Month: October 2014

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Me and Frederic Church

So, I had to start putting together a slide presentation for the workshop at Olana this Saturday, right? I thought I’d try to start out with a little bit of what Church might have seen as his ship passed through the South Aegean.

Well, this is what we see (almost) outside our bedroom window in Turgutreis:

Catal sunset

 

And this is what we see when we head about an hour to the east (Kargacık).

Kargacık

And this is what we see when we head about an hour to the north (Didyma).

 

Didyma

And if you take your spectacular sky, combine it with a bit of craggy landscape, and add a column or two, you get…

FC-1

The Aegean Sea – by Frederic Church.

At my workshop at Olana this Saturday (October 11), we’ll be looking at the architecture/architectural decoration of Anatolian Civilizations, taking examples from along the route Church traveled between the Holy Land and the Black Sea – through the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas up to Istanbul. We’ll also go over some design fundamentals, and I’ll pass on some simple techniques that will help you “create life” in your living space. All this at Olana, Church’s very own ‘Oriental Fantasy’.

You can find out more about the workshop and how to sign up by going to the Olana Partnership web site (just click here).

 

 

Reminder: Olana Workshop – October 11 (Let’s Get Decorating!)
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Reminder: Olana Workshop – October 11 (Let’s Get Decorating!)

If you are looking for something to do over Columbus Day Weekend in New York, how about a visit to Olana in Hudson, NY? Maybe you know it, maybe you don’t – Olana is a marvelous place, an Orientalist Fantasy with views of the Hudson River designed by 19th C. landscape painter Frederic Church.

Rustem-Pasa-Iznik-tile

I will be giving a workshop there on October 11, talking about architectural decoration, with examples from Anatolia, following the route Church traveled from Cyprus along the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas up to Istanbul.

We’ll look at examples from Roman, Greek/Hellenistic, Selcuk, Byzantine and Ottoman architecture – and we’ll  tour Church’s house as inspiration – and then participants will get down to business designing something to bring color and joy into their own homes.

I’m full of ideas to share – and tips for simple techniques that “you don’t need to be an artist” to accomplish!

For information and to sign up for the workshop, contact the Olana Partnership (just click here).

Rustem Pasa sütün

Above: Ceramic Tiles from the Ruştem Paşa Mosque in Istanbul.

Below: An installation I created “under the influence” of Iznik tiles…

kuthaya 1

 

Mail me some Art!
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Mail me some Art!

Well, I said I wasn’t going to do anything else in the studio until after I got back from New York, what with needing to prepare for my gig at Olana and such, but I just had to finish a little piece of mail art so I can get it to Argentina before the 31 October deadline. The landscape was ready, it just needed a couple of “barcos” (or is it “barcas”? They say ships are female, don’t they?)

Mail Art Mi Barca 1

Mail Art Mi Barca 2

Mail Art Mi Barca 3

AND LET THERE BE A REMINDER HERE:

The “Homesickness” Mail Art Exhibit we are organizing in Bodrum is coming up – “allow 2 weeks for delivery”, they say,  so I hope y’all have got your mojos and your P.O.’s working… can’t wait to check my mailbox (and I’m not talking google, here, either…) CLICK HERE FOR THE CALL FOR ENTRIES DETAILS

Lokma
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Lokma

Not to be confused with “lokum” – also known as “Turkish Delight” – “lokma” is a fried dough dessert that looks like a doughnut hole and is frequently handed out as an “offering” food in commemoration for a person’s passing or other life-event.

Columnn 4 bottom

How many years ago was it that I took a photo of a village woman behind a vat of deep-frying lokma I don’t remember, but when I took the photo, my intent was to decoupage it on a tray for a painting/tray, a useful object that could also be hung up on a wall because it is beautiful. (There’s something you can contemplate: the ideology behind the division (?) between “art” and “craft”. But as usual, I digress…)

Column Collage 4 - top

As you might be aware if you have been reading these posts, I will be going to New York in about a week, so the “column collage” below will be the last thing I’m doing in the studio for another month. In the meantime, I’m messing with thousands of plastic bottles as part of an outdoor “garbage art” project before I head off to NY – with a broken ankle; Let them just set me down someplace with a view and a box of watercolors…

Column Collage 4 - Lokma