About
Visual art
Since my early youth I was interested in Art. As a young girl I already collected art-criticisms found in the newspapers, and my first artistic attempt consisted of a spong 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. Although having a strong desire to develop my artistic talents, I lacked self-confidence and decided to study Dutch law instead. After having worked as an attorney for about six years, I continued my career as a teacher and tutor at the academy of advanced higher education Hogeschool Utrecht.
The next twenty years allowed me to develop my talents as a student coach. They also offered me the time to start my artistic career.
It all began with ceramics
In the eighties I joined workshops of several ceramists. I also worked at ARTIBUS (formerly the Utrecht Art Academy), and gradually turned from an autodidact into a professional, becoming a member of the Society of Dutch Ceramists (NVK).
I use different types of clay and decoration-techniques (engobes, oxides, glazes). The objects are either fired in an electric oven or according to the Raku technique. I often added other materials like lead, strings or wire to the finished product. Over the years I made several series based on universal themes like ‘beauty’, ‘freedom’ or ‘balance’. Some objects were inspired by the Japanese tradition of artfully wrapping small objects in leaves. This resulted in the series ‘leaves and bundles. The theme ‘shelter’, leading to the series ‘shells and nest forms’, was based on the association with the nests and holes made by insects. Ginko and lotus-forms found their way into bowls of various shape, mural and standing objects.
Woonhuisgalerie (residential gallery) Uilenburg, houten
Beginning 2000 I started Artmediate. For this purpose, together with my partner the painter Dirk Koopman (www.dirkkoopman.com), I organised exhibitions in our home in Houten, near Utrecht. Under the name ‘WOONHUIS GALERIE UILENBURG’, works of artists from different disciplines were shown: paintings, ceramics, sculptures, jewellery. Unfortunately the financial crisis of 2008 prematurely put an end to this initiative. However, we were given the opportunity to continue exhibiting our own work in several other galleries and art-centres.
France, the transition to work on paper
In 2012, after having commuted between Houten and the south of France for some eight years, we finally decided to leave Holland and move to a spacious house near Saint Ambroix in the Gard department. This also was the time for another change: 2013 saw my first steps into the graphic arts. I had the luck to find an artist nearby in Saint Ambroix, Bettina Kraemer, who taught me the most important techniques, among which the monotype technique.
For my graphic work I mainly use printing ink on oil base. Sometimes I continue working a monotype with pen, pencil, or paint. Here as well nature remains an important source of inspiration: the beauty of the ever recurring cycle of life, depicted by the elements (air, fire water and earth), plants, trees and animals. Ginko and lotus-forms are equally represented.
Some of the series I made:
TAO (2019), which started with a leporello, was given a spiritual dimension.
MIRRORS OF THE SOUL (2020) is an ode to womankind.
In 2015 two series, more or less abstract, were inspired by great artists like Mark Rothko: Searching for MR and Pierre Soulages: PS revisited.
In 2020 the series INTO MY GARDEN, which was influenced by the Covid-period.
In 2021 the series ENLIGHTMENT BY COLOURS.
In 2022 the series SEASCAPES.
In 2023 the series HORIZON, in which I worked with dry and oil pastel.
In 2024 the series Shielding
My first solo exhibition took place in France in 2016 in the ‘jardin médiéval’ in Uzès in the department of the Gard. This lovely medieval garden, situated in the historical centre of the town and surrounded by medieval buildings, formed an exquisite décor for my ceramic and graphic work.
In 2019/2020, I had two exhibitions in the Netherlands.
In 2022, I was given the opportunity to have another exhibition at the medieval garden of Uzès, this time a series based on a poem of the French writer and poetess, Anna de Noailles, titled: OFFRANDE A LA NATURE.
life art
My work as a coach for students at the Hogeschool Utrecht also gave an extra impulse to my personal development. I followed several trainings and workshops, such as Voice Dialogue and Transactional Analysis. I studied Indian AYURVEDIC science, followed MINDFULLNESS trainings, and regularly practice QI GONG. In 2008 I followed the training ‘Coaching with the enneagram’ at Corael in De Bilt. The logical step was to start a coaching/training organisation: vivre sa vie. In 2014/1015 I completed the CIVAS training in family and organizational constellations
I would like to share the knowledge and techniques I obtained over the years, but without aiming at a profit. For sharing alone will result in mutual enrichment, a thing money cannot buy.
