Baie welkom -Welcome - Wamikele

Below you will find a short introduction to who I am as a person and a artist.

The person.
I was born in Kimberley South Africa on the 17th of February 1955 from Dutch emigrants. Ever since I can remember I wanted to be an artist but was told by my parents (especially my father who was a technical man) I must first get a “trade” or go to university. I finished technical school in 1973, did my year in the army for the obligatory national service and then went into several different professions to eventually start up my own business in the early eighty’s. To cut a long and boring story short in 1993 my family and myself moved to the Netherlands as the future of South Africa at that time was uncertain and we were offered to take over my wife’s family business. Within a couple of years I started painting again. Except for my photography I had always been very active in designing all sorts of interior requirements (even a complete house just before we left South Africa). In the late nineties I decided to try my hand at sculpting and within days of starting the process knew that this was who I am supposed to be. Within a year of my starting sculpting I had several exhibitions and within two years exhibited internationally. This was kept up to about 2005 when I started a new business in travel to South Africa. Up to 2008 I still exhibited but it continued to be less and less every year. Due to requests for more information about my country of birth and questions where I got my inspiration from I had by chance started a bespoke travel business to assist travelers to visit Southern Africa in a different way most companies were and still are offering.
As entrepreneur I had to concentrate on a growing business and had very little time for art. Due to the work pressure we even sold the family business we took over when we came to the Netherlands in 2009. I even stepped out of the local Art association I was founder member of for a couple of years. Fortunately I was in a position to express creative self in other ways and every now and then got a little time of whilst travelling which I spent sculpting at a friend’s place in the Namibian desert. The business has since grown and also supports special projects from time to time.
Fortunately things changed in the second half of 2010 and I have increasingly more time for my art again.
The artist.
Basically having grown up in a vary arid and sparsely populated region of Africa I have always looked at the world in a very specific manner. To me shape and naturally formed objects plus the texture you find in these situations are paramount to my perception. Colour and the emotions, feelings or sensations connected to them blend in with the world of shape and texture so completing the picture. Basic organic shapes like stone sculpted by eons of wind or other natural forces or the beautiful and sometimes mysterious curves of the female body will never fail to inspire me. The desert and its multitude of colour and textures have a almost hypnotic spell over me and will never cease to amaze me thus always giving me loads of pleasure and inspiration. Interested in a short list of galleries and exhibitions where my work has been shown click here.

Dit is wie ek is en dit is wat ek doen,
vat my soos dit of los my en doen jou eie ding!

The Desiterata is probably the closest I can come to a code of conduct which I feel guides me in all things I do

Desiterata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Short list Galleries and Exhibitons

Studio Clive Miller, Meppel
Gal. Bakker, Wapserveen
De Tippe, Vledder
de Zonnebloem, Elsloo
New Greenwich Village, Zuidwolde
On Line, Southampton, (UK)
Expositie DEMI S.E.C. Steenwijk
Bos Fine art, Lelystad
De langse Enk, Lochem
Gal. Wind, Soest
Gal. Bon Ton, Helmond
Gal. Pronkoamer, Saaxumhuizen.
Gal. Plett, Zeist
De Secretarie , Meppel
The Gallery, Tunbridge Wells (UK)
East House, Petworth (UK)
Kunstuitleen, Steenwijk
Leeuwenhorst conf. centrum.Noordwijkrht
Galerie Mas, Kalmhout (België)
Kunstzaal ‘de hoge hees’ Eersel
de Brockenmaeker, Steenwijk Maltby
Contemporary Art, Winchester (UK)
Barry Keene Gallery, Henley on Thames (UK)

"Enjoy the art of living"

Atelier de Brockenmaeker - Afrika Living design & lifestyle
Korte Woldpromenade 14 – 8331JK Steenwijk
Registration nr. 05025952 te Zwolle