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Clay Sculptures by Jacqueline Bohlmeijer

Clay comes from the earth. A fitting material for Jacqueline Bohlmeijer’s fantasies of nature. She identifies with the living natural world and expresses the energy that drives her in playful ceramic sculptures and organic vase forms. Alongside plants and trees, animals such as elephants and horses now also appear. And in her Water Figures she depicts our lost unity with nature.

Bohlmeijer does not work in a realistic style. She inhabits the natural world that has been familiar to her since childhood and gives her imagination free rein. Intuitively, she gives form to the quiet strength of plants and trees, as described by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird in The Secret Life of Plants (1973).

In the Uproot series (from 2008 onwards), she reveals the roots of plants, which are usually hidden from view. They support a cup that can hold living branches, giving these vase forms an added dimension.

“I want to show how a tree takes root in the earth and reaches towards the sky with its branches.”

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Bohlmeijer grew up in Laren and rode horses in the woods. Today, she seeks out nature in the Vondelpark around the corner.

She marvels at the elusive nature of growth: the hollows, knots, twisting tentacles and young shoots that appear unexpectedly. In her sculptural ceramics, these offshoots wave triumphantly or flex their muscles, proud of the vigour with which they take possession of their surroundings. They seem to want just one thing. To rise. To unfold into space.

Other sculptures turn inwards. Verholen (Concealed) (1997) looks vulnerable, with its openwork “trunk” revealing a shaded interior. Tree (1999) also absorbs its surroundings. Here, the elongated slits invite us to come closer and confide long-unspoken secrets to this “listening tree”.

In a later phase, playful tree figures with human traits emerge, such as Phantom (2002), as though the soul of the tree were greeting us, or the almost life-size Bosnimf (Wood Nymph) (2013). And in her Water Figures, human and plant flow seamlessly into one another. They form a single whole. Bohlmeijer found inspiration for her Water Figures while swimming.

“In the water, you do not feel gravity. You dissolve into your surroundings and feel at one with nature.

As a child, I felt connected to nature; now I feel as though I stand outside it. In our technological culture, we have become estranged from nature. But we are part of that greater whole.”

More recently, animals have also appeared. Small horses in unspoilt landscapes. And a series of little elephants among the undergrowth. Bohlmeijer has a great love of animals. As a child, she was captivated by Jeroen met de sleutel (Jeroen with the Key), by Dick Laan. Like Jeroen in the book, she felt she could talk to animals, that she could sense whether a bird was thirsty or hungry. That instinctive connection is no longer there. Yet she remains sensitive to injustice towards animals. The Last Circus Elephant (2015) grew out of her indignation about ivory hunting and the ban on circus animals. Rather than displaying its strength, The Last Circus Elephant hides among the trees.

Other little elephants seek their balance on bending branches. “An elephant is big and strong, but powerless against a gun. I want to show that vulnerability.”

Bohlmeijer enjoys working with the earthy material of clay. It is easy to shape and suits her intuitive way of working. Initially, she built her forms hollow, reducing the risk of cracks as the clay shrinks. But she also saw expressive possibilities in this ceramic technique. She plays with the hollow form and perforates its walls, creating an interaction with the surroundings. At a later stage, she kneads the volumes from soft clay to make them more organic, as in the Uproot series, while her recent Water Figures and elephants are modelled directly in clay. Whatever method she uses, there is always movement in space, growth in the broadest sense of the word.

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Her early works are abstract, such as Samenspraak (Dialogue) (1993) or Pas de Deux (1993), in which two opposing forms merge. One is stately and proud; the other has a flaring “skirt”. They are different, yet united in their movement. Despite the abstract form, it is easy to see a man and a woman in this work and to attribute human qualities to them. Hence the title Pas de Deux.

Encountering the spontaneity of her children strengthened her inclination to make associations. Her work became more playful, a development that began with A Star is Shining (1995). The twinkling light from these perforated wall lamps transforms a room into a starry sky.

Anne Berk, writer, curator,

Dutch coordinator of the European sculpture network

Openness as a State of Mind

The Playful Ceramics of Jacqueline Bohlmeijer

Its title is Growing 11, but contrary to what that might lead us to suspect, this ceramic sculpture is not about a realistic representation of a plant or a tree. Jacqueline Bohlmeijer's concern is the feeling, the emotion that a plant evokes in her. Full of wonder, she tells how a tree only grows on the outside. “The life is between the trunk and the bark.”

She is surprised by the unfathomability of growth, by the hollows and knots, by the twisting tentacles of young shoots that appear so unexpectedly. In Bohlmeijer’s sculpture, runners like these wave about in triumphal gestures or roll around as balled muscles, proud of the growing power with which they lay claim to their surroundings.

Other works are turned more inward. Verholen (Concealed) appears fragile to the eye, with its 'stem' opened out, revealing its shadowed interior. The dragging form, with its moss green colour, reminds me of the nymph, Echo, who pined away in the forest. As she mourned her unattainable love, her body dissolved and she lived henceforth only in the form of sound.

Tree, from 1999, absorbs its environment. Here, the extended splits are an invitation to come closer, to entrust long-concealed secrets to this “listening tree”.

Unlike the carved or modelled sculpture, ceramic sculpture is hollow. This has practical advantages, as the clay is less likely to crack as it dries, but Bohlmeijer has deliberately chosen the hollow form, taking full advantage of its expressive potential. By lifting forms up from the ground, or by working open the wall, so that an exchange takes place with the surrounding environment, in nearly all her work, Bohlmeijer strives for movement in space, for openness in the broadest sense of the word.

Her early works are abstract, such as Samenspraak (Dialogue) or Pas de Deux, in which two contrasting forms are forged together. The one is stately and proud, the other with a “skirt” that fans outward. They are different, yet united in their movement. Despite the abstract form, it is not difficult to recognize a “him” and “her” in the work and to attribute it with human qualities. Hence the title, Pas de Deux.

The confrontation with the uninhibited expressions of her children reinforced her associative inclinations. Her work became more playful, a development first seen in her series of small, perforated porcelain wall lamps, entitled A Star is Shining. For Bohlmeijer, openness is a state of mind, a way of life, a mentality, a means of working that offers space for spontaneous forays and incursions, but which also leaves the viewer free to fantasize.

Anne Berk

Corona, 2019

The invisible enemy of coronavirus brought home the fragility of life. During the first coronavirus lockdown, I also experienced an inner lockdown. Stress and uncertainty prevented me from carrying on with my usual work.

I almost always work with clay. The standstill created space to work with another material.

During this period, the willow trees were being pollarded, which prompted me to braid, weave and knot the willow rods.

The wonderful scent of the soaked branches and their strong, resilient texture gave me energy and peace in a time without direction.

Searching for order and coherence by weaving the irregular branches.

Working with this material, I once again felt at one with my surroundings and connected to nature, a feeling I had experienced particularly intensely in childhood.

I also worked with wood from a staghorn sumac that had been blown down in a summer storm.

By combining the willow rods with the tree, I gave direction to my desire to contribute something to a world in which so much is wasted and destroyed by people.

The works are largely made from recycled materials.