News

October 22nd
Welcome to my new homepage! It still needs some tweaks but in a few weeks will be up to date.

Hope to see you then!
Mariëtte


The artist


Mariëtte was born in the Netherlands and lived for three years in Randolph, NJ, USA. Until now she had four very successful shows, including two in New Jersey. Mariëtte has always experimented with fabrics since she was a young child. She began to use fabric in an artistic way about fifteen years ago. She prefers working with natural fibers as the material is warm and living. It feels good to work with and lends itself to create a perfect combination of texture, color, and light. After taking a few workshops in fiber art, she decided to experiment on her own and has developed her own techniques and style.

The wall hangings she makes are made of wool which she cleans, dyes, and felts herself. Her creations feature the magical world of flower gardens, lily ponds, the seasons, often peopled with elves and fairies, while animals peek out from various hiding places. Each piece has a magical feel, a sense of an enchanted scene where anything is possible. The wall hangings (size mostly 70x45cm) are exceptional for imaginative themes and three dimensional appearance.

The flower fairies (size about 12cm) she makes were inspired by MC Barker's watercolor books. They each represent a certain flower and are exquisitely detailed. It is a challenge for her to make them as detailed as possible.

A new technique came to her some time ago; she started with needle felting. From now on she uses this for her wall hangings but also to create fantasy wool sculptures.

Mariëtte plans to further develop her application of textiles in art, creating "giants and dwarfs". She is always willing to take commissions and give workshops.



A fairy tale

By Pam Jones '99:

Thirty-five years ago in Holland
there lived a little girl named Mariette.
She was a smart girl, with wild red hair, and clever fingers which would someday
make Fairy Dolls
This is the story of how she was inspired to become a Fairy Maker.
It's a true tale ..... she told me in English with her beautiful Dutch accent, on
Halloween night
of the year we were friends in America.


In her village there were many children.
All played together, much as children do in any neighborhood around the world.
At the far edge of the town, near the wilder fields, close to the beginning of a
great forest of silver birch trees,
an old woman lived alone.
The children were not permitted to go anywhere near there to play.

It was a strange cottage... the bushes were cut into shapes, and the windows
had glass of different colors...
and the garden was quite huge with herbs,
Sometimes a mother from the village would go see the Old Woman
To purchase herbs that might help heal a sick child.
The village woman would come back not only with the herbs,
but with stories of what it was like inside the cottage.

You see the Old Woman made things, ... all kinds of things ...
and the cottage was brimming with treasures she created.

There were paintings on pieces of bark, maps which claimed to lead to treasure
chests buried in swamps
which were drawn upon hand woven flax-cloth and dyed with flower petals...
there were boxes of all sizes and shapes made from the most extraordinary
materials
such as acorns and chestnuts glued all together with pine tar ...
and twigs and vines twisted into statues and wreathes and baskets...
but the most wonderful of all were the dolls

The Old Woman made the Fairy Dolls out of the fleece of lambs,
and milkweed fluff, and strings pulled from the stems of certain plants, all colored
with dyes from nature.
(She learned to dye from her mother, and you
know
the plants haven't really changed all this time... the dye baths still work... I'll teach
you later)
Anyway, Mariette had heard the descriptions of all the stuff...
and, oh, how she wanted to see for her self what it all looked like inside the
cottage.

Some of the more adventurous children were curious about the Old Woman too,
though not for the same reasons.
However soon it became quite an accepted thing-to-do to sneak there

occasionally,
always at sunset
and spy!

Once upon a twilight,
Mariette and a few others got quite close to the actual house... much closer than
ever before..
so close in fact that they could hear the Old woman talking...
though who she was talking to was not clear.
I can feel someone is coming ... you must all fly away now... shoo shooo, out the
window you go...

The children, hiding in the bushes, heard a village woman coming down the little
lane,
probably seeking some chamomile for a baby's upset stomach,
and the children, delightfully scared, began to race off home.
Mariette, excited by the sudden commotion, ran the wrong way,
around the back of the cottage,
just in time to see
Fairy Dolls, flying out the window, leaving a trail of sparkles in the air behind.
The window closed shut with a bang, and the front door opened a second later
allowing the village woman
to enter, and never seethe magical exit of the Fairy Dolls.

But Mariette saw.
She kept the story a secret for thirty-five years, until she met me,
here in America ....so far away from the little house on the edge of the wilder
World.

She told me the story, I think,, because she has seen my art studio, with
paintings on bark, and sculptures made from vines and bones and owl feathers.
And to this day, Mariette makes the Fairy Dolls from fleece and felt.
And I think she waits, as I wait, for one of our creations
to speak
to fly
to take us with them
to the heart of the forest
to the meadow clearing
where life is sweet and perfect.


Needle Felting

Some time ago I met a special way of working with wool: needle felting. I was immediately enthusiastic about the way I could give special effects as if I was working with clay, and the colors look much brighter. The wool I use, I clean, dye and card myself. I create all different kind of fantasy figures and I also make wall hangings this way.



Prior

In total, I have designed over 50 different flower fairies. The skeleton of the flower fairies is made out of pipe cleaners. The clothing is created with factory made wool felt. I've used wool felt because it is strong and the colors are beautiful. The head is made of tricot with filling. The face is embroidered and painted with watercolor pencils. Each of them represents a certain flower, tree or fruit. When I designed them, I analyzed the plant by taking it apart and I also read a lot about it. By doing so, I was able to make the fairies as detailed as possible and copy the plant as much as possible in the little doll. As an artist I feel challenged to explore new things in working with wool.












Exposition

Autumn 2001: HEMA-Kinkerstraat in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Spring 2000: Diviana in Randolph, New Jersey USA

Autumn 1998: Diviana in Randolph, New Jersey USA

Spring 1997: De Smederij in Sappemeer, The Netherlands

Wallhangings

The wall hangings as shown below are typical examples of my work.

The wall hangings are made of carded wool. I clean, dye, card and felt the wool myself. The wool is attached to a piece of fabric with little stitches. The figures are often created separately and sewed on later. The use of several layers of wool makes the wall hanging become 3-dimensional. This will bring extra depth into the scene and allows me to create all kinds of hiding places.

The illustrated pieces are not available, but can be ordered upon request. However, any new work is unique and will not be an exact replicate of the shown illustrations.