My quilt ‘Like herrings in the ocean. And not in a barrel …‘ has been selected for de Nationale Expo and can now be seen (for free!) at the exhibition at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels!

70 art works inspired by Ensor

De Nationale Expo is a yearly Belgian contest for artworks. Theme in 2024 is Belgian artist/painter James Ensor, since it is 75 years since he died. Nearly 3000 artists (professional and amateurs) submitted a work, of which 70 were selected for the exhibition, based on public votes and jury. Mainly paintings, drawings, sculptures and also some textile works. My quilt ended in 18th place and was a such directly selected for the exhibition (first 30 works)!
Yeah! very happy 🙂

Thank you to everyone who voted and supported. Really means a lot to me! And I’m happy to spread the message for animal protection and nature conservation through another medium 😉

Last week was the opening of the exhibition and it was a lovely evening. There was a guest performance by drummer and singer Isolde Lasoen, and I was very happy to have a chat with her and a have a small drum head signed 😀 (me, being a #wannabedrummer 😉 )

Video from VRT about the National Expo and the opening night. With your truly featured, and the fish quilt also make a brief appearance 🙂

Quilt with an animal and nature message

My quilt has a clear link with Oostende and with James Ensor. It’s titled ‘Like Herrings in the Ocean, and not in a barrel …‘ of course referring to the fact that I rather see fish swimming freely in the sea, and not as food on our plate.

The description I entered reads:

“As a child of Ostend, raised near ‘de bassing’ and close to Ensor’s studio, his life and work have always been with me.
The socially critical slant of Ensor’s work, against the establishment, the bourgeoisie, hypocrisy, is very well known.
What receives less attention is that Ensor also fought against animal abuse and was committed to nature conservation. For example, he was co-founder and vice-chairman of the Blue Cross of the Coast (Ostend, 1929) and his aversion to vivisection was materialized several times in his work, including in his paintings ‘Imfâmes vivisecteurs’ (1925 and 1929-1930).*
I am sure that if Ensor were alive today, he would not only watch the loss of our nature with sorrow, but would also stand on the barricades for it. And he would rather see the herrings and other fish swimming freely in the sea than crammed into a barrel.

Florizoone P. (1994) James Ensor. Over dierenbescherming en vivisektie, James Ensor Archive, Nieuwpoort.“

de Nationale Expo

Free entrance – De Nationale Expo
🖼 70 works inspired by James Ensor.
➡️ June 28 – July 30, 2024
📌 Royal Library of Belgium, Kunstberg 28, Brussels
(close to Centraal Station)

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If you want to follow up on my quilting work:
Instagram: Geertrui Cazaux – @quilting_trudi

Some more impressions from the opening night of the exhibition:

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