Günseli Kato

Günseli Kato had an interest in painting and started to paint in 1974, when she participated in Prof. Dr. Süheyl Ünver’s miniature class at the Topkapı Palace Museum. Two years later, Kato was appointed as instructor to the Topkapı Palace Miniature and Decorative Arts Department. In the same year, she started her academic education at the Marmara University, Faculty of Education, Painting Department, and graduated in 1980. In 1981, Günseli Kato received a Japanese Sato Grant and furthered her education at the Tokyo Art University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Traditional Japanese Painting under the guidance of Prof. Hirayama Ikuo. She taught Turkish miniature at the same institution since 1983. In 1985, Günseli Kato started her studies in ceramics with Takuo Kato, an expert in Islamic Ceramic Arts, and worked in his workshop for 12 years until her return to Turkey. In 1994, a Turkish miniature class was initiated at the Asahi Journal Cultural Centre under Günseli Kato’s name, and she continues to teach there, travelling twice in every year. Currently Kato is lecturing on the arts of the East at the Bahçeşehir University.

Günseli Kato′s artistic career started in 1978 with her Prize of Achievement at the Foundation of Turkish Culture Young Amateur Artists Award. Kato has shown extensively in various exhibitions, starting with the Contemporary Miniature Exhibition, in which she showed alongside Takuo Kato, an expert who was the first in working with Islamic ceramics and holder of the “Living Heritage” title in Japan: 1984, Miniature Exhibition, Turkish Republic Tokyo Embassy; 1989, The Woman in Contemporary Miniature, the Nagoya Maruei Shop; 1992, “The Similarities in Motif in Turkish and Japanese Culture”, Istanbul  University Faculty of Letters symposium and exhibition; 1993, “The Similarities in Motif in Turkish and Japanese Culture”, Tokyo Embassy; 1994, “Nothing” Exhibition, Kohedo Gallery, Gifu; 1994, “The Introduction of Industrial Ceramic Designs to Japan”, Maihata Gallery, Tokyo, Gifu; 1995, “The Joy the Silk Road” (with Takuo Kato), Gero Onsen Gallery, Gifu; 1996, Contemporary Miniature Exhibition, Wakoll Gallery, Tokyo; 1997, “The Woman and Miniature in Eastern Aesthetics” exhibition (with Japanese students), Istanbul Technical University Faculty of Architecture; 1997, “As It Is” performance, Ercümend Kalmık Museum; 1997, “The Thousand Years of Istanbul” performance, (in memory of the 75th year of the Turkish Republic, with the support of the Turkish Ministry of Culture), Aya Irini; 1999, “The Thousand Purple Years of Byzantium”, Yapı Kredi Bank; 1999, “Multiples for Frames” Borusan Art Gallery; 1999, “From Japan to Topkapı Palace”, 700 Years of Ottoman Architecture; 1999, “Heritage Beyond Nations” international congress; 2000, “Harmony, Combat, Body”, Ihlamur Summer Palace; 2001, Topkapı Palace Museum, 15th century Album; 2001, “Esma Sultan Yalısı” Love Story, Varka & Gülşah.