Painter and ceramic
artist. She was born in Samsun,
1939. She graduated from the Istanbul Graduate School of Practical Fine Arts (1957).
Having earned the AFS scholarship, she went to the USA for a year. While she was
attending Albany Union High School,
she started to be interested in ceramics.
In 1958, she returned to
Turkey
and attended the Department of Ceramics and Department of Ballet at the School
of Practical Fine Arts(TGSYO). She attended both ballet and ceramic courses for a long time. In 1962,
she graduated from the Department of Ceramic, School
of Practical Fine Arts and did
internship in Arzberg Schonwald Ceramic Factory, Germany. She held her first personal
exhibition in 1963 right after her graduation and she won her fame with this
exhibition. Later, she attended many exhibitions at home and abroad within the
official invitee list. In 1964, she lectured at the University of Miami
for a year. She held many exhibitions abroad, attended various handcrafts and
ceramic fairs and common exhibitions in many different towns abroad (Paris, Munich, London, Moscow,
etc). She made ceramic panels for many hotels, art center, and international
institutions all around the world.
Yılmabaşar worked at TGSYO as lecturer in 1966. Having
completed required duration of assistantship, she did researches on “techniques of ceramic decoration and
reforms in modern Turkish pottery with those techniques” and became the first ceramic professor of
Turkey
in 1985. She resumed her works at the Academy
of Fine Arts, Marmara University.
She wrote her first book teaching how to make ceramics. Later, she worked at
private ceramic companies in the position of a consulter, and administered her
own gallery. Recently, she has worked in textile design industry. She had
creative works in fashion. She has many creative works in the field of textile,
on silk. She got retired when she was a lecturer
at the Department of Ceramic, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Marmara.
She held numerous exhibitions in Paris, Munich, London and Moscow. She attended
competitions held by Picasso
Museum as a selection
committee member. She has countless awards and she celebrated her thirtieth
year in art with an exhibition held in Paris,
and her fortieth year with an exhibition in Istanbul. In 1999 she held the most inclusive
exhibition of her art life, “15 Year with Pictures” (Resimle 15 Yıl), in Istanbul Ataturk Culture
Center.
Jale Yılmabaşar was awarded
with the golden medal in International Ceramic Competition, Faenza
/ Italy in 1968 and in
International Handcrafts Fair, Munich / Germany
in 1969. She was elected as one of the six best ceramic artists of the world in
Ireland
in 1972. She gained fame with her unique works aboard. In 1998, she received
the title "State Artist" from the Ministry of Culture.
BOOKS: Seramik Yöntemleri (1980), Primiti ve Türk Çömlekçiliği ve Kalkınması,
Kinik Köyü Çömlekleri.
