Biography Remi A. Kruizinga
Stolwijk, The Netherlands, February 2007
Born in The Hague, The Netherlands, March 1953.

From my early boyhood on there were many people around to stimulate further development of my inborn creative sense: the drawing masters of the primary and secondary school, my grandparents and an aunt from father's side, and my father who dealt with advertising and public relations in several multinationals and as such, in order to achieve his promotional vehicles, worked closely together with advertising agencies, photographers, filmproducers, architects, building and exhibition constructors, graphic designers, printers, etcetera. Later-on he brought me into operative meetings and occasionally I was called-in as a jack-of-all-trades in photographic sessions, stand-building and the like.

During my secondary education I invested much energy into the creative branch: in the basement of the parental home I had a small studio of my own where I spent many hours, for example, experimenting with water-, ink-, and oil colours, pencil, chalk and charcoal, combined techniques, soldering and enamelling and three-dimensional design. Because at that time I had a free-lance job with an outfit of exhibition constructors, I picked up quite some experience in spacial design, interior decoration, and handling wood and metals.

After secondary school I was an occupational therapist for a while and in the evenings I attended the lectures at the Academy for Arts in Rotterdam. There I won the necessary basic of things like general schooling and history of art, and learned to be master of many different creative techniques. From this process my personal artistic preferences and strong points emerged. In this period my activities included modelling, mould making, casting, anatomy with the aid of models, sketching, drawing, painting and setting-up spacial plastics. In the end I chose for sculpture and by now I still favour this form of art next to spacial design and the various drawing techniques.

Because at that time the trade of a sculptor appeared rather uncertain to me, I deliberately chose a career in a profession related to creative arts. So I joined a photolithographic enterprise in The Hague and combined this job with evening classes at the Academy and training courses at the schools for Graphic Arts in Utrecht and Rotterdam. After completion of these studies I ended up in the industrial business as an all-round graphic arts specialist of the department that runs the entire graphic production range within the company. Using Apple Macintosh computers I completed the transfer of this operation into a fully automated digital Pre-press process in 1990, but I am still taking several courses on hardware and software to keep in pace with the fast progress in this domain. It's amazing to see what can be done with this equipment in the field, of, say, lay-out, design, drawing, manipulating illustrations, multi-media, internet, etc.

However, blood is thicker than water, and sculpture did not cease to draw my interest and desire. Early 1998, by strange coincidence, I came into connection with the World Art Foundation "Tem Veyne" in Eerbeek, Netherlands, where I was strongly attracted by the working method of its leader Norbert Simons. At his estate/farmhouse/gallery he was running workshops guided by African sculptors who are using rock from their native country Zimbabwe as they initiate the European workshop-attendents into the art of sculpture. They do so in there own inborn style at an ideal site, located in a sedative and delightful environment which was an enhancement of inspiration itself. My joining such a workshop for four consecutive days in the summer of 1998 turned out to be the beginning of a new and perpetual era of active sculpturing.

In 1998 I started working parttime instead of fulltime as a Graphic Artist so I could spend more time as a sculptor. In 2003 I decided to spend all my time working for my own company. Sculpting and giving workshops intuitive sculpture became more and more important to me. Next to this I am, mainly in winter and between things, still working as a Graphic Artist on a regular basis.

Within the World Art Foundation Norbert Simons organized the "Sculpture Group" early 1999, uniting a number of semi-professionals and professionals-to-be. As a member of this group I participated in several workshops that summer, making five sculptures to be presented at the group's exhibition at the end of that year. In the beginning of 2001 the "Artist Group" is generated out of the Sculpture Group, at he moment I am the chairman of this group.

During such a workshop on location I usually select a suitable stone, the stone will tell me what is hidden inside and will tell me what to do, so I just have to "peel" it. In-between two workshops I do the finishing at home in my private studio. For the creative process of sculpture it is of great importance to get acquainted with the various sorts of stones you are working with, getting to know their characteristics such as hardness, colours, and their comportment under treatment with hammer and chisel, when sourced, polished, waxed, ect. Such experience, the true handicraft, makes your really feel what you're doing.

I like balance and counterpoise, sharp and at the same time smooth lines and shapes, symmetry contradicting itself, softness and harshness interacting, strong contrast versus feeble mergers. It all depends!

My further tempts:
travelling Down Under, driving car and motorbike, (graphic) art, industrial and architectural design, exhibitions, culture, reading, people, cooking and good meals, working in and around the house.