Tinos is one of the Cyclades group of islands in the middle of the Aegean Sea. Those hurrying to its fashionable neighbors of Mykonos or Santorini or even to the classical “must stop” of Delos will overlook it, and in the process miss not only one of the most beautiful of Greek isles, but one that has commanded a central a role in the history of modern Greece—as much so as its neighbouring island Delos held in ancient times. Little known, too, is Tinos’ rich artistic history, and a recent connection with a Canadian group of sculptors!
Tinos has a long and illustrious history. It is thought to have been the home for Aeolos, the ancient god of the winds, and was saved from an overpopulation of snakes by none other than the god of the sea, Poseidon. It has been invaded by many—the Persians, rogue pirates from the Barbary coast, and much later on by more respectable invaders such as the Venetians who stayed on the island from 1207 to 1390, then later by the Ottomans, and even the Russians for a brief time.
All this activity, not always welcome, has given the inhabitants of the island a certain resilience and an adaptability to cultural change which they have used to their best advantage: this tiny island is the birthplace of all the major 19th century sculptors and painters of modern Greece, and at present boasts the largest contingent per capita of working artists in the country. Because of the extensive hiring of local marble carvers and sculptors by their Venetians lords, Tiniots had occasions to travel and work abroad and also had access to some of the best schools in Europe for their talented sons—it was only sons, then, that were thought talented—and they sent them to study in the best schools of fine arts in Munich and Paris.
But the Tiniots also found help in another ally: in 1823 after a series of dreams of a local nun an icon of the Virgin Mary was found in a field. When a church was built on the site to house the icon, a series of miracles began to occur, miracles that benefited individual believers but also marked important events during the struggle of the Greeks to remove themselves from their Ottoman yoke. The Church known as the Church of the Megalohari has been intricately associated with all the dates that have marked the path to independence for Greece: the war of independence in 1821, the first Olympics of the modern era, the second World War, as well as the healing of individual bodies and souls. The island has also been declared a Holy site by the government of Greece—a decision that has protected it from the ravages of mass tourism that have beset so many of the other Greek islands—and it is a place where every Greek Orthodox will make a pilgrimage at least once in their life time.
To most Greeks—as well as foreign visitors—Tinos is known as the island of the Megalohari, the church of miracles. But Tinos is also the island of the arts—and is more closely associated with the modern Olympic movement than ancient Olympia! Tinos rightfully claims its place as the island of the arts by being the birthplace of the most significant sculptors and painters of modern Greece: artists like Yiannoulis Halepas, Nicolaos Gyzis, Nikiforos Lytras, Dimitris Filipotis, George Vitalis, Lazaros and Antonios Sohos, just to name a few. Lesser known is Tinos’ large role in the revival of the modern Olympics: in 1895, the games to prepare the athletes for the first Olympiad took place on Tinos. The event was known as the Tinia Games, and the Certificate of the 1896 Olympic Games was designed by local artist Nicolaos Gyzis.
Tinos has an archeological museum, a museum of Tiniot artists, and a gallery that has some of the best works of the Ionian School of Greek painters and many of the lesser Italian Renaissance—all works donated by grateful believers who have received a miracle cure to their bodies or souls. The village of Pyrgos, the only place on the island that was never invaded, and the place where the first ever revolutionary flag against the Ottoman occupation was raised, houses the School of Fine Arts, boasts the largest number of working artists’ studios in Greece, the Halepas home/studio/museum, and a large number of galleries and coffee shops that make it a must stop for visitors. Tinos is “known” as the island of miracles but it is “unknown” as the arts center that it has been and continues to be.
The Church of the Megalohari from its inception has played a central role in the education of local talent by providing scholarships for Tiniot artists to continue their education abroad. Since the nineteen fifties talented students from across Greece could study for free, and since 2002 the Church has supported The Cultural Foundation of Tinos a multiple use space that now houses the permanent exhibition space for Yiannoulis Halepas and mounts a series of retrospective exhibits of Tiniot and other Greek artists. In 2004, during the second Greek Olympics, the Cultural Foundation hosted its first international collaboration/exhibit, the “Migrations in the Third Dimension: Tradition and Innovation in Canada and the Cyclades” exhibit, a collaboration of the Cultural Foundation of Tinos, the ArtExchange of Calgary, and the Calgary Contemporary Arts Society. One might ask “why Tinos or Calgary” for this cultural exchange?
The answer lies in both the historical commonality of the seemingly disparate communities, as well as the inter-juncture of persons and place. Despite their geographical and cultural separation, there are also amazing historical and aesthetic commonalities to Tinos and Calgary that are conducive to artistic exchange. Both Canada and Greece became independent nations during the nineteenth century; both countries had the “canons” of fine arts production, evaluation, and distribution imported from England, France, Germany, and to a lesser degree other countries such as the United States. Since then both countries have been “negotiating” this “import” in their efforts to create a contemporary artistic tradition that is representative of their respective nations and in step with the international world of art.
The geographic “topos” of Alberta and the Aegean Sea have affected approaches to the use of “light” and its aesthetic negotiations in both sculpture and painting. The “flatness” of the prairie in Alberta affects artists in similar ways as the expanse of Homer’s “wine dark sea” in Greece. Further, Greece as an originary aesthetic “topos” played an important role (directly through visits, and indirectly through training) in the formative years of all the Canadian artists who participated in the exhibit. Finally, Calgary and Tinos have large, active, diverse and structurally complete art communities: they both have art departments and/or art colleges that have played a pivotal role in the education of artists, curators, art historians, and other art world professionals.
Many were surprised at the throngs of people who turned out for the opening of the international Migrations in the Third Dimension exhibit in Tinos. But for those who knew Tinos’ rich cultural history it was just another example of the significance of Tinos’ role as a major arts centre.
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