Painting and Jewelry
Sema Hakki, a 1999 School of Dentistry graduate, recently completed her post doctorate degree in periodontology and is a practicing dentist in her home country of Turkey. She took painting courses in her undergraduate studies but did not do her own artwork again until she made a painting on canvas to fill empty wall space in her Ann Arbor department. Afterwards, she was inspired artistically. She has become a mainstay in both local and national art fairs with her distinctive, abstract oil painting style and often sells her jewelry in her native country of Turkey locally.
“People in Endlessness” (2022)
Oil painting on canvas
This is a painting from the artist’s most recent series entitled Insanlar (Turkish for “people”) which depicts abstract human figures. While she had current events in mind while creating her work, she prefers the viewer to deduce their own meanings. What do you see in this painting and what do you think inspired its creation?
Untitled leatherworking, jean material, glass beads, metal charmed, and rope necklaces
Sema’s jewelry design has ties to both her dental profession and also a philanthropic cause close to her heart. Using often donated varied media, including leather, jean material scraps, glass beads, and metals from a local metalsmith, she uses her metal bending and shaping skills honed in her dental practice to repurpose materials to unique jewelry pieces. Stylistically, she prefers asymmetry and also incorporates cultural beliefs such as the evil eye to offer protection to wearers. She makes no money from the fabrication of these unique pieces and, instead, donates proceeds directly to local dental students to fund their studies. To date, she has fully funded a year of courses for 33 dental students from her jewelry making.
