LOOKING AT ÇANAKKALE CERAMICS FROM ISTANBUL

• The group exhibition titled "Looking at Çanakkale Ceramics from Istanbul, From Past to Present," organized under the leadership of painter and ceramic artist Gülşen Kıbrıslı, was on display at the Çanakkale Municipality Troya Exhibition Hall between April 4-12.

The exhibition “Looking at Çanakkale Ceramics from Istanbul: From Past to Present” featured works by 24 women artists from different disciplines working and producing in Istanbul, focusing on and reinterpreting Çanakkale ceramics. The exhibition by the Gülşen Kıbrıslı Art Group was on display at the Çanakkale Municipality Troya Exhibition Hall from April 4th to 12th.

Gülşen Kıbrıslı, who continues her artistic work and provides training in her studio in Zekeriyaköy, Istanbul, explained her interest in Çanakkale ceramics and the motivation behind the exhibition as follows: “First of all, why Çanakkale? Although my main profession is painting, I have been working with ceramics for years. From time to time, I would come across Çanakkale ceramics, and frankly, I would just glance at them and pass by. Then one day, an old Çanakkale bowl came into my hands. With its technique, colors, and bold painting style, I examined them more carefully and enjoyed it very much. After the Iznik and Kütahya ceramics that do not go beyond the contours, the works of masters who worked with free brushstrokes seemed to me like contemporary works of art that transcended craft… I wanted us to study and work on Çanakkale ceramics as a studio. This awareness also led us to hold a beautiful exhibition in the land where it originated.”

The exhibition “Looking at Çanakkale Ceramics from Istanbul, From Past to Present” pays tribute to a cultural heritage while also reflecting the artists' individual inner worlds, imaginations, and abstract ways of thinking. One of the exhibition's central themes was the question, "How is Çanakkale perceived from Istanbul?" Explaining that the works were shaped around this question, the exhibition organizer, Evren Bilgin, stated, "The artists interpreted not only Çanakkale ceramics but also the feelings that Çanakkale evoked in them. Therefore, each work represents a different inner world and a different perspective."