In September I left for Adana Turkey. I was thrilled to be invited again by Mosaic Master Guilio Menossi from Italy for the first mosaic Symposium in Turkey amongst 13 other artist from around the world. ( Sibel Akkaba, Alejandra Martin, Aida Valencia, Marwe Qendeel, Glisten Genc. Alina Chubova, Neriman Guzel, Vanessa Rivera, Mireille van Swinnen,Ronit Strum, Angela Zimek, Xenia Samokhina)
We formed an amazing group of artists from all walks of lives, different cultures, backgrounds and goals, all connected by our creativity and passion for mosaics .
It is Giulio his dream to organise these Mosaic Symposia to create a free space of experimentation, exchange and sharing ideas, develop projects, absorb, learn, discover, collaborate, travel and making great mosaics and new friendships. (His words)
Neriman took it on her to organise this event, which must have costs her sleepless nights, but hey ! she did it. I admire her for that and thank her for all the effort. Together we created memories forever!!!
Our host and main sponsor was the city of Adana. Co sponsor Da Costa provided for us the materials. We were spoilt with dinners, lunches, outings and good accommodation. In return we worked at the galley on our mosaics. The brief was “Adana from the past to the future”. Most days we worked from 9 to 19.30. Once a mosaic artist starts a project there is no stop to it and we do not even count the hours, we only look at the deadline, still enjoying every minute. We had 10 days to finish before the exhibition. Visitors and art lovers could drop in, interact with us or watch us work. So we might have learned a Turkish word or 2 . Thanks for google translate.
I created and designed a textured aerial view mosaic disk of 85 cm dia. The city of Adana on google maps was my inspiration. I used smalti, beads, brick, plaster and paint and clothe and plaster to build up my layers. The base was a MFD board.
Because I had some time left I made a small sculpture as well for the same exhibition in a matching design. I did not have much time for this and worked with leftover materials to construct the piece. I can say that was a real challenge. My hands were my tools and the hot weather my best friend in the drying process.
The finished works of all other artist were stunning and it is always interesting to see how we all interpreted the brief in our own way and style. The works were on show at the gallery. Where the mosaics end up is still a surprise, so stay tuned.
Many of you might have read about this event on my FB page, if not you can still catch up on my FB page or on the page of the other artists.
I share here with you some pictures of our Mosaic adventure.