Key Words that Will Drive this Project:
Home
Comfort
Love
Unconditional
Family
Serenity
Hope
Peace
At ease
Pure
Past memories
Maturity
Childhood
Unforgettable
Laughter
Family stories
Grief
Loss
Heartbreak
Abundance
Sharing
Caring
Capture the moment
Culturally rich
Creativity
Diverse
Capable
New Thinking
Patterns
Materiality
Thesis Project:
I had this idea of studying and creating something very close to my heart and soul for the past two years. I wasn’t sure of the style, the color combinations and not even the medium. But something deep inside me pulled all my thoughts, my creative energy and mindset to this core foundation. At the end of junior year in college, I somewhat established my creative style and the direction that I want to follow towards my artistic career.
When I returned back home for the summer, the extra time that was in my hands made all the difference. I had a chance to refine my thoughts, practice and study the mediums I want to use and most importantly I had the opportunity to be with myself and examine how I ‘m thinking and what I ‘m aiming towards.
We have this tradition of going to my grandmother’s house in a summer village called Kuşadası close to my hometown, İzmir every summer. It allows us a family to get together and visit our loved ones that past away. But this summer was a little bit different from others, on the way to the summerhouse I got a phone call regarding the loss of my very close friends sister. All of a sudden I was paralyzed and fell in to great sadness and grief. I couldn’t talk or be my usual self for a couple of days.
It wasn’t a coincidence that I got this horrible news at this location looking out to the flickering waves of the Aegean Sea. The place that I feel one of the most welcomed, nurture and loved.. There it was, the fisherman’s little boat floating quietly out in the shore. Looking at me as if it’s telling me all the answers I needed. All in dead silent and great peace.
The importance of this boat and the view from my grandmother’s house to me is the feeling of home. The warm, fuzzy feeling of being close to your roots. Your core foundation, the energy and the motivation that drives you to be you’re your authentic self.
Every conversation, every dinner we have together as a big family involves this fisherman’s boat in the background as if it’s another member of your family. I am assuming that the its not as active as it was back in the day going fishing at the morning dawn or the sweet serene afternoon time.
For my thesis project, I wanted take this picturesque view as a base foundation. I will be using the general color palate, the form of the landscapes behind and the emotions that rise up to the surface when I come here.
It has always been a hard decision for me to narrow my choice of mediums and style of working when I start a project since I love to experiment and use a variety of materials such as ceramics, mixed textiles (wool, yarn, fabric, ribbon), hand drawings and printmaking techniques (screen print, etching and release printing). I figured that this abundance of material and style choices mirrors exactly how my family is. Diverse, capable and culturally rich.
I will be using natural dyes that I will extract from plants, vegetables and fruits which will be a materialistic approach to my love of food, cooking and being kind to our environment in everything we do especially we as the new generation designers.
By choosing a format like a woven installation I will be juxtaposing the idea of weaving your own story. It takes patience, time and courage to both be self-conscious and know who you are.
As inspiration and research material I will be heavily focusing on the old weaving methods, wood block printings form Turkey called Tokat Basma, my all time favorite artists Abidin Dino, Monet , Picasso and textile artist Suhandan Özay Demirkay, David Hicks.
Questions that I will be asking myself through out the project:
What do you manifest in?
What sparks joy in your life?
What gets you up out of your bed in the morning?
What/who do you serve to?
What drives your motivation?
