innovating arts

Artemis Antoniou was born in 1951 in the village of Armou, in the district of Paphos, Cyprus. He studied Library Science in Athens while working, and later attended the School of Philosophy at the University of Athens, in the Department of History and Archaeology. During the Turkish invasion of 1974, he was taken prisoner and held in Turkish prisons. Upon his return, he worked as a librarian at the Paphos Municipal Library until his retirement in 2011.

​

 

He continues to live in his native village, where he also served as a Mayor from 1989 to 2001. Alongside his professional life, Artèmis Antoniou has been deeply engaged in the arts—sculpture, poetry, and icon painting. To date, he has published fifteen collections of poetry. In 1996, he founded the “Armos” workshop in Armou, which houses a permanent exhibition of his works.

​

 

His artistic career began in 1987 with his first solo exhibition, organized by the Municipality of Paphos. Since then, he has exhibited both in Cyprus and abroad: in 2004, he took part in a bicommunal sculpture exhibition at the “En Plo” gallery in Paphos, alongside Turkish Cypriot sculptor M. Şinasi Tekman; in 2007, he presented works in Norway; and in 2009, he exhibited in Montgeron, France. In 2017, the Permanent Delegation of Cyprus to UNESCO hosted his solo exhibition By Hand and Word: Sculpture and Poetry at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

​

 

In addition to his artistic practice, Antoniou taught woodcarving for four years at the Adult Education Centers of the Ministry of Education and Culture. His literary work has been recognized with awards, including a national student poetry prize in 1976, and in 1999, an international poetry award from the International Society of Greek Writers of Canada. In 2002, he was honored by the same society for his overall contribution to literature.

​

 

Artèmis Antoniou is also a founding member of the Paphos Society of Writers, where he served as secretary from 2010 to 2012.

 

“When I am creative, I feel real emotional excitement... I feel the existence of my sculptures, enslaved in wood and stone and I am fighting to release them and bring with them to light the impressions of my soul.”

 

​

Literature of Artemis Antoniou

​

Traces of experiences (poems) 2018

Sewing Reflections (poems) 2018

PAR LA MAIN ET LES MOTS - Sculptures et poésies 2017

Poramas (poems) 2014

By the hands and the worlds (poems) 2012

Expansion of Facts (a chronicle) 2008

Skylights (poems) 2005

Small Island of Memories (poems) 1996

Touch of Landscapes (poems) 1992

Small Notebook (poems) 1990

Messages (poems) 1987

Rains and Hopes (poems) 1974

​

​

 

He also exposed

​

2017 In France (UNESCO, Paris) – Artémis Antoniou - “PAR LA MAIN ET LES MOTS” Sculptures et poésies

2009 In France (Paris) – Sculptures

2007 In Norway (Eina) - icons and sculptures

2004 bi-communal exposition with Mustafa Sinasi Tekman at the gallery “En Plo” (Cyprus) giving a message of reconciliation.

Since 1996 he organises also various artistic events at his “workshop Armos”, one of them was with young French’s school Kids (July 2006)

1987 at the municipality center of  Paphos (Cyprus)

​