Artist studios throw doors open

Six local artists are opening the doors of their studios next weekend for an event filled with art and creativity. The resident artists of Aphrodite Street Studios will host a winter market on November 25 and 26 showcasing their work and welcoming the public to their spaces.

Artists from diverse backgrounds participate in the Aphrodite Street Studios Winter Market, which will run from 11am to 7pm on both days, welcoming guests to a beautiful old home in Old Strovolos where the studios are housed. Visitors will be able to explore and purchase artworks ranging from ceramics, painting, cyanotype prints, illustration, mixed media and children’s clothing.

In particular, market-goers will have the chance to browse the work of Diyala Muir, an animation artist with a naive and colourful style who will screen some of her films in the evening and sell her zines and prints. A new local brand, Ferret and Bear, created by sisters Shona and Diyala Muir will also participate selling locally-made unique clothing for kids. Painter Lara Sophie Benjamin, who works primarily in oil paints drawing subject matter from her everyday surroundings, will also display her work. She works intuitively with an emphasis on painterly expression, playing with colour, light, mark making, form and layering.

Writer and a photographer Eleni Philippou who works with the cyanotype photographic printing process using local flowers and plants will sell postcards, cards and framed prints. In her recent projects, she has introduced text into her blue prints as a way to blend her two passions, as well as stencils inspired by her hometown of Nicosia.

Also participating is Joumana Sayegh, a ceramist forming hand-built pieces primarily in stoneware clay, using various methods such as coiling, press-moulding and mainly slab-building. Many of her pieces are inspired by Islamic and Middle Eastern Art and sketches of nature or architecture developed into abstract and geometric shapes. Last is multi-media artist Charitsa Mouyiasi, who works across a variety of art practises and themes ranging from personal to socio-political. Her work is guided by her strong colourful feelings of love and tenderness for all life on the planet and is expressed through paintings, prints, batiks, murals, music, dance and photography.

Aphrodite Street Studios Winter Market

Six artists open their studios and host a 2-day market. November 25-26. 8 Aphrodite Street, old Strovolos, 2059, Nicosia. 11am-7pm. Facebook event: Aphrodite Street Studios Winter Market