THE CITY'S FIRE WAS LIT FOR THE NINTH TIME

• The 9th International Eskişehir Odunpazarı City's Fire Ceramic Firing Techniques Workshop was held between September 19-23. This workshop, a significant event in Eskişehir, a city known for its ceramics, brings together numerous artists and is conducted under the consultancy of Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Türedi Özen.

PROF. DR. AYŞEGÜL TÜREDİ ÖZEN 

Consultant for the Eskişehir Odunpazarı International City's Fire Ceramic Gallery

and Ceramic Firing Techniques Workshops

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For nine years, I have been advising the Odunpazarı International Ceramic Firing Techniques Workshops and the City's Fire Ceramic Gallery with great love, passion, and volunteerism. Our 9th International Eskişehir Odunpazarı City's Fire Ceramic Firing Techniques Workshop was held from September 19-23, 2026, at the International City's Fire Ceramic Gallery and its courtyard in the Odunpazarı Arasta Bazaar. This space hosted visual feasts presented with the fires and smoke that are essential to ceramics. During the workshop, art lovers of all ages from Eskişehir, artists, guests, participants, and viewers witnessed the coloring of ceramics in the city's fire while strolling through the historical atmosphere of Odunpazarı, and had the opportunity to touch the ceramic clay. They also had the chance to meet and converse with our artists.

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Guest of Honor Prof. Dr. Engin Ataç

This year's guest of honor and invited speaker was our esteemed professor, Prof. Dr. Engin Ataç. We listened with great interest to the speech of our professor, who served as the founding director of the School of Fine Arts at Anadolu University in Eskişehir, later as the dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, and as the rector of Anadolu University, and who has made significant contributions to the art education and development of ceramics and has been instrumental in the ceramic education staff spread throughout Türkiye.

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As in previous years, our workshop hosted a number of distinguished local and international guest artists this year. Attila Kertesz from Hungary, Can Gökçe from Uşak University, Dilek Alkan Özdemir from Eskişehir Anadolu University, Fidan Tonza Helvacıkara from Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University, Mustafa Ural from Bolu İzzet Baysal University, Mümine Özdemirağ Yağlı from Arucad University in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and Şafak Çetin Özkan from Bolu İzzet Baysal University were among this year's guest artists. Our Anadolu University Ceramics Department students Büşra Uçar, Ceyda Yaman, Gözde Özsümbül, Nil Sude Aktolun, Süleyman Kabasakal, Tuana Kantaroğlu, Zeynep Ece Durdal, and our gallery managers Nalan Kökcü and Yusuf Koç also assisted the artists.

"100 of the Earth” Will Grow

Our invited artists visited the museums, art studios in Odunpazarı, and the Faculty of Fine Arts whenever they had the opportunity. They also visited the Odunpazarı Municipality 100th Anniversary Culture Center, where it has a section called “100 of the Earth," which we inaugurated on the 100th anniversary of our Republic, featuring tiles depicting Atatürk and the Republic. Thus, they had the chance to see up close the Republic tiles, sent from all over our country, that we arranged on the interior wall of the Culture Center. From 2024 onwards, our "100 of the Earth Forever Republic" ceramic panel will grow and expand with the addition of tiles from our artists each year.

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On September 23, 2026, the last day of our workshop, we held the opening of the workshop exhibition, consisting of works created by invited artists using the fire of our city and donated to the Odunpazarı Ceramic Gallery.

I would like to express my sincerest thanks to the Mayor of Odunpazarı, Mr. Kazım Kurt, and his valuable team, who, as every year, mobilized all resources to keep the ceramic fire burning, demonstrating a municipality approach that always supports art and artists and integrates with the public. I hope that the ceramic fire we continue to keep burning on an international scale will never go out.