still growing

to make it taller I need a ladder, and the barn is not empty yet.

organized

Whenever I see a cupboard ready for the skip, I pull out the drawers and make a custommade case around it. I can stack the drawers on each other any way I like. Every time it moves from one room to another I can adapt it anyway necessary. It holds most of the small tools I need for work. And it keeps on growing.

waste

clearing the barn and the stables from waste left by the previous owners of our house, I just couldn't resist 'piling up' these items. I guess that by the end of the week it may grow much taller. next week is the removal of old metal and I would like to see the faces of the collectors when they see a tall 'sculpture' by the side of the road, not knowing whether they have to take it away or not.

good mood lights

caught these two small visitors during the open studio days, they were over the moon when their mother decided to buy one of these lights for their bedroom. since I use Eco-lights (low voltage, no heat but strong light to bring out the vivid colours) they are very safe to use for hours on end.

therapy

Ghost of the Past
finished yesterday, by a person very dear to me.
I coached this person to make this work, originally an idea I wanted to realise for myself in a slightly different way and for a different reason. The project is to literally give the negative feelings he has about himself to this statue by writing them on calico strips, so that he can replace them with positive ones in himself. it seems to work quite well.
keep up the good work, I love you.

capture my heart

from OPPRESSION
wood, shard of mirror, part of a hinge, heart shaped pebble, metal wire

a decision, at last !!

after 9 (or is it 10 ?) years, we finally decided to do something about the floor in the downstairs bathroom. we found these pebble tiles and chose the round river pebbles, they were always the ones I had in mind for this floor and the colours match with the cement walls. we hope to get this done before the end of summer.

niki heart

the tarotgarden of Niki de Saint Phalle in Italy inspired me to make these small crafty mosaic Niki hearts in different colours; this is the first one. I just can't get a good picture of it with this kind of camera.

open studio

first guests during open studio days.

two ceramic pile-ups from the Honderdwater series in the foreground.

'Oppression' in the background.

balance

parts of salvaged wooden beams with handcarved joints, from a 200 year old barn that was destroyed during a violent storm

more glass

genealogy part II

second work in the Genealogy series
The work Genealogy is about Identity and Personality : in what amount do the (in this case) tragic lives of these ancestors still have an influence on my personality. I have this curiosity about who these persons were, is there a resemblance in nature? Which part of my character is connected to what these persons, who I never knew, experienced. The tragic events certainly moulded the character of their only orphaned child, who passed on her experience to her children, and so on. Without their existence I just wouldn't exist. But they are still strangers to me.
And the final question : is it important to know one's ancestors to have an identity or understand one's nature?

l'oubli

this chair is not a part of the chair project.

after my contribution of 10 chairs I just couldn't stop making more

chairs for circus school

The chair project initiated by my neighbour, ceramic artist Anita Huybens, raised funds for the Palestinian Circus School.

Last September, I invited a few very enthusiastic artistic and creative people in my studio to make the first chairs for the project. The vibe spread like a virus, in the end more than 400 artists (500? we lost count) joined the project. The craziest chairs popped up from everywhere. The happening in March where the chairs were for sale was a huge success and it was a memorable day for all the people involved. The last chairs are waiting for a new home.


update 2 february 2008

other enthusiastic, creative and artistic people continue the project

more chairs here

genealogy part I

salvaged window frame from stables, roof slate, reclaimed painted skirting boards, shard of mirror, shards of antique crockery, stripped willow branch, ancestors' photos on glass backed with aluminum (that gives a depth to the photos and that is why the image on this photo is not sharp)
the objects on the slate next to the pictures are related to the story of the persons on them.

will I ever get out of here?

part of the work OPPRESSION

more pillars

rich man, poor man

the figures look exactly alike, but on a closer look they are not

the cheaper version - in a metal of minor quality - wears a different loincloth than the other one, which is a lot fancier

is it so that there is a different Christ for the poor and for the rich?

rusticana

assembling this was a lot of fun

from the series OPPRESSION

salvaged wood, rusty barbed wire, shard of mirror, heart shaped pebble

all material found on the site when we bought the house some 10 years ago

black, red & white

from the 'pillar' collection

these works are part of the work I call : stAAApel-gek

stapelgek = as mad as a ...

I use this word in the sense that I keep on piling things on top of each other

stapelen = piling up

gek = crazy

no title

glass

first works with glass

angel

the angel suffered a lot during storms, but still guards my home

pillars or columns?

2 of the 'pillars' in a shop display

recycling

parts from an old chair and cabinet, black paint

happy birthday Herman

leaving for Hong Kong

The very first, and until now the only painting (a series of 4 actually) I've ever made.
Herman is my beloved, departed brother. Sometimes his absence really hurts, and it was in such a period I felt the need to make this portrait. I painted it on one of his brightly coloured shirts.
It is based on a photo I took from him at breakfast, the morning he was leaving for Hong Kong when he was working for Artsen Zonder Grenzen - Médecins Sans Frontières.

yummy colours

good mood lamps
not lit from inside this time, but with natural daylight

collection of material

good mood lights

photo by Sonny

dark nature

part of old chair, dried willowbranch, black paint
sold

family portrait