By Heidi Trautmann

“Everything in life depends on the point of view one has, and the same goes for art. There is no right or wrong. There is only the position where your feet are planted, and the sharpness of your eye and mind.”

This is Gönen Atakol’s philosophy of which I learnt when I conducted my interview with her in the year 2008 for my book “Art and Creativity in North Cyprus”

Gönen was born in Nicosia in 1945. After her marriage to Kenan Atakol, they both went to Pennsylvania where her husband was teaching at the State University. She started her art studies there and – as she told me – she was amazed and delighted to find education for the students to develop freely, the experience of which was the basis for her philosophy. Art for the sake of art!

She came back to Cyprus in 1972 and started teaching at the Maarif College in Nicosia for 21 years. She continued painting after her retirement and has for the last six years joined a group of artists for model drawing;

Her way of observing and transposing her idea onto canvas or paper is very exceptional as she explained to me while discussing one of her landscapes…”For me nature is so overwhelming with a plethora of variations, that I have to break them down, peel away the extraneous to bring out the pure and essential offering of light and colour.” I think it explains her way of working well.

The exhibition was planned and arranged by EMAA and Eastern Mediterranean University – Centre of Cyprus Studies within the framework of the World Art Day on April 15.

Exhibition opening on 17 April at 18:00 hrs at EMAA Art Centre

Duration until 30 April 2013

Belediye Street 1, Yenishehir Nicosia

0533 864 0418

Visiting hours during weekdays 17:00 – 20:00 hrs