Tours 
Where others like to work digitally, artist Iris van den Bersselaar prefers to reach for her trusty graphite. During the Blind Walls Talent Call, she got the space to showcase her analogue style and inquisitive way of working on a large scale.
For Iris, the trajectory felt like a continuous chain of gifts. “Every time a new assignment or challenge came along,” she says. She looks back on an inspiring and enjoyable year, in which she challenged herself and built a close relationship with the other talents.
At festival Ploegendienst, the talents got their first assignment: a mural inspired by the theme Synergy between nature and music. Iris dove into it full of enthusiasm. So full, that she forgot to check a rather essential detail: the size of the wall. “When I proudly put my design in the template, it didn’t work for goodness sake!”. Luckily, Iris proved to be at least as creative as she was impulsive and managed to adjust her design so that it worked after all. Her inspiration for this mural came from the album Plantasia, which is music specially composed for houseplants. In her mural, houseplants, pets and even unwanted critters appeared – an ode to everything living in the house.
Iris works inquisitively and intuitively. She rarely designs in detail beforehand; some of it only emerges while painting. The conversations with coach Marloes de Kiewit fitted in nicely with this and gave her the confidence to work in her own way during the festival as well: sensing what is still missing and complementing it intuitively.
Photo by Rob Lipsius
Theatre world
For her follow-up assignment, a mural in the Chassé Theatre’s artists’ cafe, she was allowed to go behind the scenes in dressing rooms and production areas. “Everyone enters in normal clothes and slowly transforms into a different character. That was magical to see.” The place evoked images of a catacomb, mixed with the kitsch of maria chapels. That mix formed the backdrop for a world of her own invention, just as she experiences it in theatre: part real, part fantasy.
Anyone who knows Iris a little knows that her pencil is sacred. So extensive material research followed to bring that familiar pencil feeling – with all its depth and whimsy – to life on the wall of the artists’ café.
Photo by Rob Lipsius
Challenge
For her exhibition ‘Vergeten Voorwerpen’ (Forgotten Objects), Iris also drew inspiration from other people’s belongings, gained during her work in home care. During the exhibition, she showed her paintings for the first time. Exciting, but above all an opportunity to show something new. “Because you get the stage and exposure, it is easier to do something that is out of your comfort zone. I wanted to challenge myself and see what people thought of it.” Besides paintings, she also exhibited embroidery. The positive response encouraged her to experiment more with textiles.
From a plant album to a theatre basement full of fantasy, Iris makes stories out of what others might not even notice. And always with that one faithful companion: her pencil.
Written by: Anne van Bree
The Blind Walls Talent Call is made possible by Keep an Eye Foundation, Gemeente Breda, Provincie Noord-Brabant, Verfplaza and Kairos Events.
Photo by: Rob Lipsius