Art with Natural Materials : Marian Bijlenga

I have a passion for art made with natural materials – the more unusual the better. So I was thrilled to come across Marian Bijlenga’s flickr photostream.  I was already aware of Marian’s beautiful stitched work incorporating horsehair

But what I really love is her more recent work using fish scales

It is such an unusual and beautiful material – so delicate and translucent, and I love the way the shadows become part of the work.  Marian says “For me transparency is a pre-requisite.  By leaving some space between the structure and the wall the object is freed from its background and interacts with the white wall. It becomes what I call a ‘spatial drawing’.”

(Art Textiles of the World : The Netherlands ed. Dery Timmer pub. Telos Art Publishing)

Do take the time to go and look through her flickr photostream – it is wonderful!