RV Galerie & Atelier

March 2016 – December 2019

At the beginning of 2016 I was looking for a more permanent way of exhibiting my art than what the BIB artist community could offer. Somewhere I could call my “haven” to direct interested fair visitors to when they felt uncommitted to buy but hopefully would change their minds. Also, let me reluctantly admit it, with the rather abstract valuation of art, being represented in a gallery adds “cloud” to ones work. 

In my home village of Noordwijk, the painter Rian Verbeek, (website, facebook place & page) ran a small gallery doubling as her artist workspace. I could exhibit my pieces at her place for a modest fee, provided I took on some of the opening hours. I was very happy with this arrangement, as I missed a relaxed place to interact with the public and with other artists (as I had left the BIB artist community at the end of 2016). This provided me with both and for almost 4 years I was in a way an associate of hers, together with Nico Duivenvoorde (no presence on the internet), another ceramist artist from Noordwijk and later Gonny Wagner, an artist painter.

We were a small team, in a small gallery, with a cosy, homely atmosphere and I have warm memories of my time there. We organised small, seasonal events and participated in other events in the region, like the “Kunstroute Noordwijk“, “Kunst in ‘t Overbosch“, the garden marked “Markt onder de Linden” in Noordwijk and the national art week “Nationale Kunstweek.“

It was also there I started giving ceramics courses and workshops (hand building) to small groups. Being a teacher at heart, I enjoyed this a lot and it gave me ample opportunity to hold “art appreciation” sessions on the “work in progress” during the course. 

However, when our emigration plans (to France) became definite in 2019, I decided to stop the corporation with the gallery. I had very little time to make new art and no time or energy for my courses. I couldn’t even fire any of my students work as my kiln would be stored with the movers for an unknown length of time.

It was time to “close the business” and move on to a new chapter – which got delayed a bit by the disrupting pandemic of 2020.