Nordic Art at Groninger Museum

Stairs to 'under water' level

Over Easter, we treated ourselves to 'special offer-1st class train tickets' to visit the Nordic Art exhibition at the Groninger Museum. The trip itself was pretty special, since it was still snowing, and we travelled through the nature reserve 'Oostvaarder Plassen' which, in my opinion, closely resembled a barren tundra (never knew we had so many deer).  For Wikiped.info click on:OOSTV. PLASSEN.
I'd never been to the museum before, and can highly recommend it. It's a modern and intriguing building, partly below water level, with a high-tech information centre.
The Nordic art was quite impressive and even though there was a mix of old and modern art, they still seemed to have a distinctive style. Many pictures were as much about the frame as the painting and artists used a mix of different techniques. The picture (left) is made with oil paint and gold on, embossed, metal. (Right) oil on wood and enamel on copper frame.

Regrettably, the silver collection (my interest) had been 'put away' for fear of theft! We had to 'make do' with more modern art and the extensive china collection which was beautifully displayed in the round Starck Pavilion with small, 'net curtain-display areas'.

Couldn't resist one more picture of the, beautifully renovated, old railway station, a short walk from the museum.

Maastricht

One of the reasons we like visting The International European Art Fair is that we combine it with a stroll through the city of Maastricht.
This time we went to see the amazing book store inside the (at least 700 years old) Dominican Church.

Also a beautiful place to have a light lunch

However, we particularly like the area called Wyck, on the East side of the river Maas, which is where we've stayed the last two times. It's absolutely charming with many, specialised shops and restaurants of high standard which offer quality (bespoke) products. Jo Cortenraedt (below) agrees.

During Tefaf, many shop windows are, artistically, decorated.
This is the local Butcher.

Weekend Tefaf 2013

It was Tefaf-time and, once again, we spent a wonderful weekend in pretty Maastricht. At The European Fine Arts Fair, small improvements had been made (like small, portable 'kitchenettes' dotted around the place with good quality food, for a quick bite...no more crazy queues). The atmosphere was friendly and 'the world's population' was well represented (especially South America).

Fresh roses on huge, circular panels, sunk into the walls, and 'fairy tale bouquets' everywhere, spread their beautiful scent.

We particularly liked 'man with guitar' by Pablo Picasso (above) and the ring by Buccellati, which I tried on two years ago (april 2011 blog), was still there (I think it has my name on it)!!!
Not many people I know visit this Fair but if anyone feels like a nice day out...there's still time (until the 24th).
Here's the link: TEFAF

Art Ceramics Studio Gillian Smith

I've mentioned my ceramics/porcelain class before and how much we all enjoy it, so I've decided to take some pictures of the studio. We're an international bunch of women and yes, also men. Because the evenings are getting darker and colder, I've changed from an evening course to a day course and am now trying to make some porcelain jewellery. No finished products yet, but that'll come.
To have a look at Gillian's website, click on:ART CERAMICS STUDIO

Above a picture of Gillian making coffee and tea for us. In the backround one can see a HUGE kiln.

Announcement Meesterlijk/'Masterly' Fair, Amsterdam

From the 27th till the 30th of September, you'll be able to find me at the Meesterlijk Beurs/Masterly Fair, where I'll be assisting my friend Mary.
It's held at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam and, if you like DESIGN (+ art and food), it sounds like a good place to visit.
For more detailed information please click on: MEESTERLIJK.
For pictures click on: IMAGES

Hope to see you there.

My first Porcelain

I've joined an evening class in ceramics, where I've met a mixed, international group of fun people and I really enjoy it. We all speak english throughout the evening (even though some of us are Dutch) and I feel right at home.
My teacher, Gillian, is extremely competent, teaches in a very relaxed manner and had me sussed within 10 minutes.....porcelain, miniature work, at slow pace.
We're on our holiday-break but I'm looking forward to the next time we all meet up again.
Here are pictures of my first attempts. Keep in mind that the smallest bowl is 4,5 cm and the 'spoon' is the size of a match (above).

Art, Antiques & Design (+ entoforms??) fair, Rosmalen

I was running low on 'Art-Input'....this..is...not a good thing (and 'my fella' will second that). Therefore, a rather hasty decision was made to visit the AFSH (for Dutch info click on: Fair).
This year it took place at its new location: the Autotron, Rosmalen. Not too far to drive, easy to find, with ample parking. There was a good mix of old and new on offer. I really liked the relaxed/friendly atmosphere, which made it easy to talk to the gallery owners and there was plenty of space for everyone browsing around. All in all a wonderful day, which ended with loud singing in the car, on the way back.
My favourite, were these wire mesh sculptures which cast perfect, 'photographic' shadows, by Randy Cooper. Beautifully made by hand, not machine. For more info click on: SCULPTURES. And then there were.........

 

.....Entoforms
This was something I'd not yet seen before. Teamwork between an artist and his computer produced these strange looking creatures, called 'entoforms'. Through DNA specifications given to the computer, it then designs and 'grows' following generations. Each specimen can be formed with the use of a 3D printer. This little one's called Natalie Portman. I wonder what her offspring will look like?

Art fair REALisme

Admiring work by Casper Faassen

This saturday, Eric and I popped in at one of our favourite galleries; Galerie Rademakers to look at works by Casper Faassen (his fun website click here had made me curious).
We liked some of his work and the gallery kindly gave us two tickets to the 'Real is me' Exhibition held at the impressive Passengers Terminal A'dam (REALisme)
We enjoyed spending a few hours there, met up with Sjors and Lillian and even ran into some fellow goldsmiths, from my time at college in Schoonhoven, Marit and Wouter.

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