In the run-up to the 25th anniversary of De Veldkeuken, Claudy Jongstra has created three wool felted artworks entitled 'Series of stins', commissioned by Juliette Borggreve and René van der Veer. The triptych, which will be unveiled on Saturday 10 June, is inspired by the Amelisweerd and Rhijnauwen estate's surroundings with its unique riverine forest, meandering water and unusual stint plants. Those who will soon be having lunch, dinner or coffee at the restaurant will be surrounded by Claudy Jongstra's natural landscapes. Harvest 1 is the title of the monumental, wool-felted artwork (4.50 by 2.50 m) that enriches an entire wall and is about the autumn harvest and the warm glow of the autumn sun. The wool is dyed with biodynamic woad, weld and madder, dye plants that come partly from her own botanical garden in Friesland and partly from the estate's garden. On the opposite wall hangs Livelyness of Water (2.30 x 2 m) inspired by the water of the meandering Kromme Rijn river and coloured with woad, walnut and special Burgundian Black. The third work Sacred Soil (2.30 X 2 m), will be installed during the anniversary in 2024.
With Series of Stins, Claudy Jongstra is back where she started after 30 years of being an artist. In 1995, after studying Fashion at the Hogeschool voor de Kunst in Utrecht (HKU), she worked as a volunteer in the garden of Amelis'Hof on the Oud Amelisweerd estate and had her first flock of seven Drenthe Heath Sheep grazing here. Using the wool from these sheep at the time, Jongstra made her first works of art, which soon found their way into international museum, corporate and private collections. From Friesland, she still makes her monumental artworks from this special wool and also her mission remains unchanged: to put the qualitative material wool - still considered waste - back on the map.
