Wietske van Leeuwen


Wietske van Leeuwen is a Dutch ceramist, who lives and works in Monnickendam. Her works are constructed in a baroque style, with shells and fruit as recurring motifs.

Biography

Born in Rotterdam to Sjoerd and Marianne van Leeuwen, Van Leeuwen grew up in Mijnsheerenland. Her father ran a timber trading company in Overschie, and her uncle is the photographer Piet van Leeuwen. She studied handicrafts and textile art at the teacher training college in Delft from 1984 to 1989, and ceramic design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam from 1989 to 1993 under Jan van der Vaart, and Henk Trumpie.
After graduation she settled in Amsterdam as an independent artist and started her own studio. In 1996 Van Leeuwen was nominated by Thimo te Duits for the NPS Cultuurprijs 1996, a battle between young unknown artists which was aired on national television.
Van Leeuwen received a number of grants from the Mondriaan Fonds, the Dutch fund for visual art and cultural heritage. Since 1997 she is also working as a ceramics and drawing teacher at Altra College, Amsterdam.

Work

Since her early work in the 1990s Van Leeuwen has been fascinated by 17th century still lifes and cabinet of curiosities, which she translated into her work. Her pots, vases and candle holders are constructed with shapes of seashells, nuts or lemons consequently composes. Some of the pots held a kitchy image on the bottom. Those earlier work of art suggested an underwater world. It wanted to presented itself as something precious, as if it was a treasure found at the bottom of the deep sea.

Photo Gallery

Van Leeuwen's work is included in the collection of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, and the Princessehof Ceramics Museum.

Exhibitions, a selection

In the 2010 exhibit in the Kunsthal a selection of the modern ceramic art collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen was shown with works of multiple generations of Dutch ceramists. Works were shown from the beginning of the 20th century with Chris Lanooij and Hein Andrée and from more contemporary artists as Johan van Loon, Jan van der Vaart, Barbara Nanning, Geert Lap and Olaf Stevens. The works of Esther Stasse and Wietske van Leeuwen were their representation of the last generation.

Reception

At the Studio Pottery website the Dutch Galery Carla Koch gave the following description of the motives in the work and motivation behind the work: