A Guest Demonstration in Ebru

Today proved to be a fullfilling day; not only did I meet several of my fellow grad students, but in the process I also got to hear about a demonstration by a gentleman from Turkey. Not being entirely clear on what it was he was going to demonstrate, I opted to go. The mystery deepened upon entering the room and seeing a tray with water, and paints all around it. The demonstrator had been brought into the US by Syracuse University, where he is doing a guest artist thing, and he does not speak a word of English. By now you may be asking what exactly this man's specialty is...well he is a master of Ebru, or Turkish Marbling. Ebru is a technique that was utilized by the Sufi in order to teach patience, and also as a sort of way to get closer to G-d. The paint used is all natural, distilled straight from the earth, the water that is traditionally used is rain water, and somehow cow bile fits into this equation (parts were lost in translation). Anyways how it works is he gently drops some of the paint into water, where it floats on the surface, and he then proceeds to manipulate it into the desired image using a metal awl type tool (didn't get a very close look at it). Then he places a piece of paper on the surface of the water, and gently runs his hand across the back. Of course the image is then on the paper, rather like a monoprint. He also gave a brief demonstration in calligraphy.
If you would like to see or learn more his web page is http://www.geleneksel-ebru.com/