The October Meeting

The 18 members who attended the October meeting were treated to a fascinating presentation by the Internationally recognized Turkish/Australian sculptor Fatih Samiz.  Fatih came to Australia from Istanbul in 2008 and has been a full time sculptor since then. His work spans a wide range of media from stone, concrete to all types of metal and techniques including sand casting of aluminum.
His interest in metals started as a small boy watching the activities in the engineering and fabricating shop near where he lived. From this early exposure he formed a life long desire to make things with his hands. While at secondary school, he was able to work part time in his brothers business, which made electrical equipment used in the photographic and small crucibles for melting metals used in the jewelry making industry.

When Fatih enrolled in art school these earlier influences steered him into the more practical aspects of the course, and he found himself drawn to sculpture. His talents were recognized by one of the lecturers who was also a sculptor and he enlisted Fatih and one other student to help him complete a large work, which took 9 months to complete. The work consisted of a curved wall 100 meters long and 3.5 m high. Each section 1m wide had to have the design molded in clay first, then in plaster which was then used to provide the pattern for the finished panel. This was cut into stone using a pantograph to guide the cutting, which was done by hand using chisels. A very dirty dusty job Fatih remembers, but a life changing experience he would not have missed.

A paper model gives an idea of the finished work

With his art school training Fatih is able to draw out his designs and will then make a small model in paper, cardboard or MDF until he forms in his mind the result he is trying to achieve. From there he may make a maquette if needed to gain a commission, or will go straight into the metal to complete the work. Fatih likes his design to conform to the media he uses. He likes straight lines and flat planes when working in metal and likes using repetitive modular shapes, and uses solid shapes when working in stone. He believes that sculpture needs to be bigger than life size if it is to have any impact. Fatih is well covered in Google, described as a “metal maestro” with a good representation of his considerable body of work shown. His most recently work is inthe Jing’an Sculpture Park in Shanghai installed in the past month. He has been accepted into the Mt Buller sculpture expo in December this year. Fatih has exhibited most successfully at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi on three occasions, as well as at Cottesloe and Currumbin. He has been artist in residence at Keilor College and completed 2 sculptures for them and one for the college at Taylors Lakes.

Fatih Semiz with his work

The group was most appreciative of the time Fatih took to show his works and in the unassuming way he explained and presented his work.

Gordon Robertson