Özgün Yılmazok
When I talk about myself “passionate for art” takes the lead as a definition. Because I have always been interested in art even from early years of my childhood. In those years, while eagerly drawing pictures by myself, I used to dream about being an artist when I grow up – I turned out to be an engineer eventually. But my art journey did not end there, it was just beginning…
Though I kept my career in engineering over the years, I always nurtured my passion for art on the side. I attended drawing workshops, created art on my own, read books… But nothing I did truly satisfied me. I kept on wondering: what if I did something about art, what if I studied that at school, what if…
From 2006 onwards, when I started visiting European art museums, I was so fascinated by seeing the masterpieces I had seen in books for real in front of me. With every museum visit, my interest grew even more. I started collecting more books, doing research on what attracted my attention, went through web pages, looked at thousands of pictures…
Above all, I started sharing my museum experiences and the stories of the paintings with people around me. That was when I noticed that many were genuinely interested in what I had to tell. They had no idea about paintings, nor about artists or styles. They knew just a few artists’ names, but when they heard my stories and looked at the images, they felt that it meant more sense. I understood that so many people were hesitant about art, however, they understood better and showed more interest in learning, if someone explained those images. That someone was not to be a teacher, nor an art historian, but someone more approachable, another beginner to art… like me. This discovery was the turning point for me.
In 2012, I started writing a blog called “Sanata Başla!” in Turkish, which meant “Start Art!” in English. In that blog, every week I was choosing a famous painting and explaining its story and symbols without going into technical details. I was using a simplified language, not referring to complicated historical context or artistic jargon. With years of accumulated information and the enthusiasm to finally do something real about art, I was extremely productive. Within a few years, the blog turned into a web site hosting painting analyses of more than 250 paintings.
In 2015, with the idea of meeting the art enthusiasts face-to-face, I designed my first “Painting Analysis Workshop” on Renaissance. In the Workshop, I started teaching about its characteristics as well as techniques to read symbols and styles. One workshop followed the other and now I have 7 workshops in total covering 600 years of art history from Renaissance to end of Modern era.
In 2017, I moved from Ankara to Gothenburg, Sweden. I have been conducting my Painting Analysis Workshops in English in Gothenburg from then on. My art journey kept going, I took some art history courses from Oxford University, I conducted online workshops for Turkey, I created video projects on Youtube, I still keep active channels on social media, I read, write, learn and share everyday…
Throughout my art journey, I kept on receiving the same feedback from my students. They say they understand art much better when someone who systematically explained it from a beginner’s perspective. I feel close to beginners to art, in the sense that I have been in their shoes. I suffered through the process of learning on my own. I asked the same questions with them and had the same curiosity. So, I know, pretty well indeed, what confuses them or what they would like to know when they look at a painting.
As I always say, there is always an easier way of learning things, you just need to find it. I believe that over years of reading, studying art, testing different methods and learning from my students’ feedback, I found that easier way for art history. I am now hoping that I can show you the way to understand paintings and art periods. Please keep in mind that it is not your knowledge or background in art, but your pure interest in learning that matters…
I hope I will cross paths with you and many more art enthusiasts in a workshop, a museum or anywhere else where there is art.