As researcher, lecturer and co-author of several books on Anatolian rugs, Belkis Balpinar has taken the kilim beyond its traditional form and dimension, by enhancing it with movement and depth.

After her studies at the Fine Arts Academy of Istanbul Turkey, Belkis Balpinar served as curator of the Carpet Section of the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art and as Director of the Vakiflar Carpet and Kilim Museum Istanbul. Since 1986, her career as scholar and artist has moved towards modern fiber art as a textile art designer, bridging the old with the new and novel.

Belkis Balpinar as a contemporary, minimalist abstract artist has been featured in numerous articles in the International press. Keeping pace with the times, she has embraced the limitless possibilities of the computer, which enables her to produce realistic, mock-up images of her designs before the hand spun and naturally dyed yarn reaches the loom of her specialized weavers. Her unique artkilims bearing her personal logo, often referred to as 'mural art', 'woven art', 'kilim paintings' or 'kilim tapestries'. She undertakes site-specific and corporate art commissions, (80 pieces for the Marmara - Manhattan Hotel, in New York City), large-scale wall hangings (such as the one installed in the foyer of the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C.) and one of a kind pieces for private collections.

Her fascination with the universe and the formation of life is reflected in her spiral designs, which are expanding outwards while at the same time coiling inwards endlessly. The microcosmic inspirations are in continuum with the macrocosmic ones in an attempt to convey the order in disorderliness of chaos using fiber art as a medium.

Over the years, experiments with warp and weft has taught her to defy the traditional rules of flat weave in many ways. She gives a different perspective and action to her pieces using optical illusions and strong simplified geometry on a different level; her use of archaic symbols causes the mobilization of subconscious forces buried deep within. Her use of knotted-pile sections in her creations brings a third dimension and an extra depth. Her diptych and triptych designs give the contemporary home designer the opportunity to use minimalist artworks as a new trend with a difference.

Sometimes, Belkis Balpinar challenges the solemnity of tradition with her amusing designs and has taken the kilim out of its usual boundaries, freeing it from the rectangular frame to create a deceptive perspective by taking the imagination to as yet unknown territories of artkilim.

Exhibitions: Belkis Balpinar has participated in group exhibitions and has held exhibitions in New York City, Princeton, New Jersey; Washington DC, Stockholm, Caracas, Milan, and Istanbul. Her work has been hung on the walls of the Bodrum Castle in an 'Open Air Exhibition'

Some Private Collections: World Bank (Washington D.C.), Mauriccia Prada (Milan), Bernard Chappard (New York), Ignazio Vok (Padova), Ekonomy Bank (Istanbul).