TAWA at 45
The Exhibition
Hanneke de Neve
Uncertain Times
oil, 2020; 42″h x 30″w
Hanneke de Neve’s (hannekedeneveart.com) four years at the Art Academy in Tilburg, The Netherlands was a wonderful experience. There she received an MS in art history and fashion design. After that she received a degree to become an art teacher. She taught until two sons were born. In 1974 she and her family immigrated to the US, and a third son was born. She was quite busy, and it took a little while to get used to living in the US. She feels so lucky to meet neighbors and new friends. Because she was totally occupied with her three sons she started to work with fabric, hence her fiber art. She became involved with the Princeton Art Association, at Ettl Farm. Slowly she was getting exhibits with her fiber art. Then in 1979 a friend showed her how to create monotypes without a press. Afterwards she did get a press and took etching and other printing classes. When the boys were in school, she worked on her etchings and monotypes. At night she would plan new appliques. These are really pieces, as in a painting, but using all sorts of fabrics. Once, she gave a doctor an etching and CJ Mugavero, owner of the Artful Deposit, saw her work hanging in his office and the next day she called de Neve and to this day CJ represents my work. From then on, she has had many exhibits, some very successful. She began doing street shows in New York and Philadelphia. In the meantime, she also did a few shows in Rotterdam, Antwerp, and in the little village where she was born. She has been working hard and as the saying goes, “the best is yet to come”! Her work is sometimes abstract. Very often she uses faces, people in landscapes surrounded by nature. She is still experimenting.
“All my art is an effort to show my love for people, beauty, and life itself. Work as a means of living, living with work, and making a living with my work … this occupies all my time.”