A traditional Turkish arts exhibition by the Gülce Art Group opened for art enthusiasts at Gallery Divan.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) in regards to the exhibition opening at Gallery Divan, the art gallery's founder Ercan Babacan said the opening of the exhibition coincided with the opening of the gallery.

Babacan said they established the gallery under the Divan Auction. "Here we have created an area where traditional arts and books, especially in Ottoman Turkish and in other languages, are either auctioned out or retailed," Babacan said. "Of course, rather than trade, we created an art workshop on the second floor so that traditional arts can continue to live, and artists can easily create works."

Babacan said that they initially welcomed Gülce Art Group in this workshop. "While they continue their projects in the workshop, we are exhibiting their work in our exhibition hall. Apart from this, we are also trading old works online. We collect ephemera collections, create blogs to spread ephemera in Turkey, and send articles to various magazines and newspapers for information," Babacan continued.

Babacan pointed out that they will host different exhibitions in the future, stressing that they are open for young artists who wish to come here, enabling them to exhibit their works without paying any fee. "We will do this to make a contribution in the field of traditional art and support our artists," he added.

In addition to traditional arts, the gallery will feature modern workshops, Babacan said, noting that they also incorporate different modern designs and works in areas such as china, graffiti. "Here we can combine modern arts with traditional arts. Our doors are open for everyone who has a project, loves art and can bring additional value to our cultural assets," he said. "This is a five-story building. Therefore, we can create a space for them. These are among our next targets."

Ümmü Gülsüm Sevim, a member of Gülce Art Group, founded by six young women who came together while studying at the Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts Traditional Turkish Arts Department, said that they continue to create works in illumination, calligraphy and miniature fields as a group.

Sevim said that there are 26 works on display. "We continue to produce artifacts with the same dedication and enthusiasm as our descendants. It is important for us to adhere to tradition," Sevim noted. "Works are produced in many places with break from tradition. We pay attention to this situation. For example, we do not use chemical dyes. We color our works with completely natural dyes such as walnut and pomegranate leaf."

Ayşe Karaaslan, another member of the group, stated that they display works in the field of illumination and calligraphy at the exhibition, adding that they would like to keep workshops on traditional arts for high school and middle school students as a group.

Gülce Art Group also includes Funda Arı Karakaş, Fatima Betül Özer, Neslihan Kocatürk and Zeynep Dursun. The exhibition of classical Turkish arts, including works of marbling, calligraphy, illumination and miniatures, and will stay open until the end of the month.