Ellen Spijkstra, a ceramicist at heart with a great passion for photography as well, has a very extensive and impressive artistic career under her belt and is not planning on retiring any time soon.
Ellen is still experimenting and discovering herself as a contemporary artist.
In 1980, one year after graduating from Academy Minerva, School for Fine Arts and Design, in the Netherlands, Ellen Spijkstra moved to Curaçao where she started her career as a visual artist. During these years she also studied glass blowing, clay and glaze theory and kiln building at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY, where she lived for the period of one year in the eighties.
Ellen has participated in many international exhibitions with both her ceramic sculptures and her photographs in countries such as: South Korea, Taiwan, China, USA, Dominican Republic, Cuba, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. Just to name a few.
The island of Curaçao with her tropical environment is the fundamental inspiration that embodies her work. Ellen Spijkstra’s work is about harmony, balance and tranquility. Materials and the process of erosion or damage fascinate her. She incorporates the latter in rhythmic compositions or forms.
‘Ellen Spijkstra, An Artistic Journey’
In this retrospective exhibition Ellen will take you through her development as a ceramicist. This in combination with her photography, complementing what she cannot express through her ceramics.