no title

survival

Doubtful Design

In Antwerp yesterday - Doubtful Design - the secondhand design market.

a collection of seventies ceramics, mainly West German Pottery

chairs everywhere, in all colours, shapes and sizes

As a child I loved this logo of a cigarette brand, the billboards on the walls where so attractive. But the story of the Belgian model in the picture is a tragic one.

A Rietveld House. Many years ago I would not have resisted this as I was making doll's houses back then.

I found my chair

In between the stalls of Doubtful Design, the secondhand design market in Antwerp, I found this.

Last year someone gave me a similar chair but in black, only the seat cushion was missing (no problem, I recovered a black cushion from another chair, very similar to the original one - although I had no idea of how that looked). I'd never seen a chair like this before and I had no idea where it came from. So I was pleasantly surprised to see these standing outside a small but lovely little vintage design shop called Solar-shop (I thought I had a link to this one but I can't find it).
The owner told me they were from a Belgian designer called Rudi Verhelst. I'm pleased that my swivel chair finally has a name, because I really like it and it's perfect at my desk.

sweet crockery

At the same 'secondhand design market' Doubtful Design, boxes full of vintage bowls, most of them by the Belgian factory Boch Frères, the one above is from Villeroy & Boch and are brand new.




And this is my favorite box, is it thirties or fifties, I should have asked. From Boch Frères - Belgium.

more mess

Another messy corner in my studio. Once the preparation for this summer exhibition/art tour is over I will need a week to seriously clear my studio and sort things. Busy with chairs, lights, assemblage at the same time - everything gets mixed up. And I will have to start a totally different series of works for an exhibition in November, nothing with chairs or lights, something completely different.

my studio this morning

chair parts - waiting for re-assembling

how I found my workspace this morning - that means, how I left it yesterday

half an hour later, now ..., that is much better

have to finish this very soon

Moroccan inspiration

Scanned from pictures I took some years ago, our TV room in Moroccan style. It was the old floor that decided of the look of the room, and the 2 antique carpets I bought in Morocco some 30 years ago (not the one on the seat, that is a kilim). The yucca has doubled in size (3,5 meters high!!) since then.
And believe it or not, I made the 2 arches in the old wall, I was told it would collapse, ... not with my technique !! and we're 10 years later now. And I wanted it not to be perfect, no contractor wants to make an not-perfect arch.

chair project - the panels - part 1

the trend these days in interior decorating seems to be the use of decals on whatever you can think of. it can add pretty and funny touches in a home. this gave me the idea to make this profile of a chair on a panel, but it is not a decal ... it is a slice of real chair. a kind of reverse trompe-l'oeil (I'm not sure if I said this right).

new series of lights - part 2

circus

wall panel

how do I get good pictures?

I'm desperately trying to make good pictures of the lights I make. I've tried a zillion times, I just don't get the colours right. Set before a plain wall, a black backdrop, corrugated iron, brickwork ... in daylight, at night, at dusk ... Some colours come out completely different once I switch on the light. Especially the reds are pretty hard to catch. And some colours completely disappear.

I've just added some of my Good Mood lights of my stAAApel-gek series on a slideshow on the right of this page. I'll be adding more in days to come, I still have to photograph the latest series - panels to put on a wall. And hopefully I can get over my frustration of not having the perfect pictures.

Leentje's studio

Leentje, my husbands' sister, recently had a spare room reconverted into a studio.

this inspiration comes from living in Spain

detail of recent work

the morning sun playing through blinds on one of her earlier paintings

early works (above & below)

and her daily artworks, gorgeous salads

this is a painting her husband made, quite some years ago

Leen Frison (contact HERE)

10days10artists

an exhibition of 10 artists, set in a former psychiatric hospital near Leuven - Belgium.

Self-portrait by Bart Duriez (so is the photo below)

A building falling into ruin, some furniture still on location. A strange and desolate atmosphere. A damp and mouldy air in the rooms. The buildings are about to be torn down soon.

most of the works are in the perfect setting - a feel of pain, fear, loneliness, longing, frustration, nostalgia, alienation, mixed feelings ...

Soul by Annick Timmermans

installation by Annick Timmermans

Sun by Anita Sampermans

2 works by Eefje Van den Brande

installation by Digna De Cock

this could be by Bart Duriez too, but I'm not sure anymore

I'll post more pictures on Flickr

new series of lights - part 1

The first part of a new series in my lighting stAAApel-gek or good mood lights. Frames to put on a wall with lighting made from new kitchenware. In all of my works I use recycled material, not in these, as old plastic tends to break easily or is usually scratched or stained. The electric parts are new also. I have no problem to admit that this comes in the category kitsch design.

more to come soon, this series has to be ready for the summer exhibition Kunst op het Hof.

a forgotten piece - and after and before

Recently I visited my husband at his office and saw this colourful crazy patchwork on the wall. I completely forgot about this one, I made several years ago and it only took me a few hours to make it. Just a sew and go thing without any preparation, so it didn't have time to settle in my mind. It is weird to see something that I made myself but I look at it as a stranger. It is the only one I made this way, but a few weeks ago I made a chair that is very much like this. And it took me several days to achieve it.
this is the after.

it came like this before, a bit sad and tired looking chair with a plastic cover, although it was a nice one in its younger days.

more ... chairs

dessine-moi une chaise

another one for the chair project to raise funds for the circus school, it will be exhibited and hopefully sold during the art tour Kunst op het Hof in July


before the restyling , heavy red laquer - badly painted - and a seat covered in flimsy fabric. It took a whole lot of scraping to get this one into its original state, a heavy, sturdy oak chair in good condition.

Luc Versluys - sculptures in terracotta

another artists' studio with a lot of charm and gorgeous pieces is the studio annex shop of ceramic artist Luc Versluys.

seen during the last art tour Kunstroute-Leuven - he is one of the initiators of this successful tour

the figure on the far left is not by Luc Versluys