Jenny Verplanke

Speaking without words, speaking silently

Jenny  Verplanke
My story, my background

As a teenager I was already painting and drawing, participating in art fairs. But my parents wouldn't let me go to art school. There's no life to be made from that. When I got married and had growing children, my husband encouraged me to go to the academy, even if it was at night. I took six years of painting and six years of ceramics. In 1989 I had my first solo exhibition, was selected in competitions and won a few prizes. Since then it has continued to develop systematically and for over 20 years we have been living from my art . Painting in mixed media, also called material painting, unique mixed media sculptures, rich in texture and bronze sculptures in limited edition.

As I have lived in Africa for many years, my sculptures are linked to this continent. They radiate pride and have a positive outlook on life: "I am here and I have the right to be here". 

I make sculptures and paintings, both still influenced by our five-year stay in Togo, West Africa, where we worked as volunteers. These paintings belong to material painting and are also called lyrical abstraction. The sculptures are modelled from an exclusive mixture of paper pulp and wood fibres with different types of glue kneaded into a malleable paste. The result is unbreakable but not suitable for outdoor use, which is why they are also cast in bronze.

The sculptures and paintings have their own story to tell, even if they do not speak.