So, here's the teaser for my upcoming Witty Art solo showcase at one of Rotterdams coolest places, Hostel Ani & Haakien. The exhibition, organised by Pica Pica 010, will open at Thursday September 15 with live performances by two very talented singer-songwriters: Maria Josephine and Natalia Magdalena. Also present, Yours Truly Witty, ofcourse, but to be definitely out-glammed by the one an only diva of the evening, Ms Suzy La Cubanita! (Well, which human would be able outglam a gorgeous Maine Coon Pussycat anyway?)
So, all you music, art AND cat lovers, make sure you are present to enjoy it all, Thursday September 15th at the cosiest home-away-from-home, Hostel Ani & Haakien! You will find all the info you need to know below the picture, which, in fact, shows some of the works I intend to be in this exhibition (then again, if you know me well, it might come as no surprise if I choose for a completey different selection all together... but there is still plenty of time to decide all that!)
Every third Thursday of the month Pica Pica presents live-music and a new exhibition on the walls at Hostel Ani & Haakien! During these nights, new Rotterdam musicians will mix with local artists. A unique evening not to be missed, so be there!
What
19:00 to 20:30 Vegan pasta dinner (€4,50)
20:30: Opening exhibition of Witty Art (including small presentation by Miss Witty herself)
21:00 to 21:30: (music)
21:45 to 22:15: (music)
Entrance:
FREE! (except for the pasta dinner)
When?
The exhibition opens at September 15 and will run untill October 19th.
And the good news is; the hostel is open 24/7 so NO excuse for not going over there.
Where?
Hostel Ani & Haakien
Coolsestraat 47
3014 LC Rotterdam
Pica Pica
Well, Pica pica is latin for ''magpie''. The magpie is one of the most intelligent birds and is known for his passion for collecting striking glittering objects. Pica Pica Foundation aims to collect the most striking and newest places in different districts of Rotterdam and let them team up with independent artists and musicians from the city. (What's the bet a magpie of some sort will pop up in my work soon? ;-))
Hostel Ani & Haakien
Located in quiet street right in the middle of Downtown Rotterdam, this hostel is about as cosy and artsy as can be. Hostel Ani & Haakien is all about creating a sense of community and a “home away from home” on your travels. And they have got the most adorable hostelCAT ever!
Here's a selection of possible candidates to go on show during the September-October artshow at Hostel Ani & Haakien, an event organised by Rotterdam foundation Pica Pica.
The timing of this exhibit could not have been more perfect, because I have been on a major drawing spree off late, fuelled by all kinds of new inspirations and visions - of all sorts. Ranging from a world in turmoil and the bizarre behaviour of the so called human species inhabiting it to feelings of more contemplative,and introspective kind. Like, a journey into the mind of one of the persons I know both best and least: myself.
The results of this latest drawing binge consist of smaller sized artwork, none of them bigger than approximately A5, which is great because it is the perfect format for showcasing this work at Hostel Ani & Haakien: a very cosy, slightly artsy and really intimate place with a undoubtedly international vibe. I checked out the venu earlier this week and the whole atmosphere is perfect for Witty Art to both blend it and stand out at the same time. Which is just the way I like it!
So, I am looking forward to finetuning my final selection for this upcoming exhibition, which opens on Thursday, September 2016. You van find all the information on the opening (which will include not only Witty Art, but live music and food as well!) here on this blog or on the Facebook-eventpage!
Another great opportunity for Witty Art, as my work will be on display for a whole month from September 15th untill October 19th, on a unique and central, international location in Downtown Rotterdam.
Every third Thursday of the month Pica Pica presents live-music and a new exhibition on the walls at Hostel Ani & Haakien! During these nights, new Rotterdam musicians will mix with local artists. A unique evening not to be missed, so be there!
What
19:00 to 20:30 Vegan pasta dinner (€4,50)
20:30: Opening exhibition of Witty Art (including small presentation by Miss Witty herself)
21:00 to 21:30: (music)
21:45 to 22:15: (music)
Entrance: FREE!
When?
The exhibition opens at September 15 and will run untill October 19th.
And the good news is; the hostel is open 24/7 so NO excuse for not going over there.
Where?
Hostel Ani & Haakien
Coolsestraat 47
3014 LC Rotterdam
Pica Pica
Well, Pica pica is latin for ''magpie''. The magpie is one of the most intelligent birds and is known for his passion for collecting striking glittering objects. Pica Pica Foundation aims to collect the most striking and newest places in different districts of Rotterdam and let them team up with independent artists and musicians from the city. (What's the bet a magpie of some sort will pop up in my work soon? ;-))
Hostel Ani & Haakien
Located in quiet street right in the middle of Downtown Rotterdam, this hostel is about as cosy and artsy as can be. Hostel Ani & Haakien is all about creating a sense of community and a “home away from home” on your travels. And they have got the most adorable hostelCAT ever!
Van de week mocht ik een creatieve workshop verzorgen voor een groep van 12 senioren, op een bijzonder kleurrijke en inspirerende locatie, namelijk Trompenburg Tuinen & Arboretum in Rotterdam-Kralingen.
De workshop vormde de afsluiter van een 'Verwonder en Beleef Wandeling' door deze mooie botanische tuin (inclusief een kopje koffie of thee en een heerlijk stuk taart in het theehuis) en bleek een groot succes. Die dag overvloedig vallende regen bleek noch de creativiteit noch het humeur van de deelnemers hebben aangetast, want ze gingen voortvarend aan te werk en aan de slag.
De bedoeling was om de tijdens de wandeling opgedane indrukken te verwerken in een zelf samengesteld fantasie-bloemstuk. Op die manier hadden de deelnemers meteen een mooi persoonlijk souvenirtje aan een leuke middag uit.
Zoals bij alle Witty Art Workshops stond de eigen creativiteit, fantasie en vindingrijkheid van de deelnemers voorop. Dat leverde ook nu weer mooie resultaten op, en dito onderlinge gesprekken. Want de deelnemers, allemaal dames, schroomden er niet voor elkaars creaties te bespreken. Waar de één bijvoorbeeld ging voor ''veel en vol kleur, want zo is het leven toch?'', kwam de ander met een bijna minimalistisch bloemstukje want ''minder is meer, en zo zit ik zelf ook in elkaar, geen opsmuk voor mij''. De één nam zorgvuldig de tijd om tot een afgewogen compositie te komen, de ander stelde er binnen no time meteen maar twee samen.
De grote gemene deler: ze waren allemaal ontzettend trots op hun zelfgemaakte creaties, die ze natuurlijk allemaal mee naar huis mochten nemen. Dat en het onverholen plezier dat ze hadden en de flinke dosis pret en plezier die de dames onderling met elkaar maakten, zorgden weer voor een uiterst geslaagde Witty Art Workshop.
Deze workshop verzorgde ik in opdracht en in samenwerking met Zowel Delfshaven, in het kader van het Zomerprogramma Lange Leve Kunst, boordevol inspirerende, interessante, leuke en actieve activiteiten. Toegankelijke en laagdrempelige uitstapjes, die senioren in Delfshaven de gelegenheid geven om er in goed gezelschap op uit te gaan en anderen te ontmoeten. De meeste activiteiten zijn dan ook geschikt voor zowel valide als minder valide deelnemers.
Het zomerprogramma loopt nog door tot en met 28 augustus a.s. Daarnaast worden er gedurende het hele jaar leuke activiteiten georganiseerd voor senioren in Delfshaven. Nieuwsgierig? Informeer dan via 010 286 14 05.
A while ago, I wrote a blogpost about my series 'Redemption Day Is Not Installed'. Quite an intense, dark, gloomy series of drawings made with pencil, ink and watercolours. I tried to describe that, to me, this series was about the uncompromising character of guilt, especially undeserved and (often) self-inflicted guilt and how it's almost impossible to break free of it. And how to redeem oneself can be an obligation that has the potential to turn into a burden itself.
It is an extremely heavy load to carry with you.
It's a series I am certainly not done with. Not for a long time. So, here are a couple of new ones in the making. Still using the same materials and imagery, but with the addition of some other type of creatures and colours, moving from the colder blue and greenish, even turqoise shades from the first drawings to more intense reds and purples. But still, not any warmer. It's still quite a harsh place to dwell in.
Furthermore, I have been playing with the idea of exploring this theme and visualisation in a more theatrical type of setting, perhaps adding little sculptures or otherwise 3D figurines to the scene. Not sure yet, but some ideas worth looking into, so .. hope to show you all more of that in the near future!
For now, I hope you like these new drawings in the making!
So, this time last year, I was in the middle of a very unsettling time for me, as I had to sell my house and embarked on a journey into the unknown, living the life of, as I started calling it, a 21st century city nomad. By that I mean not someone who's not really homeless as in living on the streets (which I am eternally glad for, because that is a hard, harsh life that I do NOT wish for anyone to happen at anytime), but still someone who does not have a place of her own to live in. Like, some kind of 'home hoppper' or 'pop up resident'. Or whatever fancy term you'd like to use for it.
By Summer 2015, I'd created tons of Witty Art, bascially driven by the fear of not being able to draw or create art for a long, long time to come. You see, losing my house not only meant losing my home, the roof over my head, but also my studio, the birthplace of so much Witty Art. So indeed I feared a long period of creative drought would set in.
Luckily for me, that hasn't happened, really. If anything, quite the opposite. Thanks to the support and care of people very close to me, who realised that, without my art, without being to able to create my art, I am just half the woman I am. Sounds a bit dramatic, I know, but it's true. To me, creating Witty Art is an urge. A matter of being alive and awake or being alive and virtually dead inside. So, I kept drawing, in my Witty Art Book 'My Life In Limbo', but also started working on new series, rediscovering basic materials such as pencil and charcoal, and discovering other ways of expressing myself.
The result has been many new Series and Singles over the last 12 months or so. As well as a couple of great opportunities to showcase my work. So, instead of drought there was a wave of inspiration and of new creations appearing and re-appearing.
But, while archiving the digital images of all the stuff created last summer, shortly before having to leave my home, I realised that I just hadn't shared much of the art I created during the final days spent in that house. Because I kept drawing as long as I could, untill I had to even pack up all my art, sending them off into a safe storage untill I would be able to work in a proper studio again.
So, here are some of the drawings I was working on last year, around this very time. I have to admit, I was even a bit scared of having to look at them again as I feared they'd reveal too much of my personal feelings and emotions at that time. But, it turns out it's not all that bad.
Let's just say that the world, my world, is still NO solid playground, but then again, it never really was. And ultimately, I am kind of okay with that. Because if indeed that had been the case, I doubt if there ever would have been such a thing as Witty Art.
So, here's the first EVER preview of what, in time, is going to be yet another expression or even manifestation of Witty Art! Moving from 2D to 3D, here's the first try out sample of Witty Art Puppetry, created by my Studio PuRRR's fellow creative mastermind Deborah van de Beld (a costume designer and fabric connaisseur in her own right AND a highly skilled culinary artist and who'll be launching her own House of Westenwind over the coming months).
I have always envisioned my artwork coming alive, both old skool, as in: handmade, crafted with various materials; and digitally, perhaps in a form of stop motion animation. But for a number of reasons, I never got around to figuring that all out. Something to do with living in the hell of crippling self doubt, fear of failure and - less prozaic - other projects and businesss stuff demanding too much of my time. So I basically stuck to drawing - don't get me wrong, I LOVE it and drawing and painting will always be a necessity to me, as I sometimes simply just have to do it or I'll go mad. But other plans, ideas, dreams, well .. they just got postponed.
So it is great to have someone motivating me to pick up where I left and start working again towards a three-dimensional world of Witty Art, one way or the other.
In short: to be continued...
