Open Atelier Route IJburg 2026

Every two years, around the end of May, artists in IJburg open their doors to the audience and make it a true celebration of art and the love for it. I want to invite you all to visit my studio at the, if not the loveliest, sure the most loving, creative hot hub in IJburg, Lola Lokaal. 

After a year owning my own studio space, and having the luxury of having it so close to home, I can say it with a certainty of its positive effect on my creativity, my mental state, and all in all productivity. But the biggest gift it offers is a space for all those differently creative people, all wired in their unique way, to come together with a vision of community work and social connection. We have organized culture festivals, cooked and made art together, shared stories, and provided a listening ear. Even just check up the vibe, I would highly recommend you drop by and have a casual walk around. 8 artists from our community will open their studios for the visitors, and our non-artist community members have also rallied up to prepare a food and drink stand, a real party!

I have been working on a new series of artworks related to motherhood, and trying to deliver it in a most brutally direct way - maybe not the style, I still am an unrepentant lover of craft and fine finish – but let’s put it this way, quite on your face. So much so that I think it might not be allowed on social media, so you would have to come to see them in person. As always, participants will submit one piece to Factor-IJ, which serves as a starting point, and think of it as a sampling stand in the market, so you know where you want to pay your visit. I have left a very personal piece there at FactorIJ, really curious about your take on it, and even better, your story that is called up by it.

I will also display a series of paintings with sunflowers, which is my origin story of becoming an artist.  Since I have just varnished some of the oil pieces, they are finally officially done and meet the world for the first time. Furthermore, I will display a few of the illustrations I made for our Shut up & Write festival booklet.  

This is not the first time I participated in the atelier route, but this time it feels very different from the first time, when I basically set up the exhibition space at the greenhouse in my garden community - still think it was a beautiful setup though, just that I really didn’t think it through about the weather. It rained almost the whole weekend, which is miserable to be in a greenhouse out in the garden, then when it finally became sunny, it was unbearably warm! Let’s see what kind of weather it will bring us this time! At the worst, I will be at one of my happiest places in the world, making art or writing my book! I will be just fine!

Wow, what a journey I have made to come to this point in my life!