Addy Bloem, born in Wildervank, The Netherlands in 1941. Lives and works in Amsterdam. She took lessons in glazing techniques from Emmy van Deventer at the Rietveld Academy Amsterdam, attended symposia (Heusden, The Netherlands) and for the rest she is an autodidact. Her work is bought for private collections. The council of Amsterdam purchased some of her pieces. PriceWaterhouseCoopers commissioned her to create a vase, wich can be seen in their offices all over the world. For other clients she made ceramic art pieces as well. But the main part of her time she dedicates to her own free work. In addition to this she teaches ceramic courses.

‘I am intrigued by the passing of time and its visible evidence; iron that rusts, walls that crumble, stone that erodes. I want to show that something has lived and that it has left a trail that can be made visible, even tangible. I am very interested in the eternal changes that occur in this earth of ours. A fascinating part of that is the change from massive rock to soft pliable clay. This pliable clay with all its unique characteristics is the material, which gives form to my thoughts about the changes in society. By leaving out much of the external trimmings, my images try to get back to the heart of the matter – the essential elements. For this reason I use colour sparingly. In this way I hope to make the marks of our culture visible.’