The 1st International Art Festival organized by Antalya-Kumluca Karacaoren Nature, Culture, Tourism Promotion and Solidarity Association in July in Karacaoren village in the Alakir valley, which bears the traces of Lycian culture, brought together local people and artists.
LEC. EMEL MULAYIM
Akdeniz University Faculty of Fine Arts
Ceramic Department
The festival, which was previously held as the Nature Culture and Art Festival, has developed further and gained an international dimension this year. Antalya-Kumluca Karacaoren Nature, Culture, Tourism Promotion and Solidarity Association held an art festival in a village for the first time. It organized this event together with the public in Kumluca district/ Karacaoren village in the Alakir valley in July.
The main purpose of holding these workshops is to create an environment of interaction in solving the problems of interest and production of artists who come together with the same aesthetic concern, to create mutual moral motivation, and at the same time to bring together the people of the region and the artists, to enable them to witness the production processes and to bring art to the public. It is also a part of this process that artists carry out their individual productions in an environment of interaction and produce works that are the product of common thought.
The art workshops hosted by Mehmet Basar, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Karacaoren Nature Culture Tourism Promotion and Solidarity Association and Editor of Alakir Nature and Culture magazine, were coordinated by Assoc. Prof. Nevin Yavuz Azeri from the Fine Arts Painting Department and Lecturer Emel Mulayim from the Ceramic Department of Akdeniz University. The event, attended by artists and academicians from abroad and domestically, was held on 24-30 July at Antalya Kumluca Karacaoren District Karabuk Hilmi Yilmaz Facilities.
In the Ceramic Firing Workshop coordinated by Emel Mulayim, two different firing techniques, Raku and Zagar were applied by invited academic artists. Invited artists from different universities they were Emel Bozkurt, Emel Mulayim, Ergun Arda, Nurtac Cakar, Senanur Gundogdu Dodevski and Isik Aslihan.
Festivalde sanat çalıştaylarının yanı sıra mümkün olduğunca yöre insanının da katılımının sağlandığı resim ve seramik etkinlikleri gerçekleştirildi. Çalıştay sayesinde sanatçı ve halk birlikteliği ilk defa bu bölgede sağlandı.
In addition to art workshops, painting and ceramics activities were held at the festival, with the participation of local people as much as possible. Thanks to the workshop, artist and public unity was achieved for the first time in this region.
“Alakir Nature Culture and Art Festival" which started as a village festival in 2004 and continued with interruptions, continued as 'nature and cultural events' with the participation of local people after the art workshops. Karacaoren village, with its modern and contemporary population and the cities of Rhodiapolis, Idebessos, Kitanaura, Kormos, Akalissus, Aloanda in the Alakir Valley, has been carrying the characteristics of the cultural values of the Lycians since the Ancient Age. The ancient city of Rhodiapolis, located in Kumluca, a part of the Lycian culture where Byzantine and Late Roman period ceramics are especially seen, is one of the Lycian cities where ceramics are most abundant. Karacaoren village, an important cultural center and natural wonder located in the Lycian valley, will live and be kept alive for many years with its art workshops and festivals.
The most important feature of the 1st International Art Workshop, which was held for the first time this year within the scope of the 12th Alakir Nature Culture Festivals, is that it was held collaboratively under the sponsorship of the village people, without any support from any official institution. Organizing this event in the workshop area with the support of the villagers and invited artists from different universities in Turkey and Europe also led to a first. This signature was made by these productive and hospitable Karacaoren villagers who live in the ancient Lycian cities and who protect and value art. So much so that they are kind-hearted contemporary villagers who provide the artist's materials during the painting and ceramic firing workshop, host them at their homes and set the table for them and work hard with the artists in the workshop area every day and provide endless support in the production of works. This is a remarkable example of how art should be done with public participation. With this workshop, it was clearly understood that this region, which is within the ancient Lycian culture, is intertwined with art.
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