Özlem Paker

Özlem Paker was born in 1968 and raised in Istanbul. She graduated with a BFA degree in Ceramics from the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Istanbul, and with a MFA degree from Parsons School of Design, New York, where she became a member of the faculty. She started her artistic career in ceramics in New York, where she lived for 10 years.
Her interest in exploring different media evolved from sculpture, spatial design to installations and multimedia (new media in other words).
In her explorations, Paker always chooses to surprise the viewer at first sight, and later invites them to her own personal space by opening up layers of information. The balance between material reality and the spiritual fiction is the most crucial part to her process.
Paker′s diverse international experiences are captured in the structural and sociopolitical aspects of her work. For her concept comes first, and determines the medium. She established her own creative studio, Trans-iT-Design in 1996 and created a playground to explore and interact between various disciplines. She comments that by presenting interaction to viewer, the artwork is not a static one-person show anymore; it is a multiple-owner, ever-evolving experience. Besides the American Craft Museum, Art Istanbul and Contemporary Istanbul Fairs, Paker′s works have been featured at various art galleries and events, and can be found in private and corporate collections across the globe.
She is the recipient of the Young Artist Award of the 2. Ceramic Art Competition at Izmir Art Museum, 1992, where the award was a one-month-long trip to Italy.

Her selected solo exhibitions: 1993: Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan. 1994: Hoboken Gallery, Hoboken, New Jersey. 2000: ′From Violation to Fragmentation′, Gallery X, NYC. 2003: ′On the Move′, Port art Gallery, Göcek, Turkey. 2006: ′My Poses are Permanent′, Gallery A, Istanbul.