About
curriculum
since my early youth i was already interested in art. as a young girl i already collected art criticisms in the dutch newspapers; i made a sponge painting in the style of yves klein; at the age of twenty i visited the british museum, the national gallery and the tate in london..
However, i lacked the self-confidence to go to the art academy or the silversmith school in schoonhoven and decided to study law…
after having worked as an attorney for about six years, i continued my career as a teacher and tutor at the acadamy of advanced higher education hogeschool utrecht for more than 20 years.
Since the 1980s i have been able to develop and express my talents as an artist and coach..
It started with ceramic work
In the 1980s I started working for various ceramists, as well as for a number of years at Artibus (formerly the Academy of Visual Arts) in Utrecht. I have developed into a professional from an autodidact. Became a member of the Dutch Professional Group of Ceramists. I worked with different types of clay and decoration techniques (engobes, oxides, glazes). The work is partly electric, partly raku fired. The ceramic pieces are often combined with other materials, such as lead, rope and iron wire. Over the years, series have emerged from universal themes such as beauty, freedom/captivity, balance. There are objects inspired by the Japanese art of packaging small items, which are usually wrapped in leaves. This gave rise to the Browsing and Bundling series. From the theme of ‘shelters’, the series of shell and nest shapes was created through association with insect nests and holes. Plant forms from nature, such as Ginkgo and Lotus, find their way into bowl shapes, wall objects and standing objects.
Houten, Woonhuisgalerie Uilenburg
In early 2000 I started my art mediation company Art Mediate and organized exhibitions in our house in Houten: initially Uilenburg Salon d’Art, later Woonhuisgalerie Uilenburg. The exhibitions showed work from various disciplines: paintings, ceramics, sculptures, jewelry. As a result of the financial crisis in 2008, I was forced to stop doing this. At other locations – galleries, profit and non-profit companies – my partner Dirk Koopman (www.dirkkoopman.com) and I have had many duo exhibitions.
France, the transition to graphic work
From 2004 onwards I increasingly stayed in the south of France and in 2012 I moved to my permanent residence and studio in Saintj-Ambroix in the Gard department.
In 2013 I started focusing more and more on work on paper, graphic techniques, especially the monotype technique. I mastered the techniques in the studio of Bettina Kraemer in Saint-Ambroix, later Saint Jean de Maruéjols. I mainly work with oil-based printing inks. Sometimes I continue working in the monotype with pen, pencil, pastels or paint.
Nature is also an important source of inspiration for the work on paper: the beauty and continuation of life, depicted by the elements (air, fire, water and earth), planting trees, animals. The ginkgo leaf and the lotus return. The series Tao (2019), which started with a leporello, has a spiritual hit. The series Mirrors of the Soul (2020) is an ode to women. In addition, series with abstract work are also being created, often inspired by great artists such as Mark Rothko and Pierre Soulages, also by shapes in nature. In 2020, partly under the influence of Covid-19, the series Into my garden was created, followed by the series Enlightment by colors in 2021, the series Seascapes in 2022. In the most recent series Golden Horizon 2023 I worked almost exclusively with pastel, both dry as an oil pastel.
My first solo exhibition in France with both ceramic and graphic work took place in 2016 in the Jardin Médiéval – a medieval herb garden with historic buildings – in the center of Uzès. I have now also exhibited in the Netherlands, including in 2019/2020 in Bilthoven during the Weltevreden Wintersale and in March/April 2020 at Galerie Kunst met een Koekje in Maarssen with the series ‘Mirrors of the Soul’. In 2022 I had another solo exhibition in the Jardin Médiéval with the title ‘Offrande à la nature’, taken from a poem by the French writer/poet Anna de Noailles.
Life art
In higher education I have started coaching/guiding more and more students. In this context, I have followed several training courses and workshops, such as Voice Dialogue and Transactional Analysis.
In 2008/2009 I followed the coaching training with the Enneagram with Corael in De Bilt. Then the logical step was to set up a coaching and training practice: Vivre sa Vie.
In 2014/2015, I completed the CIVAS training in Family and Organizational Constellations.
All this goes together naturally with my personal development and growth. I have studied Ingeborg Bosch’s PRI (Past Reality Integration); Ayurveda, the Indian knowledge of life; I have done Mindfulness training and practice Qi Gong.
I would like to share my knowledge and insights and be inspired by others. The combination with the visual arts can bring added value. I basically do this now on a non-profit or barter basis. Feel welcome!