Ferhan Kızıltepe – Biography

The musings of mathematician/artist on science/art reaches back to childhood. Indecisive between becoming a conductor or an astronaut, she decides to study genetic engineering yet ends up studying mathematical engineering.

The charm of the abstract world, which she became involved in the Mathematics Department of Faculty of Science at Anadolu University in 1989, opens the doors of a new world for her. During that period, finding out that sculpting courses were given at the Faculty of Fine Arts, she enrols in these classes. Mud is her first material; used for a long period. For four years she painstakingly chips mud to achieve curves, intersections, points, revolving surfaces, plays of light and shade. In the final year she joins her first exhibition: Fine Arts Gallery Joint Ceramic Exhibition. 

Her graduation thesis concerns numeric analysis and her dissertation mentor is Prof. Şahin KOÇAK. “When I learned my dissertation subject, I almost laughed. Among the terms mentioned regarding the subject, I was only familiar with the concept of ‘limit’ and ‘C programming language.’ The rest was like a foreign language. The subject was scripting, fractal dimension calculus of waves, in C programming language,” is KIZILTEPE’s own statement.

During that conversation the artist  was impressed by the concepts of “two dimensional symmetry,” “crystallography,” and “topological picture,” which were used by Prof. Hüseyin AZCAN then she thought that the relationship between art and science was somewhat relevant.

Continuing to work on this subject, KIZILTEPE starts receiving support from Prof. Hüseyin AZCAN and Prof. Şahin KOÇAK. Upon Prof. Şahin KOÇAK’s request to present her work in a meeting, she discusses the subject with a group of scientists and artists and acquires new mentors to support her work.

She participates in her second joint exhibition in 1993: Bursa, Uludağ University 1stJoint Exhibition. 

Mathematician/artist’s return to Bursa is followed by her trips between Istanbul-Eskişehir-Ankara-Bursa in order to work with people like Prof. Şahin KOÇAK, Prof. Hüseyin AZCAN, Prof. Levent KILIÇ, Prof. Ali Teoman GERMENALP, Asst. Prof. Bora TÜRKKAN, Prof. Cem TEZER, Erkan OĞUL, Prof. Aytaç KATI. When in Istanbul, Mehmet AKMANALP is an important guide for her. 

From 1994 onwards, for three years she works on sculpture, as a private student in the atelier of ceramics artist Afet ERENGEZGİN. During her last months in the atelier, she becomes the assistant of architect Çelik ERENGEZGİN.

In 1999 she is invited for the first time to an international convention by Prof. György DARVAS (Institute for Research Organization of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences-Senior research fellow, SYMMETRION – Director, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Faculty of Sciences, Eötvös Lorand University –Director.) of Hungary. Hence she participates in the 1stInternational Science-Art Convention, organised in Budapest by UNESCO, with the subject “Science in art, art in science.” 

On return, she works for İzzet Çakan Maritime Industry Corp. in Istanbul, Tuzla Shipyards. This provided her an opportunity to discover metal work secrets, ie. steel, iron plates and sheet iron - the most commonly used materials in the shipyards.

She got sick soon after and had to resign for recovery as doctors  advised. The year 2000 is, in her own words, “the year I began to fold and stick paper, in the doctor’s lounge.”
 
In 2003 she visits Budapest for the second time upon invitation by Prof. G. DARVAS, with a small exhibition of her sculptures and a presentation.  She participates in the “Symmetry Festival” a joint organisation by “L’Oreal Art and Science Foundation”, “Prohelvetia – Fondation Suisse Pour La Culture” and “Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.”

Ferhan Kızıltepe, has been granted “The Successful Turkish Woman of the year” award by 
American Turkish Woman Association based in New York city, in 2004 for the recognition of her works in science and art.
She attended the "6th International Interdisciplinary Symmetry Congress" which was organized by the ISIS (International Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Symmetry), of which she is member, on 22-29 October 2004 in Tihany, Hungary and participated in a group of joint exhibitions organized as an activity of the same congress on 5 November 2004.
 
In 2005, between 17 October – 16 December, she had had her first personal exhibition at Başkent University Fine Arts and Architechure Faculty, in Coridoor Gallery. During the exhibition she has tutored few workshops to students of the faculty. Following up the exhibition she has been invited by the Contenporary Sculptures Society’s “8th Sculpture Exhibition” between 16-30th of january. She has participated at Contemporary Arts Center, Salon D with three metal sculptures. 

She attended the "6th discovery festival" which was organized by the TÜBİTAK (The Scientific & Technological Research Council of Turkey), on 02-03 June 2006 in Ankara, TURKEY and she has tutored two workshops with the subject “MathArt” to participations of the festival. Subsequently, she had been invited for “Symmetry Festival 2006” on 12-18 August 2006 in Budapest, Hungary by ISA (International Symmetry Association). She joined this festival with a presentation and participated with three metal sculptures in joint exhibition organized as an activity of the same festival.

She invited two congresses; 6th National Congress / 3th International Congress of SEMA and 7th Interdisciplinary Symmetry Congress and Exhibition of ISIS- Symmetry, in Buenos Aires, Argentina 11th/ 17th of November 2007. She gave one seminar and attended the exhibition with . he participated in special working groups. 

10 Oct. – 2 Nov. 2008, invited to 'Teneffus' exhibition in Istanbul. Kiziltepe contributed this exhibition with two steel sculptures in the outdoor location near Moda Boulevard with its shops and boutiques.

24-28 July 2008 attended the '11th Bridges' conference in Leeuwarden, Holland with the special request of Dr. Albert van der Schoot. With the occasion of Escher's 110th birth anniversary Kiziltepe contributed the conference at Leeuwarden with two digital prints (printings) and a steel sculpture.

February 2008 in Pecs, Hungary, sponsored by the Hungarian Ministry of Culture Kiziltepe was invited to "The Pecs - Ars GEometrica 2008" event to open an exhibition and made a workshop with a special request by Pecs Culture Center. During her visit she opened her first international exhibition between 14- 17 June at Pecs Culture Center under the name "Pre-ColliSculp" and contributed meetings and workshops during her stay in Pecs, which chosen as one of the "2010 European Culture Capital Cities".