Blue Gold

Claudy Jongstra and Odin farm De Beersche Hoeve are bringing the natural dye plant woad back to the field, in art and in fashion. The plant that grew on our fields during the time of the Dutch masters is the raw material for the vibrant deep blue color that made painters such as Vermeer and Van Gogh famous.

Last summer, for the first time in a hundred years, Studio Claudy Jongstra, together with this biodynamic farm, started growing woad on a larger scale. With scientists, artists and the farmers of De Beersche Hoeve, she reconstructed the old traditional method of extracting this 'blue gold' from woad leaves and harvested and processed the plants. Studio Claudy Jongstra uses the dye in her artworks and installations. The beautiful video 'Blue Gold' by filmmaker Marit Geluk shows the process.

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Shepherd's Touch, To Dye For Exhibition, Textiel Museum Tilburg

Created in 2022 as part of the group exhibition 'To Dye For' at the Textiel Museum in Tilburg, Shepherd's Touch is Claudy Jongstra's first ever woven artwork. The work was inspired by a 2,800-year-old fabric recently found in an Iron Age burial site unearthed in Noord-Brabant (the south of The Netherlands). Scientists discovered a houndstooth pattern in the fabric, thought to be one of the oldest woven patterns. Natural dyeing was paramount to the development of the work. Throughout the process, Jongstra consulted the archive of the TextielMuseum and reconstructed various historical dye recipes dating from 1800 to 1850. As a result, Jongstra managed to create a range of blue tones by dyeing the fabric with natural pigments such as woad, indigo and madder.

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Shepherd's Touch
Textiel Museum Tilburg
Wool, silk, cotton and linen
Woad, indigo and madder
Photography by: Josefina Eikenaar
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Deutsche Stadtsparkasse Bocholt

When developing Crossings”, a large-scale diptych for the main hall of Stadtsparkasse Bocholt new headquarters in Bocholt, Germany, Claudy Jongstra drew inspiration from the metaphor of “weaving a social fabric.” Initiating collaborations with a network of local farmers to grow natural dye plants—weld (Reseda luteola), calendula (Calendula officinalis) and dyers chamomile (Cota tinctoria)—that form the basis of the artwork’s colour palette, Jongstra also sourced wool from a local herd of Merino sheep. 

In this way, the making processes of “Crossings” actively engaged the community and local landscape. Now open to the public, the artworks will continue to cultivate connection amongst the people who enter the space of the main hall. 

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Stadtsparkasse Bocholt
Photography by Jeroen Musch
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Atelier Talks II

In the summer of 2021 at the event of Claudy Jongstra’s first solo exhibition at Galerie Fontana in Amsterdam a series of interviews was initiated about the materials and processes involved to create her works of art. In Atelier Talks II Joris Montens tells us about the Fontana’s match with the artist Claudy Jongstra. In front of the large art piece ‘Charleston Farmhouse’ Jongstra explains which pigment plants were used to obtain the palette of colours and talks to Joris Montens about future plans. Suzanna de Sitter interviews Claudia Busson, Jongstra’s partner and master gardener of their biodynamic farm in Húns, Friesland, where many of the dye plants are propagated.

Film by Lourens Lente. Sound by Kay van Vree.

 Atelier Talks I can be viewed here.

 

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Atelier Talks II
In conversation with Suzanna de Sitter and Joris Montens
In collaboration with Galerie Fontana
Film by Lourens Lente / Sound by Kay van Vree
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Triodos Bank, Zeist

In 2006 Claudy Jongstra was commissioned to create a two part mural for the boardroom of the headquarters of Triodos Bank in Zeist, The Netherlands. The theme of the art piece is the power of healthy growth depicted in budding blossom bursting with vitality as well as the sustaining force of intertwined harmonious collaboration. Mainly felted in a natural white wool the branches and emerging buds are emphasized in elaborate hand embroidery in naturally dyed silk spun yarns in pink and golden hues. As Triodos Bank is leaving this building at the end of 2021 the mural will be carefully transported and installed in a new location in one of the international branches of Triodos Bank in Europe.

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Triodos Bank Netherlands
Photos by Jeroen Musch
Two part mural
Drenthe Heath wool, silk
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Triptych, Private Residence

A triptych, 6.7 by 2 meters, made especially for a private residence in The Netherlands. The impressive space is in a former theatre that has been redesigned into a home by Just Haasnoot, a longtime collaborator of the studio.

Inside the large living room, the work embodies the human aspect and natural quality of sustainable art. Its presence and organic coloring exude warmth and unify the scale of the interior. 

Materials include: Drenthe Heath Sheep wool, Merino wool, Tussah silk, mulberry silk, indigo, woad, madder, weld, onion skin, walnut.

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Photos taken by Pim Top
Collaboration with Just Haasnoot
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Sies Marjan F/W 2020

Claudy Jongstra created three looks for Sies Marjan's Fall/Winter 2020 collection.
Incorporating a limited-edition color of our Drenthe Heath in collaboration with textile design studio Maharam, in honour of Guggenheim's late exhibition 'Countryside, The Future' focused on Ditch architect Rem Koolhaas' study of shifting rural landsapes.

 Photos respectively taken by Nina Westervelt, Esther Faciane and courtesy of Maharam.

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Sies Marjan
Rem Koolhaas
Drenthe Heath
Photos respectively taken by Nina Westervelt, Esther Faciane and courtesy of Maharam.
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Golden Glow of Truth, Private Residence, Amsterdam

Featured in Atelier Talks I, Golden Glow of Truth is situated in the heart of a private home in Amsterdam. The artwork’s golden palette represents generosity and warmth as well as integrity and truth, which also references the special history of this house as the place where the Parool newspaper was founded.  

In Atelier Talks I, artist and activist Claudy Jongstra invites you behind the scenes in her atelier in Friesland, The Netherlands, providing insights into her working processes, natural materials and the values that shape her radical artworks. Through making—from plant to colour and fiber to composition—to installation, the film traces the index of this new work of art, Golden Glow of Truth by Claudy Jongstra.

Atelier Talks I presented in collaboration with Galerie Fontana

Film by Lourens Lente. Sound by Kay van Vree


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Golden Glow of Truth
Private Residence, Amsterdam with Gallery Fontana
3,80 x 2,50 m (organic shape)
Materials: Drenthe Heath wool, Merino wool, mohair, mulberry silk, tussah silk, embroidered with handspun yarns
Pigments: weld, walnut, chamomile, onion
Photography by Bas de Jager / Beeldpakket (Courtesy of Galerie Fontana)
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Bay Leaf, Private Residence, Amsterdam

The legacy of the bay laurel (Laurus nobilis) as a symbol of wisdom and honor has ancient roots—from Daphne and Apollo to the bay leaf crowns worn by distinguished athletes, poets and scholars. In combination with its natural healing properties, the highly esteemed bay laurel has also been used for protection against diseases as well as natural and man-made disasters. The qualities and colours of the bay leaf as a 'virtuous guardian' are the inspiration behind this artwork for a private home in Amsterdam.

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Bay Leaf
Private Residence, Amsterdam with Gallery Fontana
2,35 x 1,15 m
Materials: Drenthe Heath wool, Merino wool, mohair, mulberry silk, tussah silk, silk organza, embroidered with handspun yarns
Pigments: indigo, bay leaf, walnut, onion, mint
Photography by Bas de Jager / Beeldpakket (Courtesy of Galerie Fontana)
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Atelier Talks I

Atelier Talks I - Claudy Jongstra in conversation with Suzanna De Sitter at Studio Claudy Jongstra in Friesland, The Netherlands. Created in collaboration with Galerie Fontana for the exhibition Connecting with Claudy - A Tribute to the Bloomsbury Group presented Saturday 29 May through Saturday 10 July 2021 at Galerie Fontana in Amsterdam. Film by Lourens Lente. Sound by Kay van Vree.

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Atelier Talks I
Claudy Jongstra in conversation with Suzanna De Sitter
Created in collaboration with Galerie Fontana
Film by Lourens Lente / Sound by Kay van Vree
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