Arlette Steenmans (1)
Association Artventure
About
Biography of Arlette Steenmans 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. 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) Artistic distinctions: 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 wat