Artist in Residence
Artist in Residence
In the month of August I’ve been working as an Artist-in-Residence at ‘Landgoed de Polberg’ near Zwolle, a forest estate where an old forester’s house is being carefully renovated and extended into a sustainable home.
The architect embraces circularity, reusing original beams, doors, and other elements from the house. Yet, even with this mindful approach, the building process still leaves behind many materials with both practical and visual potential.
I’ve found a treasure trove of leftover materials like charred wood, colourful cables, used sandpaper, groundsheet, metal mesh and drainage pipes…
My residency is a hands-on exploration:
How can these materials be transformed into something that connects back to the surrounding nature?
What stories can they tell when they are given a new purpose, whether functional or purely artistic? And hopefully create some awareness around why we are carelessly tossing them into the bin…
This is quite different from my regular practice at Atelier Iris Nijenhuis, where I create modular works of art of textiles. Still, I’ve already found interesting parallels: a fascination with modular construction, assembling without stitches or glue, and turning flat materials into tactile, three-dimensional pieces.
Experimenting and prototyping
Over the past weeks I’ve been collecting, experimenting, and prototyping. Letting the site, the materials, and the forest guide the work. The shots you see are partially from a process video and some sneak peeks of the techniques and materials used in the artwork.
The result will be exhibited later on.
To be continued and I’ll keep you posted! 🫶
