Lieve Smets
It is with great joy that we welcome Lieve Smets to our team of instructor lace artists.
In my work lace is a metaphor for transience and fragility. The more holes a material gets, the more it touches the essence of lace, namely transparency. Iron with rust holes is less than the object it once was, but also more. Forms that were not there arise. Textiles can be luxurious, but also worn-out. This gives it an extra meaning. After all, there is a story attached to it; it has 'lived'.
Lieve's quietly unassuming and delicate art lace shows an interest in the aesthetics of decay, which she uses to elaborate on repeating themes of memory, loss, the body, and nature. It is her acute awareness of how materials, techniques, concept and intention are interwoven that put her on our radar as a perfect candidate to help you take your lacemaking to new heights. We are delighted that Lieve will be joining us with a new lacemaking design and creativity course later in 2023.
Lieve is no stranger to the international lace and art world. She achieved a Masters in Fine Arts degree at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp in 1998 and has since then been actively exhibiting and teaching art and lacemaking. Her most recent solo presentation "Raaklijnen" was shown at the Stedelijk Museum Aarschot: an opportunity afforded her for winning the Aarschotse Cultuurraad Prize in 2022. Her work has appeared in numerous group exhibitions and publications, notably "Moderne Gründe", Deutscher Klöppelverband, 2013, "Lace in Flanders/Kant in Vlaanderen" by Martine Bruggeman in 2018, and "La Dentelle dans l’art contemporain" by Blandine Pouzin in 2021. Lieve lives and works in Rillaar.
Lieve's website is worth a visit if you're not familiar with her work:
https://sites.google.com/view/lievesmets