I am sure you can tell this was an especially active week in Turkey from the number of pictures posted.  I left Eskisehir in the snow for the Aegean coast, returning to Izmir for the EgeArt Festival on Sunday where I presented and exhibited as an invited International Artist.  It was an exceptional group of artists to interact with.  We were well taken care of by some very bright and personable students from Ege University.   My dear friend Mehmet Tuzum Kizilcan and his students had a feast for us on the last night in his impressive studio.  Fish wrapped in clay and fired in the kiln was a real treat.

I returned on the night bus to my class on Thursday.  The students are finishing up the slip work on the first layer of their tiles.  It was great to see the patterns forming.

While I was away, the faculty opened an exhibition in the Library Gallery for the New Years Holiday.  It is nice to be included in the show with my colleagues that showed a wide variety of media from all the studio areas.

On Friday, it was back to the Glass Studio.  Ekrem Hocam instructed me in the next step of the pate de verre process.  We placed the molds into a sort of steam chamber that heated water slowly and melted the wax out of them.  Two of the students worked on adding colors to the furnace glass that will be broken up into small pieces to melt into the molds.  I am getting more and more excited about the final results to come.

A lovely dinner party at Ekrem and Berna’s finished off the week with good food and company.   I feel so lucky to be in such a wonderful country with such amazing people.

Color glass EgeArt Exhibit EgeArt Exhibition EgeArt International Artists EgeArt Presentation Izmir Elevator Bldg Mixing color New Years Exhibit Wax melting 2 Tuzum Feast Tuzum Tiles 3 Tiles 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer:  This is not an official Department of State website, and the views and information presented are my own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the Department of State.