LAHORE: Turkish visual artist Hulya Usan has said Pakistan has immense talent in visual arts that is why she is conducting a workshop with Pakistani fine arts students at the Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall, on the invitation of Turkish Cultural Centre.

A three-day (Sept 3-5) visual arts workshop organised by the Turkish Cultural Centre, in collaboration with the Lahore Arts Council, opened here on Tuesday at the Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall.

Turkish artist Hulya Usan is conducting the workshop on marbling art and water and oil paintings. She did her Masters in Visual Arts from the Ghazi University, Ankara. She has a specialisation in teaching young visual artists.

Ms Usan said marbling art was an old visual art technique that flourished in Turkey even before the Ottomans and imparting it to young students would be a valuable experience for her.

The workshop is being attended by 30 students besides walk-in armature artists. Colours and other material was provided by the organisers.

“The workshop is an outcome of a cultural exchange progamme between Turkey and Pakistan,” she told Dawn.

“The Turkish Cultural Centre has invited me to conduct this workshop with the visual art students of the Alhamra Art Academy,” she added. She said there would be more cultural exchange programmes in which artists from both countries would participate.

Ms Usna, who had reached Lahore on Sunday, will fly to Islamabad on Friday and leave for Turkey on Sept 9.

The artist said she found Pakistan an amazing place where people were helpful, hospitable and nice. She said she had heard a lot about the Mughal monuments in Lahore and during her stay would visit Lahore Fort, Badshahi Mosque and other monuments.

DEFENCE DAY: Different cultural bodies, including the Lahore Arts Council and the Punjab Council of the Arts will celebrate the Defence Day with a great zeal and zest.

LAC Executive Director Athar Ali Khan said Alhamra would hold an exhibition titled “Kashmir Baney Ga Pakistan” and a seminar titled “Let’s go to the houses of martyrs”, besides other events to mark the day.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2019