printmaker
Renée Marjolein - Printmaker
Capturing a sense of place and stillness in woodcut print.
It is not uncommon that in response to uncertainty we turn to favorite places of stability and sameness found in the landscape of our childhood and memory.
While the series of baches began as a reaction to the longing for, and separation from special places, they have become much more.
Old houses and their untamed and abundant foliage have always captivated me. More than just lovely in their proportions and old-world charm, they have the patina of age and lived-in-ness that speaks of endurance and a beautiful ordinary. Their rambling gardens testify to their longevity and knit them into the land.
These places were landmarks along the roads of my childhood. They are becoming symbols of endurance and stability.
Although they are symbolic spaces, romaticised in ink, it is significant too that they are real places with real histories connected to real people. They are not empty, abandoned or impersonal. They are homes and I include the stuff of life; water tanks, ladders, and washing on the line as evidence of their habitation. Because places without people are non-places.
They evoke feelings of home, rest, connection and belonging. They are gezellig, a Dutch term with no suitable English equivalent. They bring to mind places we are drawn to return to whether physically, in memory or in imaginings.
The baches invite viewers to consider their own sense of place and enjoy the enduring beauty in humble spaces.
Recently I had a lovely chat with Monique Balvert O'Conner. The article "How to manage five children and an art career" was published in the Your Weekend magazine insert and you can read it here.
Image credit: Christel Yardley, Waikato Times.
If you would like to learn more about me and my process, you can also read an interview I had with Canvas Rebel magazine. In it I talk about my year, risks, pivots, rewards and more. I invite you to take a look and get to know me better.
Renée produces iconic NZ imagery using the medium of woodblock printmaking.
She was born in Hamilton and currently lives near Ngāruawāhia.
Renée has a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Auckland University.
Her work is held in private collections nationally and internationally.
Representation
The Mandarin Tree Gallery, Gordonton.
Imprint Gallery. Tauranga
Art on Thames, Oamaru
The Collaboration, New Plymouth.
Exhibitions
2023
2022
Coastal InkSpirations
Joint exhibition with Loraine Sabini and Caroline Peacocke
Blue Gallery, Hamilton
In The Frame
St Johns Art Expo, St Johns College.
Hamilton.
Line & Light
Joint exhibition with Rosanne Croucher
Gallery9, Hamilton
WAIPRINT 2023 annual exhibition of prints by the Waikato Society of Arts
Blue Gallery, Hamilton
Tuesday Group.
Imprint Gallery, Tauranga.
WHAT A RELIEF. Solo Show.
Nancy Caiger Gallery, Hamilton
Untitled solo showing.
Gilbert Gallery, Hamilton
River, Sea, Sky. Waikato Sociaety of Arts Printmakers. Blue Gallery, Hamilton.
In Response. Group exhibition
Gallery9, Hamilton.
WAIPRINT 2022 annual exhibition of prints by the Waikato Society of Arts
Artspost, Hamilton.
Waikato Society of Arts Members Exhibition. Artspost, Hamilton.
Collusion. Arts for health. Artspost, Hamilton.
2024
Education
2006
Post Grad. Dip Teaching. (Secondary) University of Waikato.
2002-2005
Bachelor of Visual Arts. Printmaking.
University of Auckland.