Visiting Painter Highlights Embassy Arts Program


American artist Saim Caglayan's life has taken him from his native Turkey, to California, on to the islands of Hawaii – and now to Oman. Visiting to carry out programs with the U.S. Embassy in Muscat, Caglayan had the opportunity to meet and work with Omani artists and students and to experience some of the richness and diversity of Oman's historic and contemporary art and heritage.  In addition, he saw some of his own works on display at the residence of Ambassador and Mrs. Gary A. Grappo, where they form part of a collection of American art made possible by the Art in Embassies Program of the U.S. Department of State.

Established in 1964, Art in Embassies is a "global museum" that exhibits original works of art by U.S. citizens in the public rooms of approximately 180 American diplomatic residences worldwide. These exhibitions, with art loaned from galleries, museums, artists, and corporate and private collections, provide international audiences with a sense of the scope and diversity of American art and culture through the accomplishments of some of our most important citizens, our artists.

Saim Caglayan was born in Istanbul, Turkey and came to the United States in 1968 to study architecture. He went on to complete his Bachelor of Arts degree in sculpture from California State University, Long Beach. He then took further graduate courses in art from California State University, Fullerton and the Art Institute of Southern California. For over twenty years he has taught sculpture and painting in California and in Hawaii. 

Caglayan's works are in the Plein air (or open air) tradition, a style of painting with its roots in nineteenth century France and which is especially popular today in the American West.  Caglayan's goal as a painter is to capture the ever-transient light and its colors within a composition of balance and harmony.  He has founded several artists groups in California and Hawaii, including the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, the Kaua’i Outdoor Painters Association, and the ISLANDERS group of plein air painters representing the Hawaiian Islands.

The collection of American art on display at the Ambassador's residence in Muscat includes three works by Caglayan, oil paintings entitled Tahitian Visitor, Point Lobos and Heisler Haze; a fourth, Hanalei Bay Sunset, is from the Grappos' personal collection.  Also on display are a more than a dozen other paintings, photographs, works in glass, and other pieces, many with a focus on the varied beauty of the American landscape.