Photography has been one of my favorite things for a long time. I've never taken it very seriously. And I will do that from now on. Last year I took the short course in Analog Photography and Darkroom at the SKVR and this year I will start a course at the Fotoacademie in Amsterdam. And of course I will post pictures here!

A few months ago I was asked - alongside approximately 300 other artists from all over the world - to create a work for the Glasgow Children's Hospital 33rpm auction. Of course you wouldn't say no to that!

I received a blank 33 inch album sleeve on which I made my design and didn't have to think long about the design. Because who else than a great artist do you portray on an album cover? I therefore chose an artist who had been on my list of artists to depict for some time, namely PJ Harvey. For the design I combined linoleum print and spray paint.

The auction starts on October 25, 2023 and you can view the works from Monday, October 23. 

27th of april is Kingsday in the Netherlands and Hotel New York organized a huge Kingsday party (or in Dutch: Oranjefeest). PONK and I were asked to make a painting in this theme and who else than King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima could we portray!

The canvas was huge: 2,5 by 2,5 m and we made it in nine pieces which were glued together for the party ánd the auction. We couldn't be more happy with SKVR who placed the winning bid and where the painting will be hung!  And with the proceeds of the auction which will be fully donated to Roparun. 

In case you're interested in the making of this painting: check this reel we made on Instagram! 

For a while I wanted to focus on giving workshops. At first I was mainly thinking of giving stencil art workshops, but the possibility to give a screen printing workshop presented itself earlier.
First of all there was 'Class of experiences' by planga for the streets (P4TS), an event in collaboration with Urban culture center Quardin, Hogeschool Rotterdam, Mesh print club and Municipality of Rotterdam. Its third edition took place on March 19, 2023.

With this initiative, P4TS wants to reach young people and inspire them to work on their dreams. They did this by following masterclasses and workshops on the themes of music, videography, photography and fashion.
Within the latter theme, six young people received a screen printing workshop from me at Mesh Print Club. They designed their own logo and printed it on a t-shirt. The shirts are incredibly well designed and printed and with that my first workshop was a fact!

A second workshop soon followed: 20 girls printed their own design on a shirt and bag. I've got the taste now. So if you are interested in making and printing your own design: let me know!

Yesterday I visited the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. It was the last weekend of the exposition 'Golden boy' about the work of Gustav Klimt: "Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) is one of the most fascinating artists of western art history. He is world-famous for his golden and decorative paintings and his portraits of strong women. But who was this ‘golden boy’, and what is the story behind his talent? You perhaps know Klimt’s work, but have you actually seen it?"

Due to the fact that this was the last weekend of both the exhibition and the Christmas holidays, it was very busy in the museum. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the work of Gustav Klimt and the exhibition. The nice thing about this exhibition was that it showed who inspired Gustav Klimt and how this was reflected in his work. That is why works by Van Gogh, Matisse, Rodin and my all-time favorite Kees van Dongen were also exhibited. Klimt was inspired by them and I in turn was inspired by Klimt! 

People of Print wrote an article about me and my work. 

HollyHock is the pseudonym of screenprinter and stencil artist Mirjam Wagensveld. She started with stencil art approximately 8 years ago after discovering street art. Mirjam tells us; “I wanted to be able to make that kind of art myself so I watched a lot of youtube tutorials and practiced a lot. However I found that I couldn’t make anything I wanted with that technique (I love the use of halftones for example) and I wanted to make editions (at least more than one). I then discovered screenprinting!”

You can read the whole article here.