Turkish Student Model

Meeting with actual traditional felt-maker artist,
High school students’ oral history interview experience

Stokrocki, M. (Arizona State University, Fine Art Department, AZ. US.)
Gokay, M. (Selcuk University, Fine Art Department, Konya, Turkey)

Abstract: : The purpose of this study is to introduce an everyday artist living in Konya (Turkey) to high school students. The students would ask whatever they would like to the artist during the predated interview so they can learn and observe about the artist life, working place (studio), and his/her art particularly. After a weeks time I asked to students if they liked the activity, what they learned from him. I asked them also if they learned only art of felt-making or art as a concept in more global point of view. I realized that they remembered most of the questions they asked and they perfectly described what happened during the interview.

1. Introduction

Felt-making is a traditional way to make thick textile from whole sheep wool. Wool is pushed into a form on the floor and becames a planar textile pattern. In this traditional works there is no machinery to use. All the works have been done by felt-maker and his/her sub-masters and freshmen. Since the felts have been using in Turkey through the centuries, felt-makers motifs on felts appears different type of artistic feature due to felts original behavior. Felt makers color the wool by using ingredents obtained from local flowers and plants, And later on they use them to form their own symbols on their felts.These symbols represents many meanings like the motifs of carpet and kilim in Turkish traditions.

1.1 Felt making

Felt is a kind of textile made by whole wool. Whole wool have not pass through the classical fabric procedures (wool-string-fabric). In this technique whole wool forced to be laminated in warm moist places. Archaeological remains showed that the felt had been used in central Asia at pre-historic time. The remains of Pazirlik and Noin-Ula places in Mongolia demonstrated the usage of felt during BC 2cd and 4th century. The remains consists of women suits, baby textiles (swaddling clothes), horse saddle cover and floor-textiles for tents made from felts (Karpuz, 1999).

Konya is one of the main felt-making city in Anatolia in last centuries due to its location. It was a capital city of Anatolian Turkish State of Seljuk during AD10th – AD13th century. So like the other art and crafts branches, felt-making was widespread in Konya. After Seljuk, felt-making had been continued during the government periods of Ottoman Empire. Nowadays felt as a textile has being disappearing from everyday fashion in Turkey. However there are also people in central Anatolia who prefer to wear outfits made up from felt fabric for extremely cold weather of winter. Most of the shepherds in the countryside also prefer to wear their special outfits called “kepenek” (Photo d, e). In fact kepenek and shepherd’s pipe are two main ornaments representing shepherds in Turkey. There are now a few felt-maker around Konya. However it was reported that there were so many felt-maker and felt textile tradesman in Konya, so they had a special locality in one part of whole bazaar (Karpuz, 1999).There are now mainly less than ten felt-maker in Konya.

Felt has been produced by using two different methods. First one involves classical procedure and mainly man-made, (classical kicking technique). Second method involves machinery for lamination of wool (machine kicking technique). Since the whole wool has been kicked on the moist floor by felt-makers to laminate, the methods were called accordingly. Nowadays in Turkey felt is still produced for specially winter outfits. Specially hunters, farmers and truck drivers prefer to buy cloths, sacks, pants, floor-textiles from felt. As a fashionable product city girls specially in students of universities buy hand bags made up from felt.

1.2 Living felt maker, Mr. M.Girgic

One of the last living felt-makers’ of Konya is Mr. Girgic. He was born in Konya in 1953 and started felt-making in 1966. He has been in his family’ felt-making business since then. He learned felt-making from his grandfather. He has produced many felt products. He visited Austria by invitation of Austrian Government as a traditional local artist. He went to England also to demonstrate his art in special research activity (Art in Action). He presented his felt-products in some exhibition organized in Turkey, Austria, England and Germany. Nowadays he is getting felt request from all these countries and Sweden, Norway and Hungary. His felt-making activities were recorded by one of the national German Television. After this documentary film broadcasted in Germany he said he started to get German tourist visiting him in his studio in Konya.

2. Research procedure followed

There are more than 150 secondary schools within Konya city limits. I selected one of them for oral history study in art. The name of the selected high school was “Konya Guzel sanatlar Lisesi” (Fine art education high school). After explaining the purpose of study to the school administration and students, four students (two male and two female students) from painting class (grade 9, they were 16 years old)) were volunteered to be in this study.

At the beginning of this research, students did not want to involve in this research, Because they told me later that, they had thought this research might have include a lot of boring lecturing and question-answer surveys. When they were told that the research was about a felt-maker living in Konya and this research covers the interview with him in his studio, students started to interesting in. female students were found more interested in this research than the male students. Similar to earlier works performed by Stokrocki (2001) students were informed that if they would be volunteered in this study, they should answer the pre-visit survey questions about general art knowledge and they were told that after this survey volunteered students would be taken to felt-makers studio for interview. After explaining the research procedure to students four of them volunteered in this classroom (total number of students in this class was ten). Volunteered students were taken into separate room to survey about their art knowledge. The survey questions explore their art view and these questions were extracted and summarized by using the information supplied by Stokrocki (2001).
The survey questions were as follows;

1. What is art?
2. What is artist?
3. Where do we find art?
4. Which art forms and types you like most?
5. Which art forms or types you do not like?
6. Are you dealing with any kind of art performance in your home (outside of your school)
7. Is there anyone in your family dealing with art?
8. Which artist do you like most?
9. Which art branch do you want to get informed?
10. Do you know what is felt and do you any person making felt?

The students answers these questions and their answers were given in appendix section. They were evaluated for student intention to art and art products. Since the selected high school was specialized on fine art, they have more lessons about art, These students have enough time to produce their own art products (drawings, oil picture etc.) in art studio lessons with respect to normal high school students. They were found more enfuestic to art and drawing. They generally know the famous world artists. It was interesting that they have very little information about felt and almost no information about the felt-makers in Konya. I observed that the volunteered students’ interest were not full even I supply some information about felt and its importance in Turkish culture. Student told that they were accepted the felt-making as a old fashion fabric. They thought that felt would disappear in time. However as I reported in discussion section students’ ideas and intention had been totally changed after they meet the felt-maker and we finished the oral history interview.

The followings are the general procedure followed during this oral history site study;

• I asked the students to perform pre-interview short research about felt-making and felt arts. They were going to prepare questions what ever they would like to learn about this art s well.
  
• I arranged an appointment (it was June 10th 2002) with a felt-maker living in Konya. He is in his mid ages and his name is Mr. Mehmet Girgic. He has a working studio around Mevlana Museum in Konya.
  
• After getting permission from the student families and school administration, I took the students to the feltmaker’s studio. It is a wall surrounded garden. There is old house at one corner of this wide garden (Photo j). the house has wool storing rooms, felt-making studios and felt processing rooms include a dying pool and machineries. There are four traditional Turkish tents (yurts) in his garden (photo i). All of them furnished with selected Turkish carpets, kilims and felts. Three of them are smaller and Mr. Girgic said he prepared them for his visitors. One of the tents is bigger (40 m2) and he uses this one as a main office for his business during the summer times. Its ceiling covered by different types of felt, carpet and kilims.
  
• After introducing the students to Mr. Girgic, I let the student ask their questions to explore him and his art. Students were free for asking any kind of questions. I also asked a few questions to identify certain point clearly while they were interviewing.
  
• I took photographs of this interview and art products of Mr. Girgic and recorded the interview to analyze this activity. Following section contain text of this interview translated from the recorded tapes.

3. Oral history interview for living felt-maker

Date: June 10th 2002, Time:13:00

1.
Student:	Where and when were you born?
Mr. Girgic:	I was born in Konya in 1953.
2.
Student:	What is the main raw material which the felt made up and where have you obtain them?
Mr. Girgic:	The main raw material is sheep wool especially lamb wool. Not all the sheep wool is suitable for felt making. Only the wool obtained from the mountains region is best for felt-making. I also collected the special plants and roots for dying purposes.
3.
Student:	Have you arranged (composite) the motifs on your felt product by yourself?
Mr. Girgic:	I influenced anywhere during my motif selection. I used traditional motifs and the motifs used also for carpets. In certain period, I applied only traditional motifs on my felts. But now, I am thinking the felt making is international art branch, so I am trying more wise and general applications at my felts.
4.
Student:	Are there any meanings of the motifs, you are using?
Mr. Girgic:	It is definite that each motif has a meaning. However I do not perfectly know their full meanings. In fact, I do not check their meaning while I am using on my felts, If I like them and if I am using on my felts, that means the motifs I selected represent something from me my culture. If you show me now some historic felt motifs and ask what its producer (felt master) supposed to represent, I do not know exact answers.
5.
Student:	Okey then… Can you explain us what is art ? What is craftsman (a person doing any kind of work which needs manual experience)?
Mr. Girgic:	Ohh.. this is very difficult question. To being an artist is not easy. I assumed that I am a craftsman. In order to be an artist I need to work really hard. According to me artist and craftsman are two different people. I knew very well, what is sheep wool. I understand if the wool is good for felt making while I am away from that wool-sacks. I feel the wool and I have many experiences about wool and its behavior. After all, good works of mine in this field, I can only say that I am at the beginning of the felt art. As a felt artist I feel myself as a freshman. In my last products for examples, I have started to use images from nature which no felt-maker has tried before in Konya. I realize now new features around me and try to apply on my felt products. I have realized that I really need to work hard to be a good felt artist.
6.
Student:	How many hours, one felt product takes to finish?
Mr. Girgic:	It depends on the job you are dealing with. I may finish first step, which is lamination of the felt in 2 or 3 hours or in 2 days. It depends also the size of the product. Pushing the motifs into plain felt takes also additional times. If the selected motifs are complex it needs fine arrangements that means it needs extra time to finish.
7.
Student:	Is there any person in your family dealing with this art branch?
Mr. Girgic:	My grandfather trained me. He was trained by his father. So this is our family job. My grandfather leaved the school and started to felt making as a freshman when he was ten years old. At that time they made special Anatolian hat “kulah” from felt. After new civil-custom legislation during the early years of Turkish Republic (1930s), my grandfather stopped to made kulahs and they started to made “kepenek” (special outfits for local shepherds) (Photo d, e). Because new legislation banned to wear kulah-type hats in Turkey. My father and uncle learned to make felt from my grandfather. Now, my sons are learning felt making from me. So traditions and experiences are transferred to new generation.
8.
Student:	How many years have you work as a freshman or sub-master?
Mr. Girgic:	In fact I learned this art or lets say crafts in family, I did not work as a freshman or sub-master. So I never taste the freshman feeling in this job. However, I know how to make Afyon style felt and I learnt this technique from a good felt maker who was born in Afyon ( Afyon is mid western city in Turkey and 270 kilometers away (at the west) from Konya). At that time I followed this man’s training with his son. He was a tough man but good teacher. At that time I felt the freshmanship. Because he advised to us work hard and do the job better and better. He said to us “work hard or leave the training”. Sometimes he said to us “work better and learn whatsoever I teach, otherwise I put earings to your ears” (It is a poetic words, It did not mean that he really put earing to their ear. It means that if they were not successfull in learning, he’d not behaving them as a real man) (putting earings to man’s ear is very offensive word for man in Turkey). His manner is very different than I used to in our family. My grandfather was a wise man. He never used harsh words to me. Anyway I learnt many things from them. They were good teachers.
9.
Student:	Have you ever present your felt products in an exhibition?
Mr. Girgic:	Yes I presented them in exhibitions.
	Time: 15:10, Mrs. Girgic who was born in Argentina, and later married Mr. Girgic offered cups of tea. After the tea-break the interview was continued.
10.
Student:	Are you attending the exhibitions regularly?
Mr. Girgic:	No, my presentations have not regular bases. The last exhibition was three years ago. It was in 1998. I worked with one German researcher here in Konya. Her name was Claudia Gemein. At the end of our research study we presented our felt product in an exhibition Fine Art Gallery in Konya and In Germany. Before this exhibition I attended several other exhibitions with my felts, carpets and kilims.
11.
Student:	Have you ever attend any exhibition in abroad?
Mr. Girgic:	I attended an exhibition in Germany and a research study in England (Oxford). It was Art in Action research study. I stayed there two months and worked with many students. I trained them in felt making. I made 17 “kaytak” style felt during this research study. All our works were exhibited at the end of the study period and sold out immediately.
12.
Student:	How is the people’s interest in your products and art in Turkey?
Mr. Girgic:	In Turkey felt has a place as a textile material. But people have not interested too much any more. Only people from villages (actual customers) are requesting our products. However in last years, city people are also started to request felt products as well. Their interest are in artistic manner. However, actual interest to my works are from abroad. First, people from England were interested, then the Germans, now people from US asking some of my products. In fact the request from Turkey should be more than the level I have got now. Because felt-making is our traditional art. As the people obtain information about their own cultural background they may realize felts as well. So I am optimistic about future, I think request to felt products will gradually be increased in near future.
13.
Student:	While you are making felt, are you taking the customer requests into consideration?
Mr. Girgic:	If the request is logical, why not I take them into consideration to being good businessman. In fact, I have to say at this point of this interview that, we are speaking about crafts. It is a hand-made business. If I am an artist I might not taking the customer considerations into account. However I am a craftsman. I learnt this job very well. If the customer came to me and ask whatever he imagined in his/her dreams, I try to symbolize them on my felt until my customers get enough self satisfaction.
14.
Student:	Is there any target which you aimed to reach in this job or branch of art?
Mr. Girgic:	I am able to do whatever I am imagining. There is no subject or motifs which I can not apply on my felt. So there is no artistic target for me to reach? However I want to produce better and more effective felt product in my studio. I am now looking for something different, very special type of motifs.
15.
Student:	Could you tell us how the felt-making was started in the past?
Mr. Girgic:	Felt is a product of natural process. Natural felt starts to form on the sheep while they are carrying their own wool along the mountains and plains. Since the Turkish shepherds deals mainly with sheeps, they had realized the compacted wools on the sheeps. Then they wanted to produce similar ones. The story about this subject is being told in Konya like this. First felt-maker cut the sheep wool and tried to laminate them. However the wool did not compacted to form felt fabric. He worked hard but he could not managed. Then he started to cry, because of his failure in this job. When his eye drops reached to wool, wool-strings started to buckle down and form the first felt. He realized this fact and then by adding enough water to his wool and compacting them perfectly he obtained first felt product. That was the starting point of our crafts or let say this is the story about.
16.
Student:	How many felt maker you trained in your life?
Mr. Girgic:	I trained many people, but all of them living abroad. I trained more than 1000 or 1500 people about felt making in England. However I have not got any freshman in my studio here in Konya. I have only my sons helping me here. I am training them about this job. I do not like other people’s attitude to my art and my crafts applying to be sub-master or freshman in this job. However I have experienced many times they wanted to copy my works and my style without my permission. So, I decided to not train any Turkish freshman other then my family members.
17.
Student:	How you feel about your products and your art as an artist?
Mr. Girgic:	Some times my friends asked me if I tried everything in this art. I said them there is no end in the art. You can learn new things everyday. I went to England I trained them about my felt making style. But, I learnt many things from them as well. Before this trip I applied mainly traditional motifs on my felt products. But now, I am thinking more globally and try to apply everything I saw around me. If you work harder and play around felt, you will end up with much more beautiful job. There is no boundary in this art.
18.
Student:	What is the importance of felt making for you?
Mr. Girgic:	Felt making is my life, I live with this job. Felt-making is my world.
19.
Student:	Have you ever think about that, you will be famous felt maker in Turkey while you were a child?
Mr. Girgic:	No.
20.
Student:	So, why don’t you try to do another job?
Mr. Girgic:	I could not adapted myself to another job. I left my school education after finishing primary school. I do not have secondary school degree. However, I learnt to speak English, I know a little Spanish as well. Because my wife is an Argentinean. I am dealing felt making business as good as possible. In fact I would like to be metal worker and deal with metal cutting machinery. But my father did not let me work in this field of profession. Because I am the only son he had got. Then one day my grandfather asked me to become felt-maker in 19966. He trained me and handle out the business to me.
21.
Student:	Why are you doing this art, have you ever think about doing someother things?
Mr. Girgic:	This is my life, I earn money from this crafts. I have changed my felt motifs many times but I have not thought about changing my job and art branch at all. I tried Seljukian motifs. I applied Ottoman carpet motifs to felt products. I searched historical felt-motifs and I applied them to my products as well.
22.
Student:	What do you want to do about this art, after this point?
	I have not copied the products which the other felt-makers performed. I have used natural motifs and experience of my life in my felt-products. That means, I made the felt through out my culture. I have used plants and roots for wool dying. I have not used any chemical dyes in my felt procedure techniques. I have worked on carpets and kilims as well. I have even washed my products with the plant extracts. I want to do my best. I do not expect to reach maximum levels of mastership in this crafts. But, I would like to do my best in each day. Earning money now is not my primary aim any more. My first aim is producing my best felt. I work hard and sometimes I dreamed about felt and dying wool in my sleeps. I have produced all colors in wool dying through the plants. I do not have problem in this work. One day a museum man asked me to repair a historical carpet (originally dyed with plant extracts). I repaired the carpet by producing its colorful wool string one by one after trying many plants and roots. At the end, I produced all the required color and finished the project. This work gave me moral and confidence at that time. Then I always try to do my best.
23.
Student:	Are you collecting the dying plant yourself? Are you producing felt alone?
Mr. Girgic:	I produce felt in large quantity nowadays. Therefore I need to have a lot of plants and roots to produce my dying extract. I do not have enough time to collect that amount of plants any more. Consequently, I obtained dying plants from the other people.I have also special plants which I collected by myself. These are my special plants, nobody knows what they are and which color they produce in wool dying. I keep this knowledge secret, let’s say business secret. I am using machinery to compact the wool. If I want to produce felt like in the past days, I need to have at least 5 or 8 workers. In the early days of my professionalty, my grandfather, my father, me and several other workers worked together to produce felts in traditional way. I am using machinery now for felt lamination, I apply motifs on felts by hand. In last years I produce felt by using traditional methods only at demonstrations. That is the way the students…. Felt making like a drawing a picture, artists do not border their capabilities with a few motifs. So you should be feel free, learn more …. You should be under control by your school education curriculum, Moreover, listen your teacher very carefully and graceful to them. Then you also feel the nature, observe the harmony in nature as a figures and colors. Now even I am trying to apply the mountains, springs and trees on my felt product. Nature is a wise trainer if you can understand.
24.
Student:	Is there any felt motif you feel difficult to apply?
Mr. Girgic:	No, there is no motifs for me which is difficult in felt making. But I may say that, some motifs take much more time to apply. So only the time is the problem. Details of some motifs need extra time and concentration.
25.
Student:	Thank you very much about this interview, that help us more to understand the importance of felt in our culture.
Mr. Girgic:	You are welcome students.

The interview was finished at 16:45 and we walked into Mr. Girgic’s work studio and took pictures of his felt products. Following are the photos:

3.1 Photographs

 

a) Mr. Mrs Girgic and Dr. Gokay at the interview.

b) Felt sample-1.

c) felt sample-2.

d) Felt sample-3 (Kepenek back side).

e) Felt sample-3 (Kepenek front side).

f) Felt sample-4.

g) Mr Girgic’s felt studio (felt wools).

h) Mr. Girgic explaining his art to the students.

i) Mr. Girgic working place and his products.

j) Mr. Girgic kilims and students           

k) Mr. Girgic’s wool stock.

l) Mr Girgic and wools and carpets.

m) Dying pool where the wool gets the color.

n) Dyed wools are drying.

4. Discussion and conclusion

This research study was done to evaluate high school student’s general intention to local artists. Art education in schools are given sometimes in a way that students learn many information about famous world artists but not enough information about local ones. Therefore we decided to point out if the oral history interview is effective in getting information about local artists and eventually local art environment around the selected high school.

When we analyzed the survey results, we found that the students know classical art products (for example Reonasans artsists). They gave these art products for painting examples. By this work students were reported that they realized the local art environment and they now understood that art is not in museums. Art is everywhere. They learnt that they could coincide art products anywhere around them. Felt-maker (Mr. Girgic) speak influenced them also. They said they were going to look nature differently after this oral history interview.

Students did not expected that an local artist in Konya had an exhibition in abroad. When they leart the activities of Mr. Girgic, they surprised and they were very interesting in felt products. They realized that felt-making is a traditional art which the other people from abroad deal with more. Because it is different type of art and they understood that people would like to learn more about it.

Oral history research we think more effective than just giving the facts of arts in classroom. Analyzing the art of living artist in near neighborhood catches the students’ interest. They understood that they were inside an art world. Transferring famous artists’ life and their works to the students as a lesson make the students’ ideas and beliefs about art different. Some of them are thinking that art can be found away from their city and art products have been always made by famous artists (gifted people). Oral history interviews is one of the way to show students there are many form of art and some of the from may be done perfectly in their city. These interviews cover also the activities influencing all sense of students. Students listen the artist (in our research the artist is a local felt-maker), they saw him personally, they saw also his studio and his felt-products. They smell the studio air. After the interview we performed in Konya, students knew very well how raw sheep wool smells. They had very sharp experience when we entered raw-wool stocking room of the Mr. Girgic’s studio. Students put their hand to their noise to stop smelling the forceful smell of the sheep raw-wool. After this experience we saw the clean wool and felt products in different rooms. Students this time liked the smell of the cleaned and dyed wools. They touched to them to feel their softness and texture. We thought that they will never forget this experience in their life. Consequently, students use their four sense (listen, saw, smell and touch) out of five main sence, I thought they had many information (obtained intentionally or unintentionally) to remember.

5. Appendix

This section includes survey-sheets of the performed research.

5.1 Survey Questions

1. What is art?
2. What is artist?
3. Where do we find art?
4. Which art forms and types you like most?
5. Which art forms or types you do not like?
6. Are you dealing with any kind of art performance in your home (outside of your school)?
7. Is there anyone in your family dealing with art?
8. Which artist, do you like most?
9. Which art branch do you want to get informed?
10. Do you know what is felt and do you any person making felt?

5.2 Student sheets

Student A.
Name: Suleyman Turgutluoglu (male, 16 years old).

1. Art is a means to express our ideas and feelings free and it has no boundaries at all.
2. A person deals with one of the branches of the art professionally.
3. At the places where the art is located.
4. I like graphics and pictures made by pastels. I like also pencil drawings and oil paintings.
5. I do not like water-color paintings. It is difficult to control the colors during water-color paintings.
6. I like to draw pictures by pencil in my home,
7. No.
8. Albert Durer, I like his drawings and his artistic capabilities.
9. Painting. I think painting takes me to the other worlds, which is unreal but nice. So I would like to get more information about paintings.
10. I know felt but, I do not know any felt-maker in Konya.

Student B.
Name: Havva Dalen (female, 16 years old).

1. It represents men’s ideas and feelings. It can be in the form of different drawings and colors, or it may be in different form of music.
2. A person who see all natural creatures from the different point of view.
3. We can find art inside ourselves. We can manage to find art at the places where other people found out already if we look there with an artistic point of view.
4. I like abstract paintings. I like also oil painting technique as well. I prefer to see the natural creatures in different forms than the forms they can actually found in nature.
5. I do not like oil-pastel and realistic paintings. Because I do not want to look around in realistic point of view.
6. I draw pictures on raw ceramic paste and I paint clay vouse in my spare times.
7. No.
8. Dalli, since some of his paintings consist of supernatural features.
9. Wood carving. I do not know the reason but, I think I like wood carving art.
10. No.

Student C.
Name: Tugba Ozdemir, (female, 16 years old).

1. From early day of men, art is everything what men have did in the world to continue their life.
2. Artists deal with art in any branch.
3. Art is inside of each men. For example life style is a kind of art.
4. Oil painting and pencil drawings. I think that I can transfer my ideas more easly through them.
5. Water-color paintings. I think, It is easy to perform but, I have not managed to control the color at all.
6. I drawing pictures with pencil in home,
7. No.
8. Leonard do Vinci, Albert Durer, Because their paintings are similar to one I like it to paint.
9. Interior design and graphics.
10. No.

Student D.
Name: Murat Badem, (male, 16 years old).

1. Representation of ideas and feelings in freedom.
2. Artist is a person who perform his/her art in excellent level.
3. We can find in France and Italy where they valued the art and artist.
4. Pencil drawing and graphics. Because they are not boring. They seem to me very joyful.
5. I do not like water-color paintings. It is boring and difficult. I do not find any relation with Water-color painting and my soul.
6. No,
7. My father, uncle and my mother
8. Painting.
9. No.

References

Karpuz, H. (1999)
Stockrocki, M. (2001)