Istanbul native Günseli Kato, began taking an interest in painting in 1974 when she participated in Professor Süheyl Ünver’s miniature classes at Topkapı Palace Museum. In the year 1976, Kato started to teach in the same place assisting her master. In the same year, she enrolled in the School of Fine Arts at Marmara University and graduated in 1980.
Kato was granted the Japanese Sato Scholarship in 1981 and completed her research studies in Traditional Japanese Painting Department at Tokyo University, Faculty of Fine Arts, mentored by Professor Hirayama Ikuo.
Kato has given lectures on Turkish miniature art at her own school in Tokyo starting from 1983 and worked for 12 years in the atelier of Takuo Kato, an expert in Islamic ceramic arts, before returning to Turkey. In 1994, the ”Günseli Kato-Turkish Miniature Classes” were opened at the Asahi Newspaper Cultural Center. Every year, Kato still gives lectures at the school.
After her entry to Turkey, Kato carried out many art performances and opened exhibitions in historical locations, with works blending the elements from Turkish and Japanese cultures. By elevating the elements of the miniature art into large scaled sculptures, paintings and other mediums, Kato brings the traditional and the contemporary concepts and forms together to suggest a space that is beyond time, culture and norms.
She had worked as a lecturer at Istanbul University, İstanbul Işık University, İstanbul Kültür University, İstanbul Maltepe University in Historical Art and Cultural Art Departments and now Günseli Kato continues to give lectures at the Visual Communication Faculty of Bahçeşehir University, and is involved in new projects for the AÇEV Mother Child Foundation. Since 2010, Kato produces and hosts art programs on different television channels in the country.
