Art @ Ahmet Adnan Saygun Art Center

The three siblings — that would be me and my brother (Deniz) and my sister (Aylin) — took the light rail today to go to the Ahmet Adnan Saygun Art Center clear across town in İzmir’s Güzelyalı neighborhood.

We went not for a concert or stage production, but to see a couple of exhibits … all interesting and different from each other.

Münir Yücel’s “54 Years of Adventure” featured semi-abstract canvases that take the viewer on the spontaneous journey that inspired him to create the pieces on display.

İrfan Ertel’s “Enlightenment from Our People” featured 66 portraits of Turkish men and women who contributed to the enlightenment of the people during the building period of the Turkish Republic.

Cüneyt Gürbulak’s “My Dreams at the Tip of My Finger” featured fingertip paintings he created of his dreams on his phone in Instagram Stories. I found this last exhibit particularly interesting, but the glass in the frames made it impossible to get decent photos of his work.

The final exhibit featured some of the costumes worn by Türkân Şoray, a Turkish movie actress/writer/director. Posters from some of her movies were also part of the exhibit. That I had seen some of the movies as a little girl made the exhibit all the more interesting.

We wrapped up our outing with lunch at Ülver Teyze … a café/bakery that has a variety of savory and sweet pastries on the menu. Yummy!Read more