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Happenings in the Keweenaw Peninsula October 21, 2003 Text © 2003 Turquoise Gallery Press Release. Photos © 2003 Keweenaw Now.

Turquoise Gallery to present Interdisciplinary Art Show, "Purple Rain"

HANCOCK --  The Turquoise Art Gallery in Hancock will be the scene of "Purple Rain," an Interdisciplinary Art Show, at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24. Produced by Sevil Soyer, artist and advisor to the Gallery, the live performance will include an installation, poetry, music and special effects by seven artists from different disciplines.

This poster announces "Purple Rain," an Interdisciplinary Art Show to be presented live on Friday, Oct. 24, at the Turquoise Gallery in Hancock.

Soyer, creator of the installation, invited local artists to participate. Photographer and film critic Joe Kirkish, as narrator, will read three poems composed for "Purple Rain" by R. Lida Pelc of Hancock. Musician Melvin Kangas of Finlandia University will improvise kantele music for the event. Special rain effects produced by Omer Ahunbay and Hakan Ozer and a manifesto created by Soyer and Onay Sozer, professor of Philosophy at Istanbul University, will complete the program.

Sevil Soyer, artist and advisor to the Turquoise  Gallery, begins the installation of "Purple Rain," an Interdisciplinary Art Show to be presented live in the Gallery on Oct. 24. (Photo by Michele Anderson)

"The Turquoise Gallery's First Interdisciplinary Art Show offers a unique cultural event for the Upper Peninsula," Soyer said.

The audio portion of the program will be available on CD in the Gallery through Nov. 8, 2003. The CD is being provided through the courtesy of the Michigan Tech University Fine Arts Department.

"Purple Rain'' is Soyer's second interdisciplinary art project and her first in the United States.

Soyer performed her first interdisciplinary art show in 1993 at Yildiz Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. This world premier was produced by 40 people of different disciplines with the support of the Turkish Cultural Minister and local businesses. Yildiz Palace, a large palace of the Ottoman period, is now a museum. It was opened to the public for the first time during this performance. Soyer was the project owner, the creative director, the curator and one of the artists in that project.

After studying art in the Fine Arts Department of Mimar Sinan University, in Istanbul, Soyer earned a post-graduate degree and worked at the Venice Fine Arts Academy in Venice, Italy. She has had many personal and group exhibitions and has received many awards.

"Purple Rain" is free and open to the public. The Gallery is located in the E.L Wright Building, 801 N. Lincoln Drive (U.S. 41) in Hancock. Call 487-5515 for more information or email turquoiseart@pasty.com.

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