Artist Adrian Martinez, of Downingtown, was one of 10 international artists invited by Ankara University, of Turkey, to participate in a two-week arts symposium.
“This was a great opportunity for me to share time with great artists from Europe,” Martinez said. “We had breakfast together, painted together and dined together. I’ve always found people interested in the arts here and abroad, but in Turkey art and culture amounts to a national passion fully endorsed by the government and the intellectual elite.”
Martinez participated in the 5th annual artists’ symposium, produced by Dr. Kiemet Giray of Ankara University. Artists painted together and discussed art, philosophy, poetry and music, according to Martinez. The symposium was held in mid-June.
Martinez was contracted to do an original painting and began with the idea of a work of William Penn and Chief Tamenend based on an earlier series of paintings. Five years ago Martinez’s show on Quakers and American Indians opened at West Chester University. The show was: Where Two Worlds Meet: Quakers and Indians in Pennsylvania 1700-1720.
“I was going to do a very realistic portrait,” Martinez said. “I became infected by everyone’s exuberance and threw away my small #4 sables and grabbed the largest flat bristle brushes available. For the next several days I moved tremendous piles of paint around. With slashing strokes I carved figures out of paint on the canvas. Rarely retouching, if something didn’t work I soaked a rag in turpentine and scrubbed the whole thing down. Pigment ran down the large canvas and pooled on the floor. An entire table top served as my pallet.”
Martinez had a chance to explore some of the Turkish history as Giray conducted tours.
Martinez is an internationally known artist who has had a number of shows throughout the region. His work has been exhibited at the White House and at Camp David. He completed two paintings for the Bush White House, the 2001 Christmas card and an 8-foot by 16-foot mural, and a number of drawings for Camp David.
In 2007 Martinez was asked by First Lady Laura Bush to create two murals of the country’s national parks for the 2007 holiday season. His paintings of the Grand Canyon in Arizona and Zion Park in Utah were displayed in the main hallway of the first floor of the White House.
Martinez received a B.F.A./Painting from Maryland Institute College of Art, a Certificate of Studies in Fine Arts/Painting from St. Martins School of Art in London, and a M.A. in Fine Arts/Painting from Purdue University. He was an exhibit designer and instructor at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, before moving to Downingtown.
