English Text

Welcome to the world of Leontien Wessels

“I absolutely loved drawing when I was a child, doing lots of it. Rich tales of fantasy, parades of weird and wacky little creatures, girls with gorgeous hair, the wildest of dresses that I had designed myself. I wasn’t a great fan of assignments where you were told to make an exact copy of let’s say an apple, but much rather opted for creating a sumptuous mansion for a rain worm. At the Rietveld Academy for Fine Arts the direction I chose was handicrafts, with ceramics as my favourite subject. However, my creativity flowed back and forth in different directions and five years after the establishment of the Kleikollektief I found myself with a renewed spirit and urge to draw and paint, which resulted in the “sketchbook project” with two colleagues – pouring out our hearts in paint and pencil, being each other’s muses, soaking up each other’s work. Subsequently, there was the painting of a large wooden cupboard with a dazzling array of fantastical circus-like figures, to be followed by a period of work on paper, where my daily life proved a plentiful source of inspiration. Exploration of different new themes was the next phase, until in 2011 I was invited by the Kleikollektief to let loose my creativity on their ceramic bowls and plates – man in bowler hat juggling with a teapot….”

Enjoy!