Claudy Jongstra creates monumental work for Museum de Lakenhal
With the new artwork ‘Celebrate the Flavors of Wool’, Claudy Jongstra celebrates, as the title suggests, all the colors, smells and flavors that nature holds; the exuberant natural colors and materials, biodiversity and the social value of harvesting the dye plants together and processing the wool. The work is also a call for the textile industry to work according to a more diverse, inclusive and ecologically equitable model.
The acquisition of this work gives new impetus to the long-standing collaboration between Claudy Jongstra and Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden; the commission also celebrates the museum’s 150th anniversary today.
The six-by-1.40-metre work is handmade from felted Drentse heath sheep wool and Spanish merino wool, which was imported from Spain for cloth as early as the 17th century. The wool is coloured with natural dyes from the plant woad, madder, sunflowers and Coreopsis, among others. The exuberant horizontal patches of colour are interspersed with vertical patches in Jongstra’s famous, complexly obtainable Burgundian Black palette, which refers to the dark colours of the traditional Leiden Cloth. The contemporary social weave makes the connection between her own love of wool, knowledge of centuries-old techniques and crafts, and the past of the city of Leiden where the cloth industry flourished seven centuries ago.
Celebrate the Flavours of Wool is a follow-up to Jongstra’s major solo exhibition in 2020-2021. At the museum, she showed ‘Woven Skin’, ‘Cosmic Cry’ and ‘NINE’. The latter work is an impressive monumental weave of over a hundred square metres in shades of blue and black, referring to the colours of the Leiden Cloth.
Simultaneously, she then presented Nieuw Leids Laken #4 here. This woven fabric was used to create a contemporary kimono with floral and leaf patterns for the 150-year-old museum. This is part of LOADS Collection, the new ecological clothing and interior design brand by Claudy Jongstra and her son Jesk.
Celebrate the Flavours of Wool
Studio Claudy Jongstra, 2024
Materials: ecological wool from Drenste heath sheep, Spanish merino wool, organic silk, silk organza, hand-spun yarns.
Natural colours: woad, madder, sunflower, Coreopsis (Girl’s eyes), onion skin, walnut.
Techniques: felting, embroidery, weaving.
Dimensions: 6 X 1.40 m
Text: Viveka van de Vliet
Photgraphy: Patricia Nauta, Marcel van der Vlugt