The Greek section of the International Watercolor Society (IWS), the Municipality of Kalamaria and Myro Gallery cordially invite you to attend the opening of the exhibition "Memories Unite Us" in which more than 80 painters from all over the world participate with their artworks. The opening ceremony will be held on Thursday, October 6, 2022 at 18:00. in the premises of the cultural center Pyli A (Andreou Georgiou 9, 54627, Thessaloniki). The exhibition will be opened by the Mayor of Kalamaria, Mr. Yiannis Dardamanelis, and the Vice Mayor of Education, Culture, Sports, Youth and Lifelong Learning, Mr. Thanos Giannakos, in the presence of the of IWS Greece Leader, Mr. Foti Kllogjeri, the Curator of the exhibitions and Coordinator of the Watercolor Symposium Mr. Paris Kapralos, the gallerist Stavros Muronidis, Greek and foreign participating artists, who have arrived in Greece to participate in the International Symposium that will precede it.
At the opening ceremony, the awards of 10 of the participating artists, chosen by the international jury, will be announced and awards will be presented.
Alongside the main exhibition, the second exhibition of the cooperation project of the IWS Greece and IWS Kosovo departments "All that unites us" will take place.
Both the exhibition "Memories unite us" and the symposium of the same name are held under the auspices of the Municipality of Kalamaria and are part of the program "KALAMARIA 1922-2022 A SEA OF MEMORIES...AND WE ALL BECAME ONE", organized by the Municipality of Kalamaria, honoring the 100 years from the Asia Minor Catastrophe. The area of Kalamaria is the main disembarkation area for the refugees of that period in Greece and a brilliant example that where peace and brotherhood of peoples prevails, civilization and progress thrive.
Violetta Kurbanova (Australia), Greta Sabbe, Pincas Feldman Claudio (Belgium), Mirsada Baljić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Ivani Ranieri, Carla Petrini, Esther Poroger, Maria Luisa Herszkowicz, Maria Teresa Elias, Sami Caro (Brazil), Krasi Todorov, Selma Todorova (Bulgaria), Natalia Outkina (Canada), Gabriela Britzmann (Chile), Silvia Monge (Costa Rica), Claudio Xavier Vásquez Coba (Ecuador), Foti Kllogjeri, Chrysoula Argyros, Dimitris Petropoulos, Kelly Kontzamani, Mika Symvoulidou, Nicky Drakou, Sofia Amperidou, Spyridon Mouratidis, Eleni Tsotsorou (Greece), Βesnik Xhemaili (Κόσοβο), Ashish Irap, Madhavi Srivastava (India), Adeleh Khamsehashari, Akram Hedayati, Mahsa Alipour, Mahsa Mehdizadeh, Mehri Naeimi, Minoo Nasirzadeh, Parastoo Vahidi, Nooshin Meshkotaldini, Sepideh Jalal, Tahereh Damirchi (Iran), Angela Pedonesi (Italy), Cesar Gordillo, José Ramón Blanco Durán (Mexico), Simonida Filipova Kitanovska (North Macedonia), Kevin Anthony Palacios Arrese (Peru), Matija Cipuric (Slovenia), Isabel Alosete, Angela Barbi, Teresa Jordá Vitó, Montserrat Carreras Ribó (Spain), Ma Victoria Aurea van Dijk (Suriname), Ovidiu Iovanel, Alexandra Dumitru, Alina Dumitrescu, Eleni Anca Oprescu, Dana Puscasu, Daniela Lukacs, Nadia Negu, Marilena Popescu (Romania), Oxana Lukyanenko (Russia), Siwa Inthakhot (Thailand), Olga Mathiusko (Ukraine), Larisa Anaya, Stella Canfield (USA).
The exhibition is also available online on the online exhibition platform of Myro Antiques House (https://myroauctions.gr) one day after the opening at an electronic address that will be announced soon.
Awards and Honors
On the opening day of the exhibition at Gate A, the awardees will be announced by a committee of the International Watercolor Association, who will receive honors and prizes that are quality materials and consumables contributed by the Event Sponsors Atlantis, Tempera Art Materials (Greece), Clairefontaine , DaVinci, Escoda Barcelona, Rembrandt, Royal Talens, Schmincke (International).
International Jury
The international Jury that selected the artists of the exhibition and the awarded artists was formed by Mr. Atanur Dogan (President & Founder of the International Hydrographic Association), Amit Kapour (Head of IWS India, Vice President of the International Hydrographic Association, and Director of IWS Magazine), Besnik Xhemaili (Head of IWS Kosovo, and CEO of the International Hydrographic Association), Foti kllogjeri (Head of IWS Greece).
International Watercolor Symposium
At the symposium worldwide renowned watercolor artists Βesnik Xhemaili, Krasi Todorov, Selma Todorova, Teresa Jordá Vitó, Αngela Barbi, Mirsada Baljić, Simonida Filipova Kitanovska, Ivani Ranieri have traveled to Greece to participate. The international artists, together with the also internationally known watercolorist Foti Kllogjeri who lives and works in Thessaloniki, will paint in two open to the public plein air landscapes of Kalamaria and Thessaloniki. Everyone will donate a work to the permanent collection of works of the Municipality of Kalamaria. Plein air dates, times and locations will be announced soon.
Parallel exhibition of the project "All that unites us"
Alongside the main exhibition, in a separate space, works by the partnership of Greek and Kosovar watercolorists will be exhibited in the project "All that unites us" of the IWS departments of the two countries. The first exhibition of the project took place in Athens exactly one year ago (October 2021). The painters Giorgos Vouros, Gioula Papadopoulou, Costas Garifallos, Maria Charalambous, Costas Vlachopoulos, Christos Spiliotis, Costas Missios, Spyridon Mouratidis, Emmelia Filippopoulou, Mika Symboulidou, Samis Tamboch, Konstantinos Hatzipapatheodorides, Spyros Romanos, Maria Dikajeriou contribute to the project. from the Greek side, and Besnik Xhemaili, Tomor Arifi, Arlinda Hajrullahu, Blerta Sylla, Zana Ramadani, Mjellma Goranci, Naim Spahiu from Kosovo. "Through the avenues of art, of this unspoken but unifying communication of people we can achieve peace and cooperation among peoples. We hope that our message is more resounding than ever, now that we have all lived for a long time without each other the other", said the Director of the Greek Department of IWS Foti Kllogjeri. The exhibition is also available online on the ARTgrID platform (https://artgrid.gr) one day after the opening at an electronic address that will be announced soon.
Duration of exhibitions in Gate A: 6-21 October 2022. Opening: Thursday 6 October at 18:00. Hours/Days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 18:00 - 21:00, and/or by appointment with Mr. Stavros Myronidis (tel. 6971890212) the rest of the days.
Organization's ID
Venue: Gate A, 9 Andreou Georgiou (next to The Met Hotel), 54627, Thessaloniki.
Head of organization: Foti Kllogjeri, IWS Greece Leader
Curated & Coordinated by: Paris Kapralos, Visual Arts Curator
Awards & Symposium Sponsors: Atlantis, Tempera Art Materials (Greece), Clairefontaine, DaVinci, Escoda Barcelona, Rembrandt, Royal Talens, Schmincke (International)
Exhibition management & online support: Myró Gallery
Logistics & Event Management: ARTgrID
Online support: Myro Antiques House
Organisation: IWS Greece
About IWS
IWS Globe Art is a global network platform for art.In 2012, Mr. Atanur Dogan from Canada founded the “International Watercolor Society”. Since its establishment, the society expanded rapidly with the development of more than 100 branches around the world. With the desire of expanding from the singular focus of watercolor to include all forms of art for cultural exchange, this global art network was initiated. This platform aims to add strength to IWS and create more opportunities for both amateur and professional artists.The IWS Globe art network carries the IWS institutions and IWS branches, both collectively and individually following the mission of IWS – to bring love, peace and harmony through art. Find out more at https://iwsglobeart.net
About Myro Gallery
MYRÓ Gallery was founded by Stavros Myronidis in the context of his activities in the field of Culture and visual arts (Myró Antiques House, Greek Marble Initiative, etc.) in September 2011. From 2020 onwards, the manager of Myró Gallery is Mariana Rossiadou. The gallery favors collaborative schemes between artists, presents many projects and concept exhibitions, and often presents exhibitions of contemporary sculpture and in collaboration with the Greek Marble Initiative. More information: www.myro.gr
About the Art Curator & symposium's co-ordinator
Paris Kapralos is an Art Curator, Founder of ARC -Art Revisited Collective, and co-editor of Arts & Antiques CCR. He was born and raised in Athens and is active internationally. He studied Economics (Athens) and Graphic Arts (England), worked as a Journalist (1999-2006), as an organizer at business conferences in the IT & Telecommunications sector (Infocom, Greek ICT Forum, 2004-2011), and changed his professional path by turning in the field of Art in 2011. He collaborated with the Myrò Group of Culture (Myrò Gallery, Myrò Antiques House, Greek Marble Initiative, 2011-2017). From 2018 onwards he works as an independent Organizer and Curator of art exhibitions & events. Since 2019 he is the representative of the Greek Section of the International Watercolor Society IWS (International Watercolor Society). He has curated and organized more than 150 exhibitions, visual actions, projects and participations in and outside of Greece. Find out more at https://artgrid.gr/paris-kapralos/