Hinke Schreuder
Interview conducted by Sander Lindeke
z.t. (don't)
37,5 x 30,5 x 5,2 cm
How did you begin making art? Did drawing, writing, or needlework come first?
I guess drawing came first, since i used to make drawings a lot when I was in Art School, though I have been doing needlework since I was young and I have always felt very much at ease with it. By combining the two as i do now, sort of, I feel as if I have found the perfect match. The slowness of needlework keeps me from making hasty decisions like I tend to do make when drawing or painting. I feel in that sense this having to take time results in much more dense works.
Dog
32 x 32 x 5,5 cm
Could you describe your ideal work environment?
I tried having studio's outside of my house in the past, but i've always felt uncomfortable in them, the spaces were always cold, isolated and i like to have everything at hand. My ideal work environment is a homely and cosy one and so i work from home now, sitting curled up in a comfortable chair or on the carpet with my work spread around me. I also like it that I can do my work in front of the television at night, or take it with me on the train when I make trips.
Do you use any guideline drawings to assist in creating detailed embroidery or is it an improvisational process?
Yes, I do use a lot of existing pictures in my work. Most of the time I start with a photo of a person, generally a woman, and I often use selfportraits as a starting point. With carbon paper I transfer these pictures to my textile and embroider them. From there on it's an improvisional process of adding components that pop up in my mind while working, and these parts are often copied as well from images that i find on the internet, in books or in magazines.
Hours of Dark
40 x 30 x 5,5 cm
Your work often depicts women in a sexual and vulnerable manner, sometimes even showing women as the submissive in a sado-masochist relationship. Is this subject matter intended to emphasize one theme over another: love, femininity, power, pain, sexuality? As a female artist, what is your relationship to pleasure and pain?
Vulnerability versus power and virtuousness versus sexual freedom are key themes in my work. Though I'm not completely clear on why I use the subject matter - especially the sado-masochistic part is tricky to me - in as such my work is about love and pain as well, which in my opinion are very well mirrored in sexuality. If you want to really live life and love, you'll have to open up and commit and thus be vulnerable, which can cause pain. Maybe this is reflected in sexuality in a condensed manner, and physical pain can be part of that as well. My relationship to pain and pleasure in this way to me is quite personal, sometimes confusing and therefore easier to make art about then to talk about, but from the reactions I get concerning my work I suppose that it's universal at well.
hours of dark (2)
40 x 30 x 5,5 cm
What drew you away from your sketchbook and towards web design? What brought you back?
Actually I started a course in web design when, after graduating from Art School, I felt a little lost as an artist in the 'big bad world'. It seemed to give me a more stable position in society and a skill to make money more easily. From there I ended up in a day job as a web designer, which was quite nice at first, but after a few years I learned that I'm the kind of person who wants to be free to express personal fascinations and that being a designer was not going to do that for me. As a reaction to all the digital work I had done all those years, I gave up my job and returned to the hand craft. I do not feel like they were wasted years though, learning to work with the internet gave me a great tool for my art, since it is a great way to expose oneself.
littlegirls
37,5 x 29,5 x 5,5 cm
illiterate is currently exploring the theme Love to Hate/Hate to Love. How do either of those emotions play a part in your daily life?
Hmm, I'm not sure - it does not sound very familiar to me but i guess it does play a role in my life. Hate to love may be applicable to my not always being easy in relationships. When I am in one I tend to break up once in a while as a recurring event that finds it's origin in being afraid to surrender to the relationship. You might call that Hate to Love. And Love to Hate, sometimes it feels good to have someone, or a group of people, you don't like, it gives some air to always having to be considerate about everything - though hate is too big a word for that.
(all) my love
25 x 25 x 5,5 cm
Do you believe in soul-mates or anything close to it? Have you met that person?
I think I'm not a very romantic kind of person, and that the idea of soulmates seems a bit too idealistic to me. I would like to believe in them but guess I'm too much of a skeptic - or maybe too scared - to do so.
Do you have any mortal enemies? If not, would you like one?
I couldn't think of any mortal enemy I have, and don't see how it could make my life any better, so no, I would not like to have one. Though the art funds that didn't honour my applications have my eternal grudge :-)
z.t. (leaves III)
42 x 32 x 6 cm
My Mom is a member of a women's group, like many others in America, commonly referred to as "Stitch and Bitch." They gather to knit, vent and plot their takeover. Are you familiar with any similar traditions like this in the Netherlands? Does your personal relationship with needlework involve any elements of the social or cathartic?
Actually I recently joined a stitch-n-bitchy website, ravelry.com, and I think I'm a bit of an addict now. Within that community I lately had some Amsterdam knitting meetings, but to me it's more of a pastime thing than an art or work thing. As far as my art concerns, I have been thinking of turning it into social projects, especially when it comes to time consuming works, but I think as an artist I am more of a loner. And yes, partly that is because I do like the cathartic character of the endless hours of work my art tends to take.
What artists really do it for you right now?
Though at the moment I'm not really into other people's art, I've been a fan of Tracey Emin for years, and I guess i still am. I like the personal and radical way in which she works and I really envy her courage to do so. The French artist Sophie Calle intrigues me because of her conceptual but at the same time direct and down to earth works. Other favorites are Sam Taylor-Wood, Martin Creed, Anya Gallacio, painter Marlene Dumas and the legendary Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader.
.jpg "Ryan Riss | November 4 - October 28, 2011")
