Biography
Hilmi Özbay was born in 1945 in Malkara, Tekirdağ. He completed primary school in 1959 and passed the entrance exams for Kepirtepe Primary Teacher Training School. In 1962, he passed the entrance exams for the painting seminar at Çapa Primary Teacher Training School in Istanbul. He became a student of İlhami Demirci, Selahattin Taran, Hidayet Gülen, and Enver Naci Gökşen. He worked as a primary school teacher from 1965 to 1971. From 1971 to 1974, he completed his education and graduated from the Painting Department of Istanbul Atatürk Education Institute. From 1974 to 1978, he worked as a painting teacher at Çorum Primary Teacher Training School and Education Institute. In 1978, he was appointed to the Painting Department of Samsun Education Institute and Higher Teacher Training School. In 1982, with the integration of higher education institutions into universities, he started working as a lecturer in the Painting Department of the Faculty of Education at Ondokuz Mayıs University. He completed his undergraduate education in 1983. He applied for promotion to a teaching position in accordance with Law No. 2809. In 1988, he was promoted to Assistant Professor at Mimar Sinan University after his artistic works were deemed sufficient by the jury. Between 1988 and 1992, he served as the Head of the Painting and Sculpture Department and organized two departmental exhibitions at the Ankara DGS Gallery. To date, he has held 48 solo painting exhibitions and participated in approximately 400 group and competitive exhibitions. Around 70 of his works are in private collections abroad, and around 600 are in private and public collections in Turkey. Hilmi ÖZBAY, a recipient of 3 awards, was working as a faculty member in the Painting Department of the Fine Arts Education Division at Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Education and continued his artistic work. We lost the artist on August 2, 2013.
