And we did stop there. While visiting the place and taking pictures of the modern sculptures placed in the garden, we could hear BACH's Cello Suits, from some of the workshops inside. Perfect!!! Nature, art and Bach!!! I fell in love with the place that moment. And told Osman: I can live here forever! BUT that was not the end! The real surprise came after that! The founder of UKKSA happened to be one of the old friends of Osman!!! And he was there! So you can fill in the rest!!!
If you want to know more about UKSSA and the organizations go to  http://ukksakademi.com/
Osman's Exhibition is going to be between June 15th-30th. The subject is ''LINES'' ...
We are excited...And happy!!! Which is more important!!! 

Collage Day

Penguins

Leap of Faith

Miracle

Icebergs Around South Sandwich Island

May 13th Works

Asemic Letter

                                                                 

Towards the Sun

Asemic May 13th

İstanbul Mail Art Project - Exhibition

Yestarday was a big day for us at ARTS-In Istanbul because we had the opening of Meral's Mail Art Project's Exhibition. We had 67 works from all over the world with more works from Turkey. Meral Agar of course was the engine of this project and she worked so hard for every detail. And finally the big day came and we had a wonderful gathering in our gallery. I want to share some of our impressions from our gallery and the exhibitions. Of course if you want to have more information you can always visit the web site    istanbulmailartproject.blogspot.com/ 

New York Impressions

Two weeks ago I was in New York. It was a beautiful ''spring city''... Coldish... But still, I loved it... I took some pictures with my iphone and then put it on instagram. I know that now instagram photos are considered art too so I want to share here, some of those pictures... I will label them PHOTOS... So anyone interested, can look them up directly there. 

While I was there, I had nice walks in the mighty Central Park. In a city, where every square feet is a piece of diamond, leaving so much space for just recreation, is a true miracle...Every time I go to this wonderful park, I congratulate every soul who contributes to have such a paradise... So the next two pictures are from my moments in the CENTRAL PARK.

                As you see, the soucer magnolias and white cherry blossoms were amazing!!!


Then one evening I went to Metropolitan Opera, to see RIGOLETTO. Definitely one of the most performed operas in the world and being there again, in the MET, was another gift of my professional life. So the next one, is an impression form the MET...

And the spring bouquets were everywhere... Like this one from the famous MERCER KİTCHEN in SOHO...

One of the well hidden surprises of New York is BURGER JOINT inside the very chic Le Meridien Parker Hotel on 57th Street. Once you enter into the hotel lobby, you find yourself in one of the very elegant and trendy places of the city but that is NOT the surprise. To find what you are looking for, you must follow the red velvet curtain. Really! There is a wall covered with a huge red curtain. So you follow that route to find one of the best places for burgers... And the juicy burgers, home made, old fashioned fries with ice cold beer makes your day. So the last one is from the walls of Burger Joint...

No Name

This is a postcard size collage that came out on Sunday... At home, in Istanbul...
What do you think????

Asemic 5x5 For Circuiti Dinamici in Italy

Hi!

I was sitting at home thinking and wondering what to put today to my blog to start with... And I came up with this small work that I sent to Italy, for a very respectable organization called CIRCUITI DINAMICI... We, at ARTS-IN, are very fond of the projects of this lively Italian organization at MİLANO. They very often organize new projects and exhibitions. They are very open minded, just like US! They respect every human being that consider him/herself as artist. They give importance to every single piece sent by anyone... And we love to support their projects by sending different works. This autumn we prepared 8 pages little artist's book called MICROBOOK. We had so much fun while doing/painting/cutting/pasting them... So if you want to have an idea of who they are and what they to please go to this web site:
http://www.microbo.net/
This is one of my my last pieces and I love it because it is one of the very first works that I created while exploring the new waters of the mysterious world called ASEMIC WRITING...
Asemic World seems that doesn't have an end... It goes deeper and deeper. Anything that inspires you is fine with it.
I am in love with Chinese and Japanese art and calligraphy, so my asemic pieces are generally very much similar to gentle works of that part of the world. But this red one came out in a different way. It reminds me of doctor's hand writings...Beautiful BUT impossible to read at the same time.
Hope you like it...
Ciao!!!