Jeff van den Broeck, a studio potter in Baguio, opened “Clay Art,” a pottery and clay monoprint exhibition at the Sepia Gallery, Bencab Museum.
Clay Art is van den Broeck’s fifth solo exhibition.
He has exhibited in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
In the Philippines, he has held solo exhibitions and joined group shows in Baguio, Antipolo, and Makati.
Clay Art is the first clay monoprint exhibition in the Philippines.
It is also Jeff’s first simultaneous exhibition of his pottery and clay monoprints.
Van den Broeck’s stoneware pottery convey a classical quality but have a contemporary edge created by a masterful combination of art and science; of fine art and the potter’s craft.
Functionality takes precedence in his works yet his utilitarian pots also happen to be expressive (fine art) pots.
Clay monoprints are produced from the surface of a damp slab of clay set onto a wood frame upon which multiple layers of colored clay slips are applied.
Working in clay allows the artist to brush, carve, imprint, and manipulate both the slips and the clay matrix.
As the process is repeated, overlapping layers, designs, and colors create a unique original image.
When an image is completed, the design is hand-pressed and transferred onto a special absorbent paper.
A thin layer of colored clays forms part of the finished work, giving it some very unique textural qualities.
While the clay slab matrix can be reused, it will not produce an identical result since the image automatically changes as the colored clay slip pulls off. Thus, each print pulled from the same slab of clay is an original monoprint, each piece different and unique.
This printing technique was developed in 1968 by Mitch Lyons, an American potter and printmaker.
Van den Broeck works on his stoneware pottery and clay prints at his studio-residence in Baguio City.
Born in Vosselaar, Belgium, he moved to this city with wife Angela and son Carlo in 1997.
Years before that, he was a journalist in Belgium and a senior official of the European Union.
He holds an M.A. in Political and Social Sciences from the University of Leuven and studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and the Higher Institute for Visual Arts in Anderlecht, Brussels.
BenCab Museum is at Km. 6 Asin Road, Tuba, Metro Baguio and is open Tuesday to Sunday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closed Mondays.
For details, call 442-7165 or 0920-530-1954 and 0915-1286393, email [email protected], or visit www.bencabmuseum.org. – Press release
April 20, 2024
