ART AS AN ADVENTURE
Artist Marjan Wouda is inspired by many things when she creates her sculptures, which feature in public spaces and private collections throughout the world
Having been raised on a farm in Groningen in North East Holland, sculptor Marjan Wouda finds her inspiration in animals, folklore, nursery rhymes and proverbs.
She regards her work as an adventure – a journey that begins with an idea not knowing exactly where it will end or the outcome.
“I start each piece with drawings,” she explains. “I will then develop the idea further by creating a miniature ‘maquette’ – or 3D sketch – before starting work on the larger piece.”
Both her animals and people have significant presence, be they small or large, bronze or ceramic. They also have Marjan’s signature texture and layering, something that makes her work instantly recognisable.
“I have always used a lot of different textures in my work,” says Marjan, who works from a studio at her Lancashire home.
Creating moulds featuring textures such as knitting, basket weave or rope, enables her to imprint these into clay, which is sometimes fired but more often cast into bronze and patinated.
Her work has featured at exhibitions around the world and she is currently exhibiting in a gallery in Fitzrovia, London. Her giant dormouse, created for a London shopping centre, standing some 1.2m wide and 1m high, is a typical example of her textured work and like many of her sculptures, started life as a tiny wax maquette.
Marjan also has a number of ‘full-size’ pieces of public art on display throughout the North West including a roe deer in Roe Lee Park, Blackburn, a resin cast owl in Accrington Library, a large heron near the River Lune and another standing in the reservoir at Entwistle near Bolton.
Lancashire folk tales feature in both her sculpture work and her lightbox works, featuring tiny figures and animals that cast shadows creating atmospheric, often haunting, scenes that tell a story within a limited space. These have been taken to exhibitions and festivals throughout the UK.
“The peep boxes really get people involved – they like to explore the light and the shadow. They tell a tale. It’s a story in a box. I am really interested in the landscape of places and how they can fire the imagination.”
Marjan is also involved in a collaboration with other artists at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, to develop a show for teenagers.
Her interest in sculpture began when she went to art college in London: “I became aware of the expressive potential of animals and was fascinated to discover their form and structure,” explains Marjan, who went on to become artist in residence at local schools.
After a number of successful exhibitions, she began working full time has a sculptor: “It took me a good few years to have the confidence to sell my work,” she says.
Her work now features in public and private collections across the world – from New Zealand and Hong Kong to the US and Caribbean and she is represented by galleries both here in the UK as well as in the Netherlands, Singapore and Washington DC.
Her connection with the Ribble Valley is strong, as she has worked here, her three children were educated here and she admits to deriving much of her inspiration from the flora, fauna and folklore in the valley.
Longitude Gallery in Clitheroe has an exhibition of her work including bronze and ceramic sculptures, as well as drawings, which runs until 3rd June.
Her work will also feature at a pop-up exhibition in the gardens at Dutton Hall, Ribchester, as part of the RHS Open Gardens scheme on 24th, 25th and 28th June and a little further afield there will be a story performance at the Horse and Bamboo Theatre in Rossendale on 24th June of ‘The Headless Woman and Other Delights’ which involves art projection and interactive peep boxes. This show will also be presented in Dingle, County Kerry, during the last weekend of May.
Marjan’s work can also be seen at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival from 8th to 12th August at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
“I really enjoy my work, whether it’s sculpture, drawing or working in collaboration with other artists. My work is all about exploration and character. I want to make powerful art that resonates with people, art that is accessible to all.”
