Tjelda vander Meijden

Disappearing Life I

Disappearing Life

Artists Statement

Metaphorically my work explores the transience of our time on earth - an everchanging place of refuge and peril - and the quest for immortality inherent in the human spirit. The advent of accelerated global climate change, with a focus on water, guides the issues of transformation and impermanence in my work, and compels me to grapple with the many complexities of this emerging reality. Recent trips to the Antarctic Peninsular (February 2008) and the High Arctic Island and Greenland (August 2008): the changing tundra, melting ice floes and Thule sites, continue to further inform my works.

Biography

Ms. vander Meijden settled in Charleston, SC in 1996,where she found the Lowcountry and the history of the city reminiscent of Europe. Born in New Jersey, she spent her formative years living in The Netherlands and the United States. She received a formal education in classical painting, drawing and Intaglio at the National Academy of Design (NAD), New York, 1985-1988. And privately studied intaglio techniques with Sergei Tsvetkov, Rutgers University, NJ. Prior to NAD she studied Graphic Arts at the School of Visual Arts, New York City, NY. Early in Ms. vander Meijden's career she established herself as a plein air painter and a master printmaker. More recently her works explore subjects thematically and are directed towards iconographic figures, in particular subjects that examine isolation, narcissism and mortality.

On behalf of the Art in Embassies Program, Ms vander Meijden lectured at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland Academy of the Arts, Reykjavik, the Akureyri School of Visual Arts and the University of Akureyri, in North Iceland. She has lectured to the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities. She presently serves on the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art Advisory Board Charleston, SC and has served on the boards of Print Studio South, Charleston, SC and the Printmaking Council of New Jersey. She has taught monotype workshops at the Gibbes Museum School in Charleston, SC and participated as a Master Printer in Monothon, 99, at the College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM.