A DREAM THAT CAME TRUE IN ESKISEHIR: INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY CERAMIC ARTS MUSEUM

Eskisehir, a ceramic lover city, has a museum that focuses on contemporary ceramic art. The General Coordinator and founder of the International Contemporary Ceramic Arts Museum, which opened last November, Prof. Zehra Cobanli explained the stages of establishing this first and only ceramic museum.

ASSOC. PROF. M. CANDAN GUNGOR

The International Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Arts was opened by Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality in the Historical Odunpazari District, within the Art Street and Courtyard Eskisehir Art Complex on November 9, 2024. The museum collection includes 122 works by 86 national and international artists. The museum also has a section where the materials and techniques used in the production phase of ceramic art are shared, providing art lovers with the opportunity to learn about ceramic art.

The General Coordinator and founder of the museum, Prof. Zehra Cobanli, said at the opening ceremony, “I would like to express my respect and gratitude to our very valuable artists who donated their works to the International Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Arts, which is the first and only one in Eskisehir, an important ceramic region of our country, where the memory of contemporary Turkish ceramic art is exhibited.”

We spoke with Prof. Zehra Cobanli about the stages of establishing the International Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Arts.

How did the idea of ​​opening the Contemporary Arts Museum, which you founded in Eskişehir, come about?

When we started the “Trace of the Brush in the Glaze 1st Eskişehir Ceramic Symposium” organized in 2015 with the cooperation of the Ceramic Art, Education and Change Association, of which I am the Chairman of the Board, Anadolu University G.S.F. Ceramics Department and the Metropolitan Municipality, our main goal was to establish a contemporary ceramic museum in Eskisehir. When we shared the “Trace of the Brush in the Glaze” project with Prof. Dr. Yilmaz Büyükersen, who was the Mayor of Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality at the time, the first steps of a ceramic museum were taken. We started with the belief that these works, which will provide an opportunity for the enrichment and development of the ceramic language and a better understanding of its meaning, will create an artistic memory within the framework of the Eskisehir theme. We had dreamed in those years that the works of our artists would take their place in the ceramic museum planned to be established in Eskisehir and as very valuable works in our ceramic history… Following the event, very valuable works were brought to Eskisehir: Beril Anilanmert, Oktay Anilanmert, Habip Aydogdu, Fikri Canturk, Ridvan Coskun, Zehra Cobanli, Hakan Esmer, Gungor Guner, Ergin Inan, Fevzi Karakoc, Oya Kinikli and Aydin Solenay made paintings reflecting their own artistic styles on ceramic surfaces using underglaze and overglaze methods.

Can you provide information about the works and artists produced in the years following the symposium where the idea of ​​creating a collection was born?

“The Trace of the Brush in the Glaze 2nd Eskişehir Ceramics Symposium” was held at the Eskişehir Odunpazarı Touristic Handicrafts Center between May 28-31, 2016. It brought together leading artists working in different fields of art from the sister cities of Turkiye and Eskisehir. Artists such as Mustafa Pilevneli, Devrim Erbil, Saime Donmezer, Atilla Atar, Emel Solenay, Serpil Akyil, Gungor Guner, Halil Yoleri, Yavuz Pilevneli, Sebastian Stöhrer, Cho Yoon Seo, Vasile Catarau and Gao Ming attended the second symposium. Artists using ceramic and porcelain surfaces had the opportunity to express their own pictorial language on ceramic materials for the first time, and they created paintings on ceramic surfaces using under-glaze, in-glaze and over-glaze methods that highlighted their own understanding of art. The works met with art lovers in an exhibition that opened at the Metropolitan Municipality Contemporary Glass Arts Museum on May 31, 2016. Another symposium, “Trace of the Brush on the Glaze 3rd Eskişehir Ceramics Symposium” was held at the Eskisehir Odunpazari Touristic Handicrafts Center between May 6-9, 2018. The ceramic works produced at the symposium, in which artists such as Ezgi Hakan Verdu Martinez, Gulseren Sudor, Teoman Sudor, Hanefi Yeter, Imren Ersen, Ismail Ozgur Soganci, Mustafa Agatekin, Tevfik Fikret Ucar and Vedat Kacar participated, were presented to art lovers in an exhibition held at the Eskisehir Glass Arts Museum Exhibition Hall on May 9, 2024.

How long did it take you to create such a large collection? It is very exciting for us, the new generations, to see the works of our artists who laid the foundations of Contemporary Ceramic Art in Turkey and are no longer alive...

2,5 years ago in February 2022, Prof. Dr. Yilmaz Buyukersen called me and said that it was time to establish the museum. After he gave us the good news we were waiting for, the first meeting was held with the participation of a large group at Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality. Our current Mayor Av. Ayse Unluce was also present at this first meeting. I tried to fulfill the curatorial and coordination duties of the museum, which I voluntarily undertook at that meeting, with great excitement, discipline and responsibility. The great roles of our valuable artists who donated their works in the formation of this museum during this process are admirable and a great devotion. It is very important and valuable for our country's Republic-era ceramic art memory that they made sacrificies for this purpose. I sincerely thank all our artists and their relatives who added value and contributed.

And the museum, as you put it, “after a dream” became a concrete reality…

Yes, on November 9, 2024, our country’s first and only International Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Arts was opened in Eskisehir, Odunpazari, Art Street complex. The opening was held with the participation of Eskisehir Metropolitan Mayor Av. Ayse Unluce and Prof. Dr. Yilmaz Buyukersen, I think it was within the scope of the Art Street opening due to austerity measures. In the museum, ceramic works of many contemporary artists such as our veteran ceramic artists Sadi Diren, Atila Galatali, Filiz Galatali, Ayfer Karamani, Mehmet Tuzum Kizilcan, Beril Anilanmert, Hamiye Colakoglu, Mustafa Tuncalp, Tulin Ayta, Candeger Furtun, Ferhan Taylan, Binay Kaya, and Sevim Cizer, Burcu Karabey, Esra Carus, Melis Buyruk, Candan Gungor, Tuba Onder Demircioglu, Elif Agatekin, Irfan Aydin, Mutlu Baskaya, Pinar Baklan, Ezgi Hakan, Kaan Canduran, Kemal Tizgol, Insel Inal, who we watch intensively today, are exhibited, along with artists who participated in the “Trace of the Brush in the Glaze” symposiums.

Do you have anything to say about the future of the museum and the further expansion of the collection?

Yes, our aim is for the collection to expand and grow even more. Therefore, in 1.5 years, we will share the works of our new artists with you in a new collection exhibition.

Thank you very much for all your efforts and the valuable information you provided.

You are welcome, I would also like to sincerely thank our Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Av. Ayse Unluce, who enabled the opening of our museum, which will make very important contributions to the development, recognition and permanence of ceramic art, one of the oldest art forms of our cultural heritage, my valuable professor Yilmaz Buyukersen, our artists who contributed, supported and donated their works for the establishment of the museum, their relatives and everyone who worked for the museum in the Metropolitan Municipality.