The Art Makers: Intentional Maastricht transplants

A few years back, during the early part of my residence in Maastricht, one of my young, dear Dutch-American friends exclaimed to my late husband and me: “Gosh, there is a couple who chose Maastricht to raise their family and make their art. We think you’d really like them.” Once we met the American/Polish duo, Barbara Greenberg and Pawel Kromholz, we were smitten. Their talent as artists is matched in equal doses with their dedication to their family and friends, and their warm and open hospitality. And unlike many expatriates who ‘end up’ in Maastricht, Barbara and Pawel are very intentional transplants.

Barbara Greenberg at cultural center AINSI, Maastricht

The Art Makers as they call themselves, home studio (http://www.artmakers.nl) are located in a magical spot on the Hertogsingel, where they produce paintings, drawings, sculptures, bronze furniture, lamps, and hardware – work that is sent all over the world. The ambience is an eclectic blend of aromas from Barbara’s outrageously delicious baking, Pawel’s paints and pipe, and in warmer weather, the family’s lush and wild garden. To visit is a sensual adventure. Pawel’s collection of skeletons and stuffed beasts mingle beside his detailed paintings that look like they might step off from the canvas. In the dining room you may encounter a sample or two of Barbara’s brilliant bronze furniture, and if you’re very lucky, taste a slice of one of her sweet confections.

The Art Makers home studio in Maastricht

The couple moved to Maastricht from New York in 1991. After 13 years in the U.S., they wanted to return to Europe, and the stability and central location of the Netherlands were very appealing. After nearly a month searching for housing near Haarlem or Utrecht, they visited the Fine Arts Fair TEFAF and knew they had found their home. For them, the concept of “Euroregion” is quite real. Pawel likes the proximity of Aachen, Liège, Brussels, and Antwerp, and the ease with which he can visit Poland. “There are half a dozen bronze foundries within half an hour of Maastricht, so it’s very easy to get things cast,” both agree. Additionally, Barbara finds Maastricht’s ease and charm agreeable: “Daily life is so easy here, compared with New York. There are many days when I don’t use the car at all – and if I break a drill bit, I can replace it in 20 minutes.”

Pawel specializes in portrait drawings and paintings, both of animals and people, and also makes bronze sculptures of animals. As mentioned, scattered around the studio are stuffed animals, wax models in progress, drawings and books on animal anatomy and natural history – Pawel’s work is thoroughly grounded in close observation and study. But, it also shows a delight in the character of his subjects. He says he always begins a painting, whether the subject is animal or human, with the eyes – this way the painting begins to live, and the rest becomes a dialogue between the artist and his subject.

Pawel Kromholz and the lion

Barbara, who grew up in Montana, met Pawel in Poland in 1976, when she was working with the renowned fibre artist, Magdalena Abakanowicz, and he was teaching painting at the art school in Poznan. They married in 1977, and moved first to Copenhagen, where they each had exhibitions of their work, and then to New York, where they had a studio for the conservation of classical antiquities, and developed their skills and experience.

Pawel recalls having 70 or more pieces of ancient art pass through the studio, almost on a weekly basis. “Roman glass and ceramics, Etruscan bronzes, Egyptian cartonnage – we could handle these things in such an intimate way. It was such a privilege, and we learned a lot.” Barbara adds “For a long time our son thought that everybody had a sarcophagus in the basement, as we usually did.”

Boy with scarf, Pawel Kromholz

And, although she was focusing on making temporary, site-specific works during this period, the ancient everyday objects that came into the studio for restoration or mounting exerted an almost mystical influence on Barbara. As she recalls, “These things really spoke to me. Ancient lamps, standing on little human feet, or decorated with little birds or other animals. They had enormous charm, and it seemed to me that most of the things we use in our daily lives now are so poor – but they needn’t be.”

Sitting and sleeping dogs, the Art Makers

She made her first bronze table, which has a little lion dancing across the struts, in 1986, and has gone on to make many more tables, lamps, pieces of door or cabinet hardware, even andirons and a music stand. Although Pawel considers himself first of all a painter, the couple works together on most of the bronze works – Barbara may do the initial design, but they do the modeling together, and, unusual for modern artists, they do all of the finishing work and “patination” themselves – also right there on the Hertogsingel.

Barbara says, “We work in harmony. We have been sharing a studio for so long that each has some impact on almost everything that the other does. And, although we may disagree on matters outside the studio, we have a very strong, shared aesthetic. We love what we do, and we value it. We are a little bit dinosaurs. We have very traditional skills, to a degree that is rather rare today – but we also hope our work shows wit, and grace. And it mustn’t look labored. Something may take us three days to model, but it should look like it was done in 20 minutes – almost thrown from the hand.”

Camel, the Art Makers

The couple sends things all over the world from Maastricht, including to the U.S., Hong Kong, Australia, England, and Switzerland. In fact, Tina Turner sits on one of Barbara’s chairs. And, although their clients include Flemish and German nobility, the couple is also happy to work for clients with more modest resources. As Barbara says “We’re really in the business of making life better for people. We like to make things that they will enjoy looking at or using every day.”

Most of their work is made to order, with the furniture and hardware usually having some personal connection to the client – a play on his or her name or profession, or an allusion to something that has particular meaning to the user or marks a special occasion. For example, the artists have made a table with two squirrels for a banker, and a set of bronze cabinet pulls cast from magnolia seeds for someone who collects magnolia trees. For a family in Brussels they made a large hanging lamp, a wreath of bronze twigs in which there is an animal for each member of the family – four monkeys (one for each of the children), a salamander (he is a hydrogeologist), a songbird (for her), an owl (the grandmother), ivy leaves for steadfastness, and laurel leaves for nobility and accomplishment.

Console, the Art Makers

Because much of their work is client-focused, Barbara says, “We spend quite a lot of time talking with a new client, discussing the project at hand, making sketches, talking about both the practical requirements and the aesthetics of the situation. There is a lot of exchange, input, and guidance until we come up with a design that really pleases the client and suits the situation perfectly.”

The couple recently sent a bronze table off to New York which features the client’s three dogs, and little trees like those in the Bemelmans murals in the bar in the Hotel Carlyle, where the client likes to go. This table is both elegant and very personal, and, as Barbara says “We like the lightheartedness of it.” The same truck that picked up this table collected a pair of salon tables bound for a hunting lodge in Montana. These tables stand on boar feet, and feature a stag, hinds, and boars. Dogs are symbols of fidelity, and many clients request a sculpture of their own dog, either alone or on a table or lamp, sometimes as a wedding present or to mark a significant anniversary.

Pointer, by Pawel Kromholz

The Art Makers enjoy meeting potential clients who may visit the studio by appointment to discuss commissions, and savor the ambience and hospitality that make this couple so vital a part of the Maastricht cultural community.

by Susan Schaefer
Schaefer Communications, LLC