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Maria Sezer Michels is a Dutch artist living in Turkey. Her primary source of inspiration is nature. She paints, prints, works with clay (www.rakuplates.com) and makes three dimensional objects and installations. She currently teaches at Istanbul Işık University's Fine Art Faculty. |
EDUCATION
ARTISTIC STATEMENT Working with nature has several starting points for Maria Sezer. The cycle of life, time, local identity in connection with geography, the need for decoration and beauty, change, ecology and they way we treat nature itself are her main themes. To her these themes are concerned with the human state which she sees reflected in nature, since man is tied to nature. By manipulating and rearranging natural materials, either solely or in combination with man made materials or sometimes only using natural motifs, she intends to probe some of the mysteries of human life and also express her findings about (local) society. Geography over time becomes a part of identity of every local population and effects its cultural identity. For survival, through agricultural produce, animal husbandry, and climate, people gain a lifestyle which has a vast effect upon their cultural heritage. Even if the population is not mainly active as farmers its influence is great by way of trade, architecture and so on. Local identity is a basic part of man and therefore important to look at the natural vegetation and geographical situation of a place and use it as a way to talk about the place and its people for this artist. The works have the effect of connecting the local people with their past and present and making them realise what the future might bring or how they can manipulate it. At the same time the public may find a more general state of the human being and his place in the natural world. Often themes of her works will cross-over and are combined in her works.
ONE-WOMAN SHOWS 2010 The making of Kacak, a statue on the shore of the Golden Horn, Istanbul, Turkey 2009 2008 2004
GROUP SHOWS TURKEY
2010 Ustalar ve Çıraklar, Galeri Işık, istanbul
2009 Asymetric Relations, Güzelyalı Cultural Center, İzmir, Turkey
2008 5533, “Altın Günü”, İstanbul, Turkey III ABA Mersin Üniversitesinin üçüncü Kadın Sanatçılar Sempozyumu, Mersin ABDÜL Baki Paşa Kütüphanesi, kişisel sergi, Zeytinburnu, İstanbul Dialogue/(Dialog (The Contemporary Printmaking and Ex Librises from Turkey/ Türkiye’den Çağdaş Baskıresim ve Ekslibrisler, Het Stedelijk Museum, St Niklaas, Belgium Su=Pırıltı!/Water= Bright! The 3rd International Contemporary Art Festival, the Dutch Pavillion, Mustafapaşa, Cappadocia, Turkey The Çanakkale Bienial, Çanakkale, Turkey The 1st International Printmaking Bienial, Istanbul, Turkey Je m’appelle Apel; Galeri Apel in The French Cultural Institute, Istanbul, Turkey Multiple Connections, Galeri Kent, Istanbul, Turkey/ Vienna, Austria Kartal- Terkos 2002-2008 - TÜYAP Art Fair, Istanbul, Turkey
2007 ABBA 2nci KAdın sanatçı sempozyumu, Mersin Üniversitesi, Mersin, Turkey 44. Uluslar Arası Troia Festivali, Çanakkale, Turkey Işık Üniversitesi Güzel Sanatlar Fakültesi Sanat Eğitimcileri Sergisi, Işık University, Istanbul, Turkey TÜYAP Sanat Fuarı, Istanbul, Turkey
2006 Tenses of the Tulip, The Imperial Mint / Zamanin Lale Hali, Darphane-i Amire, Istanbul Naturmort, Galerist, İstanbul
Closing Exhibition to ABA, The First International Symposium of Women Artists, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey
From Hills and Dales, Gallery Apel, Istanbul What's missing?, Karsi Sanat Çalismalari, Istanbul
Earth and Fibre, Gallery Apel , Istanbul
Engraving in Turkey from the beginning till now, Karsi Sanat Çalismalari, Istanbul
Local produce, Elhamra Art Gallery, Istanbul
INTERNATIONAL GROUP SHOWS
2010 The Grape Vine, Amsterdam, Holland
Overvloed, Het STOK-Kruithuis, s’Hertogenbosch, Holland, Cyprus International Interdisciplinary art workshop
Memento Mori: Artists Grapple with Issues of War and Peace, Cleveland State University Art Gallery, Ohio, U.S.A. Starting of the post-card project Temporary, The Human Nude, Dutch-art.nl Gallery, Rotterdam, Holland,
The 12th German Intenational Exhibition of Graphic Art, Frechen, Germany ,
The 5th International Biennial of Miniature Art Yugoslavia
Mini Print Biennial , Cluj, Romenia .
PRIZES
COLLECTION
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