Mirjam Pet-Jacobs
I am a Dutch artist working
with textiles and multi media. I have been creative all my life and even during
my English studies at university I managed to follow several art classes at
free art academies. When I stumbled upon textiles I fell in love with their
versatility, flexibility and tactility.
Some 12 years ago I found my
artistic voice and realized that I could use art to get some structure in life
and understand it a bit better. I started working with themes of my own choice.
Recurring items are society, the way people interact, the why’s and what for’s
of life and the concept of ‘time’. Important to me is to transform my
reflections and my own feelings to a general level into abstract realistic wall hangings, installations,
objects, videos and photos.
The ideas themselves ask for
their own materials and techniques, which means that I often have to find
unknown approaches and solutions. I like to challenge myself. The past years
photography and video have grabbed my interest and they slowly make their way
into my work.
Most important is always to
keep close to myself, be original, trust my instincts and just do it my way.
It’s the path and not the result that is most important to me.
Besides making art I guide
textile students in finding their own approaches to make their own art. A few
years ago I was thrilled to be able to write a book about this and share my
guidance and knowledge with more people, “Textile Adventures”, Bergtor Verlag,
in three languages.
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| Sometimes I long for (still), by Mirjam Pet-Jacobs |
Sometimes I long for, 2012 (still)
For Contextile 2012 I made a
stop motion video projected on a wall hanging in which a Mimi shape comes free
on the left and travels to the right to melt together with a similar shape .
This symbolizes the longing or wish we all sometimes have to be with someone
far away, to be in another place or to go back in time.
Every step in the creating had
to be thought out very carefully, especially the placement of elements. I am
not a professional video maker, lack professional equipment and programmes, so
I decided to keep things as simple as possible. The moving Mimi was
stitched on the left of the wall hanging later.
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| Serendipity, by Mirjam Pet-Jacobs |
Serendipity, 2014
For the theme ‘Earth’ of Miniartextile 2014 Como I covered twigs of
a protected plant (Myrica gale) with golden thread to symbolize the necessity
to take care of and to care for what is precious: our world, the people around
us, and as an artist, creativity.
It was challenging to do, because the twigs were so fragile and
difficult to handle under the machine.
For more information, go to
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