A new art craft develops among Turkish artists

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

String art artists are ooking to teach the art form to members of younger generations in order to keep it living, says master Celaleddin İlhan.

String art has come to Turkey. The art form is made with nails and wire and is defined as the love of the nail to the wire. The art craft requires eight thousand nails. String art artists are currently looking to teach the art form to members of younger generations in order to keep it from vanishing, said Celaleddin İlhan.

String art is widely known in European countries and is spreading in Turkey as new trend, said İlhan, speaking to Anatolia news agency. “String art has just begun to influence people in Turkey with the support of string art master Saim Devrilmez,” he said.

Motifs and shapes in string art

Artists in Turkey, however, are putting their own spin on string art, İlhan said. “In Europe people prefer only a few motifs or shapes. However, in Turkey we are adding our own culture to the art,” said İlhan.
Turkish artists working in string art create Turkish flags, sultan’s signatures, calligraphy plates, gravures and nature views. Artists need to use thousands of nails to create these works, said İlhan.

“Even when making a small painting we need to use a lot of nails. Sometimes the number of nails increases to 8,000.”

When creating a piece of string art the artist first draws the shapes and motifs they want to work on, then nails are put onto those motifs and the wire is wound, or “drawn,” around the nails to create the shape.

“After the nails [are set in place], we put wires between those nails to finish [the work],” İlhan said.
While string art is not an art form widely known throughout the international world İlhan said it draws interest from audiences. “People who see what we do [with string art] begin to ask questions and get interested in such art,” he said, adding that there is unfortunately little public demand for the art form.
“Very few people are interested in this art,” he said, adding that string art should be presented more in the world and in Turkey.

İlhan thinks the municipalities should do something to spread string art throughout the country. “For example Keçiören municipality opened a course for this art and Aşır Düğer, master of string art, is currently giving lessons to young people. There are many courses on this art for those who would like to learn,” said İlhan.

The proportion and dimensions of the work affect the time it takes for an artist to complete the piece, according to İlhan. “Sometimes it might take three days to complete just one work while the larger works can take one month to complete,” said İlhan.

For collectors of string art, works can cost between 100 and 6,000 Turkish Liras, said İlhan.