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I know I should do it more: go on an ‘Artist date’. You know Artist dates, right? It’s a visit to somewhere that inspires you, rejuvenates you, and makes you want to run home to create. Every first Sunday of each Month a whole lot of art galleries, ateliers and museums in my town (Middelburg) open their doors. It’s called the “Art & Culture route.”
Yesterday was extra special because it was the opening of the ‘Art route year’ and some galleries had guest artists exhibitions. My friend and fellow artist Lena and I decided to go on an artist date together and we choose a few galleries and artists from the list to visit (the list is too long to visit all galleries.)
The weather was quite nice and we spend the afternoon walking the old streets of Middelburg and visiting several galleries. Let me take you with me on this tour and show you what we saw… (I did not bring my camera but found most galleries and artists online.)
We started our tour at De Roofprint Pers – I visited this gallery before but wanted to go back there to show my friend the little books and drawings that Leni van den Berge creates and shows in her atelier. I’m in love with these tiny matchbox books!
Next was Van Berkel Art Galerie just around the corner, who had a guest exhibitor Marcel Thelen
Some of his paintings I find too bright (neon colors!) for my taste but I really love the ‘collages’ he creates from found material (mostly from pieces of concrete that fall off of old buildings/viaducts and that show fragments of graffiti.) It kind of reminds me of Seth Apter’s art.
A bit further down the road, we visited Cultuurhuis Kuiperspoort – a creative center where all kinds of art workshops take place. Some of the art teachers showed their art.
Onward we went. We passed Atelier Pazzo-Arte and went inside to take a look. I’m not much into sculptures and especially not the “bright colored dolls and animals” kind of art that Wolfgang Krug creates. It’s just not my taste but I must admit these sculptures (made of paper mache) were fun and made me smile.
We visited a few more galleries that I won’t mention (not very interesting) but on one of the walls I saw a painting of a nude that had me in ooh and aah… It was painted by Piet Meeuwse – a lot of his work is shown in this video on youtube but the drawing/painting I’m talking about is not there…. it’s a pity that I cannot find a photo of the painting online either – it was my favorite of the day!
By now, it was almost at the end of the afternoon… and there was one more gallery on my wishlist: Atelier Galerie Sandra van der Meulen We found beautiful and inspiring art inside this gallery… Sandra creates art to my liking with materials and techniques I love. The pieces show natural colors, bold brush strokes on Japanese rice paper and a bit of texture (fabric, cord.) The canvases also show text/lettering and you all know I LOVE me some text in art.
On our way to the cafe for a drink, we payed a last visit at the shop of Jeweler Bert van Wijk. Lena knew him from a series of workshops ‘gold worker’ (is that the right term?) where he was her teacher.
While Lena talked to Bert, I looked around in the shop and saw some beautiful jewelry. Fun thing was, that Bert had hung the photos and sketches of the things that inspired him (mostly landscapes of Zeeland) with the pieces of jewelry, so I could see where it came from. The dunes, beaches, waves and the wood of the groins…
All in all, I am very inspired by all the art I saw last weekend. I hope I could send a bit of this inspiration your way with this blogpost. Thanks for visiting.
Seth says
So much fun to go on this tour with you. Thanks for sharing the photographs (and for the shout out too). 🙂
sandra van der meulen says
Hi Marit,
read your blog..nice. Saw your work on your website…interesting.
I don’t think we actually spoke to each other that (kunstroute)sunday,
but I would like to meet you and perhaps share views on art.
Interested?
Marit says
Hi Sandra, thanks for your nice comment and yes I would love to meet and talk art. I will send you an email.