Valesca van Waveren lives in Amsterdam with her husband, son and cat Momo. Every day she bicycles or walks to her studio, where she makes her delightfully colorful illustrations. She also makes ceramic works – a medium she discovered two years ago and has become a big passion. Valesca will be giving us a peek behind the scenes of her work and life.
Hello dear Flow blog readers,
The illustrations that I make for magazines tell a story. They are actually meant as a solution to a communication problem. You need to tell the reader what the text is about in a picture. Again and again I love puzzling my way to the best solution and to get the readers involved.
I started drawing and creating long ago simply because I enjoyed it. Once it becomes your work something changes. And that’s why I got to a place where I wanted to make something in a new way again. Something for myself that doesn’t have to be communicative or necessarily beautiful, and not ready at a specific time. A time for discovery without deadlines.
I am very glad that I started a ceramics course at the local ceramics center Keramiek Centrum Amsterdam. I started by making little hangers with faces, because I wanted to make something cheerful. Then I began making small pots, vases and cups.
Working with clay and slowly creating something is a wonderfully meditative thing for me. You are holding an object in your hands and for a few hours that is the only thing you are doing. It is a great way to calm down. Sometimes I work on one project for a few months. It has to dry a long time before it can go in the oven and it has to be fired several times. The moment one of your objects comes out of the oven is always a surprise.
I go to my class every Friday. It’s really fun. It’s nice to be making things with the other people in class, sometimes silently, sometimes accompanied by good or crazy conversations.
Here are a few urls showing my ceramics and those of others:
Valescavanwaveren.com/ceramics
Etsy.com/nl/shop/valescavanwaveren
Society6.com/valescavanwaveren
Pinterest.com/valescawaveren/ceramics (fantastic ceramic pins to gain inspiration from)
Keramiek-centrum.nl (there is a waiting list, but if you live near Amsterdam…?)
Next week:
Do you also get so annoyed with all the different bottles and brands in your bathroom (shower gel, shampoo, conditioner)? I have a solution…
Until then!
Valesca
