Natalie Veenstra
Fall 2025 Artist in Residence
“The largest obstacles in my practice in the past year have been insufficient space and time to work. To have a room of my own to work in, free from the distraction of bills to pay and dishes to wash is an invaluable gift. I am excited to have a space to stretch out and explore the ideas that have been, until now, confined to the small work table in my living room.”
-Natalie Veenstra, Fall 2024 AiR
Artist Statement:
Natalie’s practice is based on repetitive object-making and installation as a means of uncovering a subconscious narrative. Her main practice is clay, which she sculpts as a form of meditation. She plays with forms both from nature and manufactured products, including the cliff swallow's nest, beehives, wasp nests, trellises, car parts, and human teeth. The narrative purpose for these forms is not always immediately evident. After working with the cliff swallow's nest for some time, she gradually understood the form as a stand-in for "the self." Natalie believed the cliff swallow's nest acted as her avatar as it navigated rigid, unusual, and precarious boundaries. Through the making and organization/installation of these objects, she is able to uncover the patterns in her own thinking, finding threads that link objects and thoughts together. The installation of her nests ultimately revealed the story of her relationship with her community. Recently, her practice has expanded beyond clay to include my appreciation for textiles, particularly hand-dyed fabrics, and their ability to add softness and transparency to her work.
Natalie Veenstra:
Sincerity
January 4 - February 1, 2025
"The work in this exhibition represents two distinct moments in time where the past intersects with the present. With a childhood anecdote of quietly enduring housing insecurity in the suburbs, and an adult’s reflection on the depersonalization of her urban dwelling. Their overlaps are nearly indistinguishable, the result like a glistening mirage on the blazing horizon— fading as you approach.
Sincerity is a quiet moment: a clearing in the chaos where two selves meet to compare their lived experience. One, the elder of the two, attempts to observe her past with sweetness and sentimentality while leaving room for honesty. The second, just a child, projects her fantastical imagination into the future, constructing a reality for her adult self to consider."
