Room 213

Angel by Sevcan

Message from Sevcan

The way I look at art, as I was born in Cyprus, is to reflect the problems of Cyprus together with the love of nature and humanity that shaped my soul like a handful of mud from my child heart till my maturity in my ceramics. I was born in 1961 with my twin sister Semra Bayhanlı in the Küçük Kaymaklı area of Nicosia. The first instant that I remember myself is in 1963 during the war when we were wandering around with my twin sister among the tents prepared for the immigrants, looking at people in astonishment. I guess that was the moment when the facial expressions of people penetrated into our souls for the first time. A childhood that was fully lived and experienced despite the financial insufficiencies of war. A warm hearted family with five children that was contented with little, but lived very gratefully. All these are because of the sun of Cyprus, the nature that was once unspoilt and the human relations that used to be as warm as the island’s sun. I still remember the days we spent in the Aya-varvara village of Paphos every summer holiday; the farm life. This life style played a very important role in shaping my and my sister’s view of art. For about twenty years, we continuously drew human body and facial expressions. We criticised each other and sought the right way. We constantly drew – on the roads using the plasters left from ruined houses, on the walls using the coal we picked from the walls of the house that we immigrated to, on the papers we found anywhere. With the wax our grandfather made from the honeycombs that remained from the honey he gathered, we experienced our first childish sculpture attempts and in fact they were very entertaining and educative.

ilk-sergi

During our youth, we joined many group exhibitions and in 1997 my twin sister and I had our solo art exhibition. Meanwhile, caricature entered into my life and in 1998 my caricatures were issued in the Yeni Düzen newspaper. I joined many caricature exhibitions both in Cyprus and in overseas countries. In the following years, I transferred my caricatures to my ceramics. My interest in the three dimensional art intensified and in 2000 I met with ceramics. From the moment I took mud in my hands, I started making sculptures and I opened my ceramics workshop, named Hanay, in The Big Khan in 2002. I started with sculptures of about ten centimetres that were hollow inside and gradually increased the size to match the real human dimensions. Last year my little ceramic sculptures were staged in the theatre play 'Truva Savaşı Olmayacak' of the Nicosia Municipality Theatre. The sculptures were placed inside a little city on the stage whose image was projected onto the screen behind the performers. For more than a year, I have been making my large sculptures in the workshop in my house. My husband, Mustafa Çerkez, supported me a lot. He built a large ceramic furnace in our garden. He carried and fired my large sculptures to the furnace which would otherwise be impossible for me to lift, and my ten sculptures were finally ready for the exhibition. One of my biggest dreams was to have an exhibition in an old Cypriot house and I placed and displayed my human sized sculptures that value compassion without losing their essence. My goal is to immortalize the Cypriot human mimics and characters that wars and other external forces couldn't manage to destroy and to remind these values, and share them with people with a somewhat disappointed heart...

Message from Halkios

(coming soon)

In 2013

Ödüm Koptu Exhibition, 17th March, 2013 Nicosia Eski Gallery
- {videobox}uIn9Yjv9GEo|Sevcan Cerkez - Odum Koptu 2013|,
- DqHc8MCO3wc|Sevcan Cerkez - Odum Koptu 2013||t_width=200, t_height=150, break=0{/videobox}

In 2011

Ödüm Koptu Exhibition, 16.11.2011 Istanbul Schenidertampel Art Gallery "I was terrified" her personal exhibition
{videobox}jTdhvVN_ruc|Sevcan Cerkez - Odum Koptu 2011||width=400, height=300{/videobox} Trailer by Uygar Erdim for Kanal Sim
Workshop at the University of Gaziosmanpasa
Bodrum / Gumusluk Academy Workshop

In 2010

Capetown (South Africa), the international "GREATMORE STUDIO"'s participation in exhibitions
Capetown / Hout Bay, Lisa Studio studio work and live performances.
Simon Town / Cape of Good Hope Youth Campus instructor for three months
"WE" Project Direct Contacts Appeal of the European Union in 2010 under the "WE" Project 10-day street statues and the Netherlands and Finland, research, and a variety of plastic arts, sculpture studios, galleries and artists to visit and contacts with these countries.
Cyprus and the European part of the same project in order to identify the similarities and differences between women artists to interviews with several women. Following this research, organization of various conferences and workshops katılılım (Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lefke EMAA Association conferences and workshops and conferences)

In 2009

Olive Festival 2009 8 artists from United States, Brazil, the Netherlands, Turkey, France and Egypt were invited to Olive Festival event coordinator Kyrenia plastic arts.
Women of the World exhibition Australia 8 March Women's Day under the "Women of the World" exhibition, with the participation of two cartoon.

In 2008

College Children's Arts Festival 2008 Guest speaker at the Eastern Mediterranean College Children's Arts Festival 2008
Olive Festival 2008 7 of artists from United States, Brazil, the Netherlands and Turkey joined the Olive Festival event coordinator Kyrenia plastic arts.
INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS FOR PEACE Istanbul Dolmabahce Palace Art Gallery "INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS FOR PEACE" exhibition
REFLECTIONS Larnaca, Southern Cyprus, "REFLECTIONS"'s second solo exhibition of sculpture, installation and ceramics.

In 2007

Hanay Exhibition,
In the capital Lefkoşa there was a unique and successful exhibition called “Hanay” (meaning, a two storey house). Between May 28 and June 28 2007, an old Cypriot house near the famous historic Büyük Han hosted the highly original works of Sevcan Çerkez, a very talented Turkish Cypriot artist.

Introduced as a ceramic sculpture, mixed media, and installation exhibition, Hanay made the old Cypriot house owned by Aziz Mevlitler come alive with the hand-made and human-size ceramic sculptures of Turkish Cypriot people and characters of a past generation. The exhibition was further enriched by the sound effects that imitated the way the characters represented by the sculptures would have talked if they were alive. Indeed, the recorded speech gave life to the frozen characters of an olden Cyprus.
2007-2009
Northern Cyprus Cartoon Contest, organized by the Association of Turkish Cypriot Cartoonists from Northern Cyprus Cartoon Contest jüriliği Teens.

In 2006

- 2006 Trojan War No 'to the game's theater performance, sculpture, Nicosia, Cyprus.
- EMAA 2006 organized by the association 'Dalgada Cloud' group exhibition, Nicosia, Cyprus.
- Between children painting competition organized by BRTK jüriliği 2006.
- Egad EMAA 2005 and held bi-communal associations 'sunrise to sunset' from the exhibition and workshops, Famagusta and Paphos.

In 2003 and earlier

- 2003 ceramic workshop in southern Cyprus.
- 2002 Group exhibition of ceramic, Nicosia, Cyprus.

She has participated also in many mixed cartoon exhibition in Turkey and the TRNC between 1997-2006, a solo painting exhibition 1997, Nicosia, Cyprus.

Her first a group painting exhibition in Nicosia and Famagusta in 1980, Cyprus.

Videos

- {videobox}BCxI0l9yAbQ| Sevcan Cerkez - Rik Interview|,
- CWHQAY-VO7E| Sevcan Cerkez - Seramik Heykel Çalışması|,
- GSjmRwPUk2A|Sevcan Çerkez - Seramik Eserleri|,
- ETCgpCgWFAE|Sevcan Çerkez -ART "Beşparmak" |,
- BYxrXbdPnVk|Sevcan Çerkez -Evet ||t_width=200, t_height=150, break=0{/videobox}

Interviews, TV Shows and Documentaries

2007 Tourism Monthly. Issue 34, June 2007. "Interview: A true artist, all encompassed within each character."
2007 Journal of the bay. Issue 4, May-June 2007. "Ceramic Sculpture Installation Exhibition".
2006 Open Studios within the Walls of Nicosia. November 2006. "Sevcan Circassian".
2001-2003 Yenidüzen daily newspaper / published cartoons.