Resident Artists
Ryan Arrindell, Aruba
My work is all about imagination and the mind. At any moment an idea can come to me, and I physically see the final, realised image in all its glory – it’s a rush of excitement that never fails to inspire.
This process makes my work a necessity for me. The piece already exists in my memory, and the only way for me to see it again, or to share it with anyone else, is to make it actual; download it from the ether and record it in the medium that best describes the concept, be it photography, oils or digital media.
My interest and study of psychology and conceptual philosophy along with the shamanic creative catalysts of meditation and music provide my inspiration. I am motivated by my subconscious and lucid dreams to create vibrant, passionate and highly emotive pieces.
Margaret Arrindell, UK
“I have painted in oils since I was in my teens, particularly influenced by my study of the French impressionists. My impasto, painterly style developed early on as an obvious way to reflect a romanticism of nature and life that I see every day. My passion is the light, colour, landscape and culture of foreign lands, and my travels have led me to Spain, the Americas and the Antilles where I love to capture scenes of people and places in my paintings.”
Margaret’s latest impasto canvasses observe the essential nature and qualities of disappearing landscapes, people and cultures. She offers a glimpse of the fisherman, musician or farm worker off the beaten track. She captures the experience by deftly creating a varied, painterly surface whose finish constantly shifts and reflects the sentience of the scene.
Born in Norfolk, Margaret spends her time between Norwich, Seville and Oranjestad where she paints en plein air and in the studio. Her refreshingly original works are available locally and abroad.
Guest Artists
Francisco Manzano, Spain
He likes to say: ‘I'm a goat shepherd’. And that was true, once. He learned to live in the country side, he learned to live with the climate, to live with the animals and see through the traits of their animal heads. He changed to be a blacksmith and loved working with metal, measures, angles, the thickness of bar and delicacy of sheet. But between fences and doors his animals returned. He saw them in whatever sheet remainder; the characteristics of goats, bulls, sheep, horses and birds, and he cut, hammered and folded until he conceived their particular shapes. In the end he has become an architect, now coping with space, more measures and angles, and more materials. And still they emerge... his animals.
Francisco Manzano (1969) was born and raised in the west of Andalucia, de Sierra de Aracena, where he now lives and works, as an architect, a sculptor and a painter.
In his sculpture he prefers working with used materials, mostly metal, sometimes wood or plastics:
‘In fact there's no difference between one material and its remainder, neither between the raw material and a manufactured piece of it. As a matter of fact they are made of the same molecules: the only difference is the shape of it - for another use or just because of the coincidence of finding it like that. But curious enough material that already has been used, has its own character or hidden significance. And if this fits well in your concept, you have conceived that one, and one is more than two.’
Working at his animal heads his goal is obtaining an organic shape out of a geometric plane piece of metal.
In his last piece, ‘224 Pasos a la Suerte’ (224 steps towards good luck), Manzano has focused on the question of the classic pedestal. In this piece of work the sculpture has sunk into the pedestal. The pedestal has converted into space: a transparent kind of space that shows a horse's head inside. The horse –symbol of power, liberty and motion- stands still in his box of (224) horseshoes. The work will be exhibited next week in the museum of Huelva, Spain, during the exhibition ‘Reciclarte’.
Annemarie Klein Hofmeijer, The Netherlands
Annemarie Klein Hofmeijer (sculptor) lives and works in the Sierra de Aracena. She’d never guessed that one day she would live in Spain. She had her studies in Fine Arts in The Netherlands, was artist and teacher in Arts and Sculpture for many years, and had her life more or less established. When she went on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella she fell in love with the country and country-side. Nothing would be the same anymore.
Moving to Andalusia, Spain, was more than just a move, it was a new beginning, also artistically: Klein Hofmeijer went on an inspiring voyage through the Andalusian/ Moorish ceramics tradition.
In her recent works she likes combining ceramics and clay sculpture with her older favourites (e.g. metal, wood, glass) in symbolic assemblages. Besides that she makes pure ceramics like flat rimmed bowls in decorative cuerda seca technique.
‘I think that there’s nothing wrong with aesthetics. I like to make something beautiful. But I also want my works to have a meaning. Something related to what I think or experience. There for I always try to give my pieces various ‘layers’. The exact combination of materials is a powerful means to express what I want to tell. At the moment I reflect on my surroundings, my roots and culture shocks.’
In 2007 Klein Hofmeijer won the first prize in the International Certamen Iberico de Escultura de Punta Umbría with the art work ‘Caminando Camino’
Her fine arts background also inspires exclusive clothing designs in which she combines Dutch fine art with the spontaneous freshness of Andalusia. Beautiful pieces of ‘wearable art’ are the results.