Deborah Semel Demirtaş

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.

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).

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

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