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BAUHAUS SCHOOL IN CERAMICS

100th Anniversary of the Bauhaus - A Bauhaus School in Turkey: In the Exhibition of Artists from theState School of Applied Fine Arts (DTGSYO), the ceramic branch is represented by Güngör Güner, Ayşegül Türedi Özen, Zehra Çobanlı and Fatma Batukan Belge.


The 100th anniversary of Bauhaus, the first school of modern architecture and design, was celebrated throughout 2019. One of the important year-round and worldwide activities wasthe exhibition honoring the 100th Anniversary of the Bauhaus - A Bauhaus School in Turkey: Artists from the State School ofApplied Fine Arts Exhibition. Hosted by Maltepe University Faculty of Fine Arts, the exhibition was held at Mehmet Özen Art Gallery. Fatma Batukan Belge and Erkan Özdilek were the curators of the exhibition, which was organizedwith the contributions of the Turkish German Society Association.Other than highlighting an authentic production line with the aim of spreading art in all areas of life, the exhibition also aspired to present an important cultural friendship bond between Turkey and Germany.

(From left) Ayşegül Türedi Özen, Erkan Özdilek, Güngör Güner, Zehra Çobanlı and Fatma Batukan Belge.

The exhibition featured a selection of works by 30 artists who were educated from all the disciplines of DTGSYO - which was founded in 1957 based on the Bauhaus philosophy- and who pursue their artistic production and educational practices based on the same philosophy. The works of Prof. Güngör Güner, Prof. Ayşegül Türedi Özen, Prof. Zehra Çobanlı and Fatma Batukan Belge represented the ceramic discipline. As ceramics combines art and design and transforms objects of daily use into artistic works, it was one of the branches where Bauhaus philosophy was influential. DTGSYO Ceramics Department was established in the school’s building in Beşiktaş Akaretler by Prof. Hakkı İzet, İhsan Çekmegel and Mahmut Erkaya who were continuing their ceramics studies affiliated to Ankara Machinery and Chemical Industry Institution previously. While Izet was studying painting at the State Academy of Fine Arts, he won the MEB (Ministry of National Education) scholarshipand studied ceramics in Germany. He was one of the first contemporary Turkish ceramic artists who studied in Germany earning the scholarship.After completing his studies at the Sculpture Department of the Academy,İhsan Çekmegel became a competent plaster model and mold master who was trained alongsideProf. Hakkı Izet. Mahmut Erkaya was a technical staff member of ceramic furnaces who was trained also alongside Prof. Hakkı Izet. The foundation of the department coincided with theestablishment of the Turkish ceramic industry. As in all departments of the school, education in the Department of Ceramics was supported by visiting scholars invited from foreign countries. These included Jan Grove and Ralf Busz from Germany, Kenji Kato, who had a special place as the fifth generation ceramist of the Kato family from Japan, and Karin Christansen from Norway.

First students of DTGSYO Ceramic Department are in the workshop

Students were guided in terms of material mastery, expressing their creativity through ceramic and the authenticity of their designduring the process of turning clay into a ceramic product in the courses at the DTGSYO Ceramics Department. They had a well-equipped infrastructure considering the circumstances of that period, such as potter and plaster lathes, raw material grinding mills, furnaces, and so on. A large number of graduates, who were already very few, were able to find jobs in various fields of the ceramic industry which was in the establishment phase at that time.


Prof. Dr. Güngör Güner and his students Ayşegül Türedi Özen, Prof. Zehra Çobanlı and Fatma Batukan Belge, the first graduates of the school who were educated in such an environment, came together at the exhibition.


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