The third edition of the Arnica Art Land Workshop, initiated to prevent art from being confined to big cities and to spread it nationwide, was held in collaboration with the Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum at the museum located in Beşpınar village, Bayburt. Held from August 11-18 under the slogan “Art Flowing to Its Birthplace,” the workshop brought together 11 artists from various disciplines.

The Arnica Art Land Workshop, founded by Senur Akın Biçer, Founder and Chair of the Advisory Board, and curated by Fırat Neziroğlu, took place from August 11-18, with Bayburt as this year’s location. The workshop, held at the Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum in Bayburt, brought together 11 artists from various disciplines, who used their works to connect the past with the present and future. Immersed in nature and utilizing different techniques to bring colors to canvas and fabric, the artworks produced during the workshop are now on display at the Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum. The exhibition, hosted at the museum’s Loru Han, will remain open for a week and will later be showcased for art lovers in Istanbul and Mersin.

The Arnica Art Land Workshop, first held in 2022 at Mersin Borcak Plateau, combined its motto “Art Flowing to Its Birthplace” with the museum’s motto “Return to Roots.” Senur Akın Biçer, Founder and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Arnica Art Land Workshop, remarked that this year’s workshop hosted an extraordinary art gathering where traditional and contemporary art, painting and weaving, sculpture and natural dyes came together. She stated, “When we set out with the Arnica Art Land Workshop, our goals were to prevent art from being confined to big cities and to spread it nationwide, contribute to Turkey’s more active presence on international art platforms, and increase art literacy. To achieve these goals, we were delighted to hold our workshop this year in Bayburt, a place that deeply moved us with its geographical and cultural richness, at the Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum, which has been honored with prestigious museology awards. This workshop was particularly exciting for me as I also participated as an artist, creating works of my own. The academic artists participating in the workshop will prepare articles on the process, allowing us to share the workshop’s outcomes with the academic community and the public. I would like to thank all the artists for their invaluable contributions and Kenan Bey, the museum’s founder, for his valuable support.”

ART HAND IN HAND WITH LIFE

The project was curated by Fırat Neziroğlu, the founder of the Textile and Fashion Design Department at Bahçeşehir University, who gained international recognition in the field of contemporary art with the technique he developed in traditional weaving. Neziroğlu emphasized that the artists’ works reflected the influence of Bayburt’s nature and culture, and continued: “Our artists, who usually create in urban studios, produced art in a completely different environment this time. Even the natural dyes made from plants gathered from the surroundings were used on the canvases. In this way, the 3rd Arnica Art Land Workshop became a fruitful event where art worked hand in hand with life, nature, and culture.”

REFLECTION OF ANCIENT CULTURAL RICHNESS

Kenan Yavuz, the founder of Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum, stated, “We focus on sustainable rural development, forgotten traditional arts, deteriorating architectural structures, the phenomenon of rural-to-urban migration, and the preservation of the beauties that need to be sustained. We are very pleased to host cultural and artistic events in our museum, located in the Anatolian steppe. These efforts, which make our ancient cultural richness more visible, allow us to convey the messages we want to share with the public more powerfully. We are grateful to Ms. Senur and all the artists for making it possible to hold the workshop in our museum.”

The artworks created by Bilal Hakan Karakaya, Fırat Neziroğlu, İrem Sena Özen, Melike Kara, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Genç, Özlem Ketenci Çolakoğlu, Pınar Kuseyri, Pınar Tuba Biçmen, Senur Akın Biçer, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şehnaz Biçer, and Tuğçe Diri during the workshop will be showcased to art enthusiasts in Istanbul and Mersin after the exhibition at Loru Han.