Ekendiz Tanay
(21.10. - 30.10. 2011)

Born 1933 in Ankara.
Finished the Sarar Primary School in 1948.
Graduated 1952–1953 from the Ankara Gymnasium for Girls.

After studying for 1.5 years at the Painting Department of the Istanbul Academy for Fine Arts she turned back to Ankara. She went to Germany in 1966 and was educated at the Karlsruhe Ceramic Department together with other students. Returning home she started work at the “Mineral Exploring Studies” Institute to increase her technical knowledge.  
In 1970 she participated in “Batik” Classes giving by Madame Sefire of the Indonesian Embassy in the framework of cultural exchange, worked on this subject and opened several personal batik exhibitions. She learned stained glass painting from a friend coming from America and they exhibited their work together. 

On special invitation she gave batik and glass staining courses at the house of the Turkish American Society, where, during 15 years, she educated 5.000 students in the art of batik and staining glass. Together with her master students she opened the “Gökkuşağı” (Rainbow) Atelier. They also exhibited their work together.

In Ankara they founded the first “Women Glass Staining” school, founded solely by women. For her children’s education she settled in Istanbul Pendik in 1989, where she opened the Pendik branch of the Turkish Women’s Union as founding president and where she worked for culture and education.

Returning to Ankara in 1998, she founded the “Woman, Culture, Art and Solidarity Society”. She actively strived to promote and exalt Anatolian culture and gave support to the handiwork of productive Turkish women. On the 20^th October 2008 she moved to Gökova Akyaka for good, because she fell in love with its nature.

Out of Ekendiz’ Purse:

“It is not enough to love; one has to care for this beautiful town. For years I wanted to introduce my art collection to the women of this town. Therefore I opened “Batik, Felt, Under Glass Painting, Glass Staining and Kilim Weaving” courses with the support of Mayor Ahmet Çalca.

The first ever batik garments fashion show has been held in Hamdi Yücelen’s hotel. To sustain felt work and to honour the effort, the felt courses were turned into a steady workshop. The products were again showed in the Yücelen Hotel. The Muğla Chamber of Commerce liked our work very much and exhibited it on shows and fairs in Rhodes, Diyarbakır, Milas and Ankara. This is the highest honour for a person working with culture and art.

This exhibition here shows work that “spilled out of Ekendiz’ purse”. This exhibition presents felt work, various fabric dyeing techniques (batik, silk dyes, relief, print techniques), aluminium foil, underglass painting, leather, diverse kerchief works, kilim weaving, glass stain decorations and women’s regional headdresses to your liking.