stephanie

Hi!

I'm Stephanie, 32 years old and I live together with my boyfriend (and lots of plants) in a cosy row house with a tiny green garden near the city centre of Zwolle.

I'm a visual artist and teacher (but currently I don't teach), I graduated from Art academy last year. I really love to work in my studio. Until last month I worked together with other artists in an old fire station (anti-squat) until the building was going to be destructed. Now we moved on to another place: the basement of a monastery!
I make large paintings of landscapes and architecture/interiors and I also make installations of wooden constructions and little objects I find outdoors. Ecological science and philosophy and indigenous ways of knowing inspire me a lot while making art. To me, making art is playful seriousness. I wish to put human existence in perspective, instead of centre stage.
I also have a degree in teaching: PE and Art Education PE/SE. I want to bring my art practice into schools. Education trough art and Art through education is what I aim to do!

I love being outdoors for hiking, multi-day tours, camping (mountains in France, Canada, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Altai), mountain biking in the forest near home, tour skiing (I'm learning). The Netherlands has no vast landscapes, so I cherish the green spots we do have. I also do yoga.
I love cooking: vegetarian and vegan.

Music
Radiohead, Agnes Obel, Paolo Nutini, Jamiroquai, Nick Mulvey, Daft Punk, First Aid Kit, Goldfrapp, Little Dragon, lots of rock music but also classical music

Books
The book I’m reading now? Isabel Allende ‘The house of the spirits’
Some of my favorites: ‘Women who run with the wolves’ by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, and Peter Wohlleben ‘The secret life of trees'
What I read for my art practice: Donna Haraway ‘Staying with the trouble' and books of Timothy Morton i.a. ‘Dark ecology’.

Movies
By Quentin Tarantino (i.a. Django unchained), The assassination of Jesse James (by Andrew Dominik), Into the West (mini series by Joseph M. Marshall)

Photography
Ragnar Axelsson (Last days of the arctic) and Jeroen Toirkens (i.a. Borealis)

I like to hear from you about the (city)landscapes which are a part of your life and what they mean to you. Or about what makes you happy or any shared interests!