Hinsdale artist makes up for lost time
By BRUCE INGRAM Contributor November 15, 2011 5:42PM
Turkan Ilkdemirci of Hinsdale in her studio.
‘Peace Works’
The Midwest Collage Society exhibit and sale, Bloomingdale Park District Museum, 108 S. Bloomingdale Road, Bloomingdale
Continues through Dec. 16
One feature of the show will be a wall of original 8 x 8-inch art works for $65
(630) 539-3096 or visit www.midwestcollagesociety.blogspot.com
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Updated: November 15, 2011 9:59PM
Life is too short not to make art.
That’s what it says on Hinsdale artist Turkan Ilkdemirci’s blog (turkansart@blogspot.com) and she’s certainly been living that motto the last few years after being diagnosed with breast cancer: Creating and exhibiting her art whenever and wherever possible.
Ilkdemirci is one of the 24 artists represented in the Midwest Collage Society’s “Peace Works” exhibit on view through Dec. 16 at the Bloomingdale Park District Museum.
After growing up in Turkey and Holland, Ilkdemirci moved to Hinsdale for a marriage that ended in divorce and stayed on to continue raising her three teenage sons. She also began to make time again for her lifelong passion: making art.
Starting young
“My family was poor when I was growing up,” she recalled. “We didn’t have money for toys. All I had was paper and pencil, so I was always drawing — that was what I loved.”
When she got older, Ilkdemirci started painting with watercolors, but her dream of becoming an artist was discouraged by her parents, who thought it wasn’t practical. She painted after moving to Hinsdale, then set it aside when her children were born, returning to it when they were older, working with watercolor, charcoal and pastels.
Four years ago, when she was diagnosed with cancer, she finally began devoting herself to art as she had always wanted to do.
“One of the things that I regretted was not doing enough art in my life,” she said. “So I really started pursuing it.”
With considerable success.
Her painting “Be Strong” recently won an award at a Hinsdale Adventist Hospital gallery show commemorating Beast Cancer Awareness month. And her collage art has been “selling like hotcakes,” said Sue Faust of the Midwest Collage Society. “People really connect with her imagery of love and spirit.”
Though she has no formal training (“I’m pretty much self-taught”), Ilkdemirci, who now works primarily with acrylics, mixed-media and collage, began taking classes at the Art Institute and the La Grange Art League and workshops at the Collage Society.
Many of the exhibits she has participated in during the past couple of years were organized by the MCS, which was formed in 2003 to promote collage as a fine art. Though it has been around forever as a folk art, collage only began to be accepted as a fine art after it was adopted by Pablo Picasso in 1912, an event approaching its 100th anniversary.
Versatile medium
“I started doing collage because I really liked the texture and 3D aspect of it,” she said. “I also like the idea of recycling materials, using yarn, fabric, pages of old books, found objects, anything you can think of. It’s a free medium. I love its versatility. Anything goes in collage.”
Ilkdemirci said she
often uses bright, saturated colors and inspirational words and quotes in her collage to raise people’s spirits.
“I’m trying to speak to people who are going through tough times,” she said. “To give them a message of hope and optimism. I want people who look at my art to feel good about themselves. I want to send a message of love.”
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