Archive for the ‘Art & Exhibitions/Τέχνη & Εκθέσεις’ Category
You are currently browsing the archives for the Art & Exhibitions/Τέχνη & Εκθέσεις category.
16
Jan
2010
11
Sep
2009
Exhibition for all artists on Skopelos 21-31/8 2009
Speech at the opening of the art exhibition for all artists on Skopelos, 21-08 2009 by Kiki Gro-Nielsen
Honored Mr. Mayor,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Inhabitants of Skopelos and Visitors to the island, WELCOME!
My name is Kirsten Gro-Nielsen, but most of the people here know me with the simple name Kiki. I have lived 11 years permanently on the island of Skopelos, and I am now the president of the Cultural Association of Active Citizens on Skopelos which is not much more than a year old.
It is with great pleasure that Skopelos’ Cultural Association of Active Citizens, in collaboration with the Organization for Culture and Sport under the local government (DEPAS), announces the opening of this first exhibition in several years open to all artists of the island .
I want to express my deep-felt thanks to the president of DEPAS, Georgos Patsis, who has inspired the way the exhibition has been set up in the Sport Hall, to the members and the staff of DEPAS and especially to Maro Boudouroglou-Blaxaki, Kiki Diamantopoulou and Maxi Ambelakia for their untiring efforts to use their broad experience so that this big exhibition can function in the best way possible, to the workers who have helped setting up this exhibition with friendliness and effectivity- and to all the persons, members of the Association and others, who have contributed to making this event a reality by investing themselves, their artistic work and their dreams in its realization.
Many people may not know that we have a Cultural Association of Active Citizens on Skopelos. Allow me to use this opportunity to tell you what the Cultural Association has done and what it stands for, and also to tell you about how this exhibition came into life.
The idea behind the Cultural Association of Active Citizens is to promote and protect the interests of the residents of the community of Skopelos in order to improve their quality of life.
One obvious focus is to promote local culture and preserve local traditions and the social environment in which they flourish.
There are many traditions and customs on Skopelos accompanying important aspects of life. As an organization we took the initiative, with the support of the local administration, to organize several events to support the strong Carnival tradition on Skopelos. This tradition includes deeply poetic love songs addressed to a beloved person or to nature, as well as Dionysian songs, dances and acting out of different themes with the change of seasons from winter to spring, liberating a deep-rooted creative energy. Our aim is to help preserve this tradition as much as possible and also through collaboration with the school system to give the children and young of today a possibility of knowing the roots of their local history and culture and eventually continue the part of it that can survive in today’s society. To this end, in collaboration with the Environmental Group of pupils in the Gymnasium, we have organized video screening and lectures at the school, followed by a real performance of the carnival songs and dances with elderly members of the community leading the children. This performance was repeated for a large auditory of adults, with participation of dancers dressed in beautiful local costumes. The carnival events were supported by a slide-show performed by a local resident and member of our Association, Isabel Dempsey, who during many years has investigated the Carnival Tradition on Skopelos and has written a well-researched book about it, which is due to come out shortly.
Tonight we have the pleasure of enjoying the sight and beauty of some of the local costumes, carried by the women who offer us rozedes and tsipouro.
The Association did also organize a revival of the traditional children’s plays which traditionally are performed at the end of the school year. Just before the school closed down for the summer holidays, several groups of school children showed us a number of these plays at the old harbor of Skopelos.
On another level the Cultural Association of Active Citizens of Skopelos, deeply moved by the bad experience of a huge and very threatening wildfire on Skopelos in March 2008, took the initiative of collecting the necessary number of participants to realize a 100 hours’ national education program called “Protect yourself and others” that gives a basic instruction in how to cope with natural catastrophes such as wildfires, earthquakes, inundations and more. The realization of this educational program, which has already been realized in more than 120 other towns of Greece to this day, is based on the concept of voluntary action and is completed by the creation of an association for the participants, which will assist the local authorities in the event of a natural catastrophe.
In collaboration with the local fire station wee also help with fire watch in the forests and from observation points. Equally we have cleaned several beaches and roads leading through woods for garbage that constitutes a base for fires.
The activities in our association take place on a voluntary basis. This reflects the deeper focus of the Cultural Association of Active Citizens on Skopelos which is to promote and support a culture of social solidarity and voluntary action for the common good at all levels of society on the island of Skopelos. This implies the strengthening of links between people of different nationalities living on Skopelos in order to achieve a harmonious co-existence with respect for individual differences.
Voluntary action, without the scope of earning money, to help one’s fellow being and society as a whole is among the most noble aspects of human activity. This is based on an ethical behavior, which is much needed in today’s materialistic oriented society.
These aims found a resounding response in the speech about Kornelius Kastoriadis and his analysis of Democracy, given by the philosopher and professor at the University of Athens Georgos Oikonomou and organized by the Cultural Association of Active Citizens. This event was organized a few days ago at the newly opened Pankratsa museum, located in a typical skopelitan house from the beginning of the 19. Century, which I recommend to everyone to visit. The speech took place in its beautiful inner garden, and attracted well over 100 persons. They listened to a captivating presentation and analysis of what democracy in Greece was originally, 2.500 years ago, compared to what it is today. The interest for this subject of democracy was so big that it led to a discussion with the public that lasted for more than 1 ½ hours. The speaker, who is an active member of our Association and an active citizen in general, in this way helped open our thoughts in new directions, considering a more fruitful engagement of the citizen in the course of daily life at the place where she or he lives.
It is a fundamental aim for Skopelos’ Cultural Association of Active Citizens to promote artistic creativity among the island’s population: “Information has always been a key element for a sound and positive life in society. Information means coming together, not being isolated, and this is the basic aim of the Cultural Association of Active Citizens: to bring people together who have similar wishes, ideas and visions and propose an “umbrella” structure for their common activities. The means are many. One is the promotion of art in the form of exhibitions.
How has this exhibition been realized? Through a poster placed all over the island the Cultural Association of Active Citizens invited all artists on Skopelos to join this exhibition, with the wish to participate being the only criteria.
The interest for participating in this exhibition has been very big, and you are now going to discover and enjoy the beautiful result of so many artists coming together and exposing the fruit of their creative activities. You will meet dolls dressed in local dresses, handpainted plates often inspired by motives on porcelain from foreign countries brought back home to Skopelos by the many sailors of Skopelos, traditional broideries, miniature boats, wood from the sea or from the surrounding nature seen through an artist’s eye, mosaics, engravings, ceramics, sculptures, photographs, poetry written by a now well-known skopelitan poetess, a book with a new inspired presentation of astrology, and many many paintings which show us very different conceptions of what it means to be a painter.
This exhibition is fully in line with the aims of the Cultural Association of Active Citizens of Skopelos, which I have outlined in the beginning of my speech.
The exhibition was conceived as a fully open exhibition. It covers a broad range of visions and intuitions, each artist on this exhibition has the same space at disposal, and there has been no restriction of what and how the artists express their creativity.
For more goal-oriented exhibitions Skopelos has a well-renowned gallery to its disposal, The Grey Gallery, which during the summer offers a presentation of different art styles with a new art exhibition every week mostly for single artists. You can find works of some of them here on this exhibition. The Grey Gallery is located in the middle of the town of Skopelos; it is easy to find, so please go and look for it; it is really worth the visit.
As a complement to the works of the many artists on the exhibition you will also find an exhibit of some the many books edited by the local Folk Museum. Please have a look at these beautiful editions! You will discover many aspects of cultural life based on the rich heritage of this island. The local Folk Museum is also located in the middle of Skopelos town. It has recently been completely renovated and is a delight for the eyes. Go there, and you will be received by competent and friendly guides who will take you through this museum and give you many astonishing and interesting informations and insights into the life on Skopelos through the centuries.
Skopelos has many wonderful local artists. Some of them are shown at the section set apart for traditional artists.
And there is a special photo section showing one of the miniature boats made by the great skopelitan artist Antonis Kastanis. Due to a severe health problem he is not capable of joining himself, but sends us his warmest greetings and wishes for success with the exhibition. Don’t miss to read his letter to all of us! It is exposed next to the photos of his boat.
From the Cultural Association of Active Citizens we have chosen to give a special dedication of honor to one great local painter : Georgos Ioakimis. He is no longer with us on this Earth, but has left us a huge treasure of paintings and also of poems, since he was a poet too. If you want to see more of his works after having visited the exhibition, you can ask his daughter Panagiota to show you the works, which are at display in his own little house not far from the harbor. The family would very much like to make a museum out of this wonderfully authentic old house full of treasures of paintings that show the painter’s broad perception and extraordinary talent, but they are not financially capable of supporting this task alone. There must be financial support to help realize this goal. It would be very attractive for Skopelos to have a museum with Georgos Ioakimis’ paintings, and for those of you who agree I would ask you to think about in which way we can make this dream a reality.
This exhibition presents works of 46 artists living and creating art on Skopelos. It shows that Skopelos is an island full of artistic talent. This is something we can be really proud of, and it is my great joy and immense pleasure to see this exhibition realized.
Very warm thanks to everybody! Enjoy the exhibition!
10
Sep
2009
9
Sep
2009
