World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 362 - Sandrina Kreek

World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 362 – Sandrina Kreek
Sandrina Kreek makes ceramic sculptures. Remains from nature come back to life. It concerns the remains of marine animals and plants, nuts and seed pods, leaves and bones, which are given a new shape. I saw them in the exhibition ‘Reflections’ in the MLB gallery, where they combined fantastically with the abstract – also based on nature – works by Dorien Mos and Madelon de Keizer.
I spoke to Sandrina on the last day of the exhibition. She is fascinated by the restorative power of nature, she says. “I often look at the cycle of life: birth, growth, bloom, decay and death. I get to work with dead material such as roots, bones and shells and often something alive appears. Nature is recovering: something blooms, something comes out.”

Vulnerable yet raw
Sometimes she looks for contrasts: death and bloom, decay and growth. Sandrina about her motivation: “During our lives, everyone experiences something bad that leads to a down mood. Being creative is a way of dealing with that, of recovering from anything that has knocked you down in life. I translate an emotion into a sculpture and challenge people to look further.”

The sculpture is created while she is working. “It’s kind of like a conversation with myself. Your mood also plays a part. One day I make it green, the next day I make it blue. It is good to look beyond what you see at first glance. Compare it to an artichoke. If you study it, you’ll see more layers when you’re close to it. My work is vulnerable yet raw, it sometimes rubs against something dead, but something nice grows out of it.”

Experimenting with glazes
She has several series: From the sea, That which remains, Radical Nuts, Souvenirs from Nature, Seed Collection and Reinvented Flora. “One series is more accessible than the other, it also has to do with my mood. Because I often walk in nature, I see new things. I experiment with glazes. I make all of those myself. That’s chemistry, you don’t know exactly how something comes out of the oven. It is very intuitive, sometimes I am surprised. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll keep going until it’s to my liking.”

Key work
Does Sandrina have a key work? She has. She points to a shell-like sculpture on a table in the left corner titled Humble. “It has everything I wanted to put in it: emotion, feeling. People tend to look closer: what’s up? If you turn it around, you see a lot more.” She points to the stemmed leaf sculptures on the wall above us. “I use a kind of shrink glaze, it looks like flakes. If you bake it, it will form crusts, that’s the intention. The stem of the leaf is not a stem, but almost a bone.”

She hears from people who look at her work that they see more the longer they look at it. “That’s a big compliment.” She tries to make both horizontal and hanging work.

How long has Sandrina been an artist?
“All my life, but I just never allowed it until a few years ago. I had to learn a trade from my father. That’s why I studied psychology and used my knowledge of human behavior to work for HEMA, IKEA, and Wehkamp. But in a way I was also creative then. Creating has been in my mind all my life. In 2009 I switched and started looking for something non-commercial, to give myself more space. I went on to do various courses: creative crafts, five years of professional ceramics with specialization. I constantly challenge myself by learning different techniques. Taking into account the changing world, where energy costs are skyrocketing, I started looking for alternative art forms. You use a lot of energy to make ceramics. I am currently working on embroidery. I also want to connect that with clay. I fill details in pottery with yarn, jute and wool.”

Sandrina is affiliated with kunstRUIM Amsterdam. A platform where 125 Amsterdam artists are participants. “KunstRUIM promotes its artists through social media and large exhibitions, such an exhibition is held once a year. KunstRUIM also has a gallery where members can exhibit.” She voluntarily supports this Amsterdam art platform, as a social media coordinator. Recently, she was asked to also do the social media for The Independents (De Onafhankelijken). She also gives social media workshops.

What is her experience of the art life?
“It’s quite hard work to get something presented in galleries. Selling my work feels like confirmation of being an artist. The Netherlands, and certainly Amsterdam, is difficult. The municipality is strict about breeding grounds. There is a lot of attention for well-known artists, but those who are below that, who are less well-known, are snowed under. Membership of artist platforms, on the other hand, is beneficial. I am inspired by that.”

Finally, what is her philosophy?
“You have to have a creative mind and be curious about the world. You have to challenge yourself, that keeps you young. That applies not only to art, but to many things in life. That you are looking for solutions that are non-standard. In fact, we are all creative.”
Images
1) Dotty seed collection, 19x38x23cm, ceramic, 2) Bud #41, 11x11x14cm, seed collection, 2019, ceramic, 3) A Sense of Spring, set 9 bulbs, 15×15 cm, 2021, reinvented flora, 4) Humble, 24x19x17cm, ceramics, radical nuts, 5) Papaver, series 2021, reivented flora, 6) Rewriting leaves, set of 3, series reinvented flora, 70x50x9cm, 2021, 7) Shell#02, 53x31x20 cm, 2013, Series from the sea, ceramics, 8) Sandrina with Mystify, ceramics, souvenir from nature, 9) Ceramics, Nux 05-05-04, RadicalNuts, 10) Residue 03, 21x15x15 cm, 2020, souvenir from nature

https://www.skeramiek.nl/
https://www.instagram.com/skeramiek/?hl=nl
https://www.kunstruim.amsterdam/portfolio-items/sandrina-kreek/
https://www.facebook.com/SandrinaKreekceramics/
https://ifthenisnow.eu/nl/verhalen/de-wereld-van-de-amsterdamse-kunstenaar-87-sandrina-kreek