The Captivating Works of Umut Demirgüç Thurman
Having been born and raised in Istanbul, Türkiye, Umut Demirgüç Thurman senses the necessity of combining the old world and the new world in her work. She chooses to use Ottoman Empire textile motifs in her work because of her background in Textile and Fashion Design. Although Ottoman art was very extensive in both two and three-dimensional artwork, she only uses the two-dimensional motifs in her work because she loves the abstraction and the radial patterns. The motifs that she most often uses in her artwork are derived from natural plant forms through stylized drawing of a bird’s eye view of a flower. She believes that when the simplicity and symmetry of the motif combine with textured and colored metal, it creates objects that connect history to the modern day. She also uses vitreous enamels to add color to her metalwork. In her work, visual aspects are as important as the concept. For this reason, besides being conceptually strong, she makes her metalwork well crafted.
