A few biographical notes about the artist
Arlette Steenmans was born in Mechelen, Belgium on February the 5th, 1958. Until the beginning of 1982 she lived with her parents in the centre of the city of Mechelen where she went to school. She got interested in astronomy and got deeply involved with a youth group for astronomy in Mechelen from 1974 onwards. After having completed grammar school (1976), she continued studies at the "Karel de Grote Hogeschool voor schone kunsten", high school for art in Antwerp, speciality painting, where she graduated in 1980.
After a first exhibition in Mechelen in 1980 she set off on adventures and left in 1982 to Puimichel in the south-east of France where she founded a holiday centre for amateur astronomers. She bought a ruin of an old barn, named La Remise, which was gradually renovated. This project turned out to be a rough time and the difficult circumstances to survive left very little possibilities to create paintings. Her remarkable social abibilities and multilingualism (Dutch, English, French and German) turned La Remise into a favourite meetingplace of a very international public. One day, the remarkable adventurous life of the artist will be the source of inspiration for some most exciting books.
From 1988 onwards, after a wedding and almost immediate divorce, Arlette Steenmans managed to find some time again to work out her artistic inspirations. Around 1990 she stayed some time in Huddersfield, England, where a nice collection of paintings came into being. Despite the hopeless problems with the associated local observatory, she continued her holiday home for amateur astronomers in Puimichel. After ten years of hard work and a financial aid of the EU La Remise became a nice residence comparable to a youth hostel. Unfortunately the observatory remained a costly waste of time that caused only trouble and affliction, leaving too little time for painting. |
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After a long drawn-out conflict with the owner of the observatory, the holiday observatory of Puimichel came finally to an end in 1998. From 1999 onwards Arlette Steenmans concentrated herself completely on her artistic qualities. La Remise became an art centre run by the non-profit association Artventure where exhibitions and painting courses are being organised. One of the ambitions of the artist is to paint from nature to illustrate books about plants and animals.
A most successful exhibition in Ostend, Belgium in August 1999 meant a definite breakthrough. The large number of interested buyers had no problem to assess paintings at their true value.
The author of this website on the Cultureship Imke C, Ostend, August 1999. (Photo Gisela De Smedt)
- 1976 : first price of publicity (Jeugd en Muziek, Mechelen, Belgium)
- 1985: fourth price of painting, Volonne, France
- 1986 : second price of drawing, Volonne, France
- 1994 : first price water-colour, Volonne, France
- 1995 : first price pastel and third price symbolism, International award of painting, Cannes, France
- 1995: first price water-colour, Peyruis, France
- 1996 : first price of the public Peyruis, France
Exhibitions in group or individually at :
<-- The exhibition on the culture ship Imke C, Ostend, August 1999. (Photo Gisela De Smedt)
About the œuvre of Arlette Steenmans
The work of Arlette Steenmans covers the period from 1978 to the present, most of the paintings being produced during the nineties, as the outcome of spontaneous inspiration prompted by feelings aroused by accidental events. Although she does not work as a painter for commercial reasons, and despite the fact that there has been never systematic sale of her paintings, they are now to be found in private collections all over Europe.
Like all painters Arlette Steenmans tries to make use of the best quality painting tools, although during frequent hard times it wasn't always possible to afford quality brushes and other painting tools. However, with cheap 'toy-painting' and poor materials she managed to produce excellent work, a fact that emphasises her talent and technical skills. Over a period of years she has experimented with a number of techniques and many different materials- her favourite techniques being mixed media, water colour and oil painting. She has a skilful hand and manages to depict images with photographic accuracy, having mastered the colour palette perfectly. Portrait painting is not her area of first choice, but she is also outstanding in this speciality. Her deep love of nature explains why animals and often insects, occur in many of her paintings, sometimes as a way of catching the eye, sometimes as an enigmatic detail. We often see strange worlds in the paintings-such as frogs presented as observers-with lifelike animals in unreal scenery. Sometimes the spectator's eye is deceived by a masterly trompe-l'oeil. Some pictures are constructed to include their environment in unexpected ways, for example, the picture involving a shirt and a clothes hanger. Due to the pinpoint-sharp detail of the painting, combined with its ingenuity, its originality and the whimsical nature of the imagination, the artwork of Arlette Steenmans is highly distinctive. |
The artist and her work (photo Gisela De Smedt) |
Arlette Steenmans summer 1999
(Photo Gisela De Smedt)
Buying paintings by Arlette Steenmans
The paintings were never created with the aim of selling, therefore no prices were associated with them. However, enquiries are frequently being received about the possibility of buying paintings.
Determining prices includes working hours and painting tools as well as artistic value. The smallest water-colour paintings are sold at 60 Euro, while offers of about 8 000 Euro have been refused for some of the largest and most valuable works. If you are interested in Buying a painting, do not hesitate to ask about its availability. A list , together with prices of paintings for sale is available from the Association. At her very successful exhibition in Ostend during August of this year (1999), the organisers were pleasantly surprised by the large numbers of requests to acquire examples of her work.
