Veerle Van der Eecken

Curriculum Vitae

Veerle Van der Eecken is a Belgian graphic artist and ceramic artist, a maker who brings the silence of clay and the language of lines to life.

I met Veerle during our studies at the Art Academy in Tielt, where her sensitivity to nuance and her gentle, inquisitive gaze immediately stood out. For several years now, she has immersed herself in the world of terra sigillata — an alchemy of earth, water and time — within which she has developed her own universe of pastel tones. Her colours seem not mixed, but born: whispering hues that breathe, drift and catch the light like morning mist gliding across a landscape.

1999 — Art Academy Deinze Painting

2015–2022 — Ceramics training (Keramika, Françoise Busin, Waarschoot) Seven years of intensive wheel-throwing focused on functional ceramics. Experiments with graphic techniques on clay, including laser-print and newspaper transfers. After years of technical refinement, her work evolved organically from functional to artistic.

2022–present — Art Academy Tielt — Ceramic Arts Research into terra sigillata, developing stable recipes and a personal colour palette. Exploration of the interaction between terra sigillata and washes, with attention to texture and chromatic transformation.

Inspiration

In my work, two worlds collide: the soft, tactile calm of terra sigillata and the raw, restless tension of washes. The interplay between these poles draws you into a world that gently ripples and constantly shifts.

Where terra sigillata invites control and refinement, the wash calls for release, chance and unpredictability. In that tension, I find the space to break through my pursuit of perfection and consciously welcome imperfection into my work. Each object becomes an exercise in balance, a deliberate movement toward freedom.

My inspiration lies in the landscapes that surround me every day. Nature is always changing: light, clouds, water, horizon — each moment offers a new rhythm. Lines are my point of departure. The power of a single line — how it can suggest tension, rhythm or depth — has fascinated me for years.
This linework shapes both the form of my objects and the graphic drawings that emerge upon them.

Recurring themes include air, water and landscape. Cloud formations, the ebb and flow of the sea, and the layered greens of the land become, after long observation, abstract patterns. Only then begins the making: a process of abstracting, designing and shaping in clay.

Technique

My work begins with wheel-thrown forms that I distort, cut and recombine into abstract sculptures reminiscent of landscapes or cityscapes. From top views of these objects, I create two-dimensional clay slabs on which graphic drawings appear. These surfaces then become the starting point for new three-dimensional forms — a cyclical process of observing, abstracting and reconstructing.

I apply terra sigillata in woven, dancing layers, bringing the surface to life with subtle nuances. Washes introduce texture, tension and unpredictability, creating an organic contrast between smoothness and weathered roughness.

The tension between perfection and imperfection is central. I allow room for chance, cracks and spontaneous marks, letting the work grow beyond full control. Each piece becomes both fragile and powerful — and always unique.