Riëlle Beekmans – Clay Sculptures – The Netherlands
Riëlle studied at the Royal Academy for Art and Design in Den Bosch. She graduated at the branch of autonomous ceramics.
In addition to the sculptures in clay being transformed into stone by high temperatures, she also creates sculptures in clay at location. These are temporary sculptures built up for the occasion. After termination the clay is being softened again with water enabling her to make a new sculpture again from the same clay .
This process stands for Riëlle as a symbol for the expectations and perishableness of life. Mostly this process is only visible for the maker.
When the clay comes out of the package, wettish, it is soft and flexible, a piece of earth that can adopt any form or shape still. Anything is still possible now. During shaping the clay dries up and the material changes from soft and flexible into solid an strong. Now the clay is stronger than you expect, firm and with a nice shining skin. Eventually the clay dries up so much that the shape will shrink and the surface becomes dull, this is the final stage, the sculpture is now very vulnerable.
After her graduation she founded “Stichting op Visite “ together with friends. A foundation to promote art at locations outside the regular art circuit. Like e.g. during the “Blauwdruk “( Blue Print) exhibition (2002), where spaces in empty store-houses spread throughout Delft were filled with artwork of light, sound and odeurs.
In 2000 Beekmans moved to Delft and there in the ceramic city of the Netherlands the idea was born for “The Defts-blauw Kusje “and for the “Steengoed Stichting”, a platform for ceramic art.
Riëlle: “For me it is a fact that as a human being I am part of the universe. No hierarchy, everything in nature has equal value. In my sculptures shapes of my body amalgamate in a natural way into vegetable or animal forms. A kiss with a stem forms a flower, a dog with a mould of my navel, tongs like thorns of a cactus. Recognition gives me cramp-iron to also discover the unknown.
In my sculptures I always search for a natural way of letting the unexpected play with what I expect. Repetitions are logical issues for me.Already since the Academy I use some shapes of my own body in my sculptures. By using the same shapes I show that the same is different every time. ”