The “artists of the thread” Maja Houtman and Karin Kortenhorst exhibit at the Silver Museum

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SCHOONHOVEN – In the presence of the mayor Roel Cazemier and the night mayor Marco Oudshoorn, the Strings Attached exhibition was inaugurated on Saturday at the Zilvermusuem in Schoohoven.

Works by Maja Houtman and Karin Kortenhorst will be exhibited. They form a special exhibition duo. What connects them? wire. And this is where the contradiction lies: Maja transforms meters of fine thread into wearable objects, while Karin searches for space and makes large sculptural objects.

“We would like to thank the museum for giving us this opportunity,” said Karin Kortenhorst during the opening of the exhibition. “We worked really hard for this show for six months. It’s also great to see what little manpower the museum was able to achieve.

silversmiths
“This is a special exhibition in which the artists have worked very hard,” said Marcel Teheux, director of the Musée de l’Argent, during the opening last Saturday. “In 2016, goldsmiths had almost disappeared and that worried me. As a result, I started to draw attention to more goldsmiths.

Maja Houtman and Karin Kortenhorst both trained as a goldsmith at the vocational school in Schoonhoven. After that, each went in their own direction, leaving behind the classic jewelry. Karin went to the Academy of Fine Arts and immersed herself in 3D design. Maja also obtained a diploma in silversmithing and then specialized in filigree.

Watermark techniques
Maja Houtman (1963) became fascinated with a self-developed filigree or thread technique. Airy yet surprisingly sturdy wrappers make necklaces, bracelets, brooches and rings or stand-alone items. Maja continues to learn, experiment and combine. Sometimes with precious stones, sometimes with meters of chain, which are cut and reworked. But she also applies her acquired knowledge and new ideas to larger scales or to works of art. His work has won international awards such as the prestigious Saul Bell Award and the Chinese HRD Award. Where the mythological Arachne was mistress of spinning and weaving, Maja goes even further.

Room
Karin Kortenhorst (1961) studied at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Utrecht, where she obtained a degree in 3D design with jewelry as the main subject. It has grown from jewelry making to creating monumental space sculptures. She rolls, hammers and winds aluminum, copper and iron wire in her workshop. This material twists, bends, hammers and hangs them in such a way as to create large transparent volumes. Framing the sky makes the space visible. This space takes on meaning: it can be an opening, a break or a place to stay. His work has been exhibited and purchased by national and foreign galleries and museums.

‘Krimpenerwaard Cultural Center’
“The silver museum is the cultural center of the Krimpenerwaard,” Mayor Roel Cazemier begins his speech. “It’s an extremely valuable asset. It is the only real silver museum that we have here in the Netherlands and we as Krimpenerwaard can be very proud of it.

“We have once again succeeded in bringing a magnificent exhibition to the museum. There are even currently three different exhibits, which is unusual for a museum of this size. In addition, this exhibition is also very beautiful “, concludes the mayor.

Unique farewell gift
The museum took this opportunity to also thank the mayor for the past years during which he was involved with the museum. As a thank you, he received a “farewell gift”, namely silver cufflinks.

The Strings Attached exhibition brings together these two special “thread artists”
agreement and contradiction. Karin and Maja show new objects and
show the soft side of the hard material. On display until early May 2022.

Very interesting exhibition “Strings Attached” at the Dutch Silver Museum Schoonhoven. Five stars ! pic.twitter.com/Rima2DHtwl

– Roel Cazemier (@Roelcazemier) December 12, 2021

Present at the opening exhibition “Strings Attached” by Maja Houtman and Karin Kortenhorst at the Dutch Silver Museum in Schoonhoven. “By framing the sky, space becomes visible” A phenomenal filigree work! pic.twitter.com/Vr1b9PW93N

– Roel Cazemier (@Roelcazemier) December 11, 2021

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