Biografie Kunstenares Marjolein Kruijt

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Marjolein Kruijt was born in 1976 and received her teachers degree in arts in 1997 in Amsterdam and graduated in 1999 from the Royal Art Academy in the Hague.
After several years as an art teacher on various high schools she decided in 2001, to work as a full time artist to fully concentrate on her arts, with much success. Kruijt's art is regularly published in various (inter)national art-magazines, and she writes articles for dutch art-magazine 'Atelier'.
She's very passionate and totally dedicated to her inspirations: nature and animals.
After her television appearance on an animal television program 'Dierenzo', where she showed her painting skills live, the demand for Marjoleins work is great in The Netherlands. Her work can also be found in collections in Belgium, England, France, USA, Australia and Sweden. Iformation about her media-projects and development in her arts can be found below.
Member of: "Artists for Nature", NJ, USA. Supporting Nature through art.

Sites: www.marjoleinkruijt.nl and www.dierportretten.nl

Member of: (USA)

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Inspiration:

The English landscape, as seen in Dartmoor, North-Yorkshire, the French Jura, ireland and Scotland but also beautiful areas in the Netherlands, like Drenthe, have been an inspiration for the paintings shown on this site. The 'natur-al' wisdom is for Marjolein close to her heart. Celtic music gives sound to this wisdom, to which she listens during painting, to strengthen this connection. All paintings carry a symbolic element as a reflection of her spiritual growth. In her arts this silence meets the vitality/dynamics of nature. Each painting is a captured moment in which you encounter the soul of the subject.

"As long as I can remember I'm inspired by the mystic side of nature. The powerful presence of all elements, the trees, rocks overgrown with moss, stonecircles, mountains, waterfalls, misty valleys. They have all been silent witnesses for centuries of everything between heaven and earth. They tell the stories of forgotten memories. Inspired by this beauty I try to capture her timelessness, light, memory and recognition, silence and hope . An encounter between the mystic old way and spirituality, which surpasses the beauty of nature.

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Media:
2001: television program 'Spott' on RTL4 of Viola Holt, theme of her arts was muralmaking.
2003: television program"Dier enzo!" on RTL4: she made a live portrait of presenter Mike Starinks dog.
2004: catfood brand Gourmet Gold assigned thirty portraits for the winners of a contest.
2005: television program 'Vernis' on TvWest South Holland: she talked about her vision on nature and her nature art. The presenters were given a small workshop in treedrawing.

2006/2007: Cat art manifestation & CATS the musical.
A catpainting made by Marjolein was signed by the cast of musical Cats. This paintings was succesfully auctioned on stage of the theater in 2007. The complete profit went to the animal protection society in Amsterdam.

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	Commissions: Mural making and portraiture are a big part of her artistic living since 1997. The themes of landscapes and animals are very close to her own arts, this is why she doesn't experience commissions as much as ' doing something aside'. The diversity of them gives her the opportunity to deepen her knowledge of each subject as well as in the chosen materials and techniques. Due to the diversity of projects coming her way, (big) assignments are usually on hold for a year. There is a waitinglist of 2 to 4 months on portraits, depending on size and technique. In 2007 she was assigned to make a painting for the Sultan of Oman.
______________________________________________________________________ Development in painting: (same dates in the gallery)
	1997: Music paintings Shows the paintings made during her graduation, theme "music". She painted while listening to classical music like Saint Saëns and Debussy. Without any pre-set designs, she worked directly on canvas, starting out painting abstract, following the movements of the music. This series is followed by *Celtic music* by Loreena McKennitt. It is then, that the landscape introduces "itself" in her arts: connected to the music her work becomes more spatial and closer by; the world/nature around her. Although she doesn't work on the music series anymore, music is still very important during the painting process. Most the music-paintings have been sold.
	1999> Lithography graduation paintings On the Royal Art academy Marjolein dedicated herself to lithography. In her opinion the only graphic technique which is close to painting. During her graduation she got her inspiration from the park "Zorgvliet" in the Hague. The result was a series of large stoneprints sized 70x100 cm big (the stone had the same size) in a series of 25. A couple of these can only be seen only through this link: litho's. The colour lithographs are more of orientative nature, using the celtic symbolism and celtic music, in 1998.
	2000-2005> The works made after her graduation show the *mystic landscapes,* excluding the Celtic symbols. Refining her impressionistic style in oils. She travels frequently to refill her inspiration, working on location and making lots of photographs as a backup. Marjolein worked ao. in england/dartmoor, ireland, schotland, the french jura and britanny/carnac and Costa Rica.
	2006> A small series of *landscapes inspired by Drenthe*, an area in her home country. This area is filled with hunebedden (kind of piled dolmens) and foggy heath fields.
	2006>2007 A series of watercolours and drawings with the theme "trees". In autumn 2006 a small selection was exhibited in gallery "Kunstzaal van Heijningen" on Noordeinde in The Hague. Later followed by an exhibition in the Dartmoor galleries, Devonshire, Engeland.
	2007>2008 Specialisation in *wildlife art*, wild animals in art. The inspiration of Marjoleins landscapes and animals come together. Three new collections have been shown through various galleries.

Member of (USA):