Claudy Jongstra
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). Shepherd's Touch, Textiel Museum Tilburg, Wool, silk, cotton and linen, Woad, indigo and madder; Photography by Josefina Eikenaarclaudy jongstra
Artist Claudy Jongstra has a knack for transforming ancient techniques into modern marvels. Known for her monumental textile artworks and architectural installations, Jongstra turns to traditional methods of wool felting and plant-based dyeing to bring her vibrant pieces to life.
Jongstra’s oeuvre, often installed in large public spaces, is represented within many international museums and institutions as well as private and corporate collections. In 2001, the artist established her studio in Friesland, a rural northern province of The Netherlands, where she also developed a biodynamic farm at De Kreake in Húns with partner Claudia Busson, cultivating dyers plants and collecting generic seed for future propagation. Jongstra sources wool, her primary artistic medium, from a local flock of rare, indigenous Drenthe Heath sheep. Through her radical soil-to-soil philosophy, no-waste approach, and inclusive way of collaborating, Jongstra creates in a way that gives back to her community—and the environment.
Holistic production cycles bring living material narratives to light. In this way, materials become journalistic expressions of their own evolution.
Reintroducing rarefied haptic experiences, Jongstra's artworks provide humble encounters with natural materials and processes to foster an empathetic connection with the natural world.
“For a long time, I have been called a ‘wool artist’—a nice name, sweet, non-threatening. But it is also bullshit. I am an activist. I want to encourage people to take action.”