By Heidi Trautmann….
This Sunday, the 19th March 2023 the well-known Herb and Culture Festival took place after it had been postponed due to the earthquake in Turkey and now the Belediye decided to carry it through wishing to give support to the victims.
Tatlisu is a charming mountain village with an important historical background. The municipality and its mayor are known to support culture and the arts.
The festival was opened opposite the Belediye building in the open at 10.00 am in the presence of many honourable guests who were then led across the festival ground with many stands displaying home-made delicacies and handicrafts. I bought a bottle of Tatlisu Olive Oil. The first station was the exhibition of last year’s art and culture event, a workshop ‘Paper Oven Cooking on the Sea’ organised by Ipek Denizli Art Studio, curated by Bedia Kale and in cooperation with the Tatlisu Municipality and the ceramic artist Serdar Aslan. A workshop of several days down by the sea creating ceramic objects using ancient primitive methods, in memory of the island’s history. The objects were today again displayed and explained by Ipek Denizli.
Two of the artists, Roya Alagheband and Omid Kalantar who had participated in that workshop have invited me to come with them. I enjoyed seeing the objects in natura.
Along one of the village streets was an exhibition of paintings remembering an International Painting Workshop in Tatlisu some years ago also organised by the artists Ipek Denizli and Arif Albayrak; I heard it mention that the paintings will have a home in one of the buildings the Belediye had determined as a museum.
It was a lovely Sunday morning strolling through this charming village, meeting many friends among the artisans and the audience, among them Mustafa Tozaki, who sat in front of the Municipality with his sketch block drawing people in his well-known caricature style.
I hope the clouds we saw coming fast over the mountains did not affect the Festival and the many activities during the rest of the day. On the way home we enjoyed our Turkish pancakes filled with cheese and spinach.
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