Art Centre Schiedam hosted the exhibition Vol van Vogels (Full of Birds), featuring work by six artists, including Jeannette Ephraïm. I had previously seen her work at Galerie Wind on Noordereiland, in an exhibition organized by Mishmash; there, I mainly saw lamps and mushrooms. Now we see her birds—birds with a special touch that is evident in all her work.
Jeannette lives with her husband Paul in a house on the dike in Krimpen aan de IJssel, where she has a large studio on the top floor.
Bird Drawings
Jeannette picked me up from the Capelsebrug metro station. Upon arriving in Krimpen aan de IJssel, I find the broad river—into which the Hollandse IJssel has transformed after passing Gouda—right before my eyes. Once inside, I get a look at the showroom, where her diverse work is displayed on the floor, in glass cases, and on shelves.
I see numerous organic forms, including various birds, sea creatures like crabs, and aquatic plants such as swaying seaweed; there are organic-style lamps, as well as teacups featuring birds or portraits of ladies—where the woman or bird on the cup harmonizes beautifully with the cup’s design. I also spot a small monkey (a lemur) and a deer. Around the corner hang drawings of birds that, she explains, marked the beginning of an entire series of drawings and sculptures depicting birds with a somewhat human-like gaze.
Kunst & Complex
After art school (first St. Joost in Breda and subsequently the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam), she created work that was much more abstract than what she produces now.
She shared a studio with some of her classmates in a building on the Müllerpier. Later, she moved with this group—by then organized as the Kunst & Complex foundation—to an old factory building on the Keileweg, where she had a very large workspace.
Just around the corner from the showroom, she shows a sculpture—a sort of sea anemone—made at Kunst & Complex. It is part of a series of sculptures featuring a plant-like form and a geometric base.
Organic, animal, and plant forms
An exhibition at the Natural History Museum Rotterdam (around 2007) presented an engaging challenge for her. Her interest in the museum’s displays inspired her to create sculptures that evoked a similar atmosphere—albeit as a distinctive, imaginative take on nature. “That is how my deer head with golden antlers and deer head with long ears came about.” But also strange hanging birds and sea creatures.
It is important to her that there is a ‘wink’ in an image. “If it makes me laugh, it’s usually good. At the same time, I take my work very seriously. The image has to be right, and it certainly has to tell a story.”
To Krimpen aan de IJssel
After a long period at Kunst & Complex on Keileweg, she moved her studio to her home in Krimpen aan de IJssel in 2015. Following years of renovations, the house was ready to serve as a workspace as well. This had many advantages, though there was the occasional downside. For instance, she could no longer weld. “But you adapt—just as a goldfish adapts to its bowl.”
Now that she had a garden, she could grow pumpkins, which she uses as ‘lost molds’ for the polyester lamps she calls Jeplights. The impetus for creating these unique lamps was a commission from the International Bulb Centre in Hillegom, for which she created large light sculptures for the corporate garden designed by Jacqueline van der Kloet.
Jeplights are sometimes available for purchase at exclusive garden shops or exhibitions, but she primarily sells them from her studio.
I also saw a lamp with zucchini feet and mushroom-like lights featuring potato-shaped bodies, little legs, and sometimes a small arm. Light sculptures, birds, mushrooms, and pumpkins—together, they form a single organic world in the studio.
Does Jeannette have a key work?
She has several key works, she says.
The first key work illustrates the transition from an abstract piece to an abstract piece with a narrative. It was created around 1990. “A sort of ‘stairway to heaven’.” She points it out: a small staircase that comes to a dead end against a white balloon, which looks as if it is about to float away.
“I also went through a ‘cow phase’ (abstractions derived from the form of a cow), which already heralded the transition to figuration.” That was around 1993.
Other important works include the installations she created in collaboration with other artists, such as the Monsterkeuken (Monster Kitchen) and the Groentenkraam (Vegetable Stall) at Villa Zebra, together with Agnes Roothaan.
Commissions for public spaces also play an important role in Jeannette’s work.
Her latest project is ‘De Man van de Overkant’ (The Man from the Other Side).
The Man from the Other Side
Jeannette frequently and enthusiastically participates in sculpture trails. In 2025, she took part in a trail along the Westerschelde in Hoedekenskerke. For this, she created a sculpture of a man wearing waders and a black cap; shielding his eyes with his hand, he gazes out toward the opposite shore—Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. The sculpture quickly became popular. It resonated deeply with the local people, as Zeelanders often refer to someone from a neighboring island as “someone from the other side” or an “overkanter.” At the request of local residents, the municipality of Borsele has since purchased the sculpture. However, it had to be recast in a more durable material, a process currently underway at a bronze foundry.
We head up the stairs to her workspace. I see a large work table and various pieces, including shapes resembling snail antennae—wondrous organic forms crafted from textile and expanding foam. They had previously been featured in a sculpture exhibition at the Heemtuin Leiderdorp. I also spot various birds—each more beautiful than the last—including a stork, a white peacock wearing a wedding dress (currently wrapped up), a black-and-white cormorant, an avocet, a lapwing, and a curlew. Perched on a beam near the ceiling are bird-like sculptures shaped like watering cans. She had considered turning these into a commercial product line, much like her lamps, but ultimately decided against it due to the hassle involved—particularly the significant time investment required.
Finally, does Jeannette have a philosophical thought to share?
Jeannette: “I don’t have a grand message for the world; I’m more about the (philosophical) wink.”
https://www.jepnet.nl/
https://www.instagram.com/jeannette_ephraim/
https://stichtingkunstwerkt.nl/exposities/2026/vol-van-vogels
https://inzaken.eu/index.php/2026/09/25/vogels-en-andere-werken-van-jeannette-ephraim/