Martine Jacobs

Artistic background

Education Ruudt Wackers art academy Amsterdam

Shows
1986 Amsterdamse poort Amsterdam
1987 Wall painting Aglou-plage ministry of tourism Morocco
1988 Painting sold to Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
1989 exposition gallery Moffet Toulouse France
1990 exhibition Mont Brun Bocage France
1990 exhibition Iberico Alcorcon Madrid Spain
1991 exhibition Luttik Ouddorp Alkmaar
1992 exhibition kunstschip K.E.E.S. Den Helder
1993 exhibition illustrations from child book Zwartjakje Den Helder
1993 Osaka Triennial international competition of painting Japan
1994 exhibition gallery Art kring 88 Enkhuizen
1995 exhibition NIOZ Texel
1996 exhibition Streekziekenhuis Hilversum
1996 exhibition Pere Sousa Barcelona Spain
1996 traveling exhibition 'grassart' Germany
1997 permanent exhibition Mulendam hanf museum Berlin Germany
1998 Bergen's art 10-daagse
2000 Huisduinen Huisduiner kerk
2000 Stompe Toren Spaarndam
2000 The International Show "I giorni di Pulcheria" Pulcheria's Days Italy
2000 Galerie Ale Oosthuizen,Nederland
2001 TheMAC 21 International Contemporary Art Fair in Marbella,Spain, July 18-22,
2001 Biennale Internazionale dell'ArteContemporanea Florence, Fortezza da Basso 1/9 December 2001
The Petersburg Biennale of computer graphics.
2001 expositie gemeentehuis Den Helder
2002 , a world-wide exhibition of computer graphics Cultural Center " Pushkinskaya 10 " in St. Petersburg, Russia
2002Martine Jacobs in 2 museum collections:
The Fuller Museum of Art in Brockton, MA (USA)
The Museum de la Ciudad in Guadalajara, Mexico
2002 The Coaster Project, Destination:
2002 The World² 99 artists in 99 exhibits around the globe. April and May
2003 Negros Museum in the Philippines has asked and is showing "The
Coaster Project"
2003 Galerie de Pleiaden Nederland
2003 Fondazione Ferrero Italy
2003 Saint Petersburg
State Museum of History
2009 Zomerexpositie Galerie windkracht 13 DenHelder
2009 Kunst veiling Matchpoint
2014 Expositie Lentesprong Amsterdam
2018 Galerie Beeldend gesproken Amsterdam

Biography of Martine Jacobs

The fact that my father was a designer and my mother his regular model has shaped both my character and my creativity. As a young child I would wander around my father’s large studio, with twelve girls and twelve industrial sewing machines that zoom the entire day.

The drawing room was not always forbidden territory, and sometimes I could enter the sanctuary. Large drawing tables and enormous sheets of paper, rolls of fabrics from all parts of the world adorned this big space.



The dream queen who pricked.

Hugging my mother was out of the question, because as usual, she was full of pins. My father designed his clothes on my mother’s body. The dream queen who pricked. One day the bubble of this creative décor burst, and everyone went their own way.



Jesus and his brides

I spent my adolescent years among Jesus and his brides in an old Catholic boarding school. Confined, and only home on weekends, I dreamed the paintings I later made.



Erotic attic

With my man on my 17th birthday, I decided to take control of my life. I exchanged the convent for an erotic attic. Fortune smiled on us and the world was ours. We worked to put bread on our plates and roamed the earth between jobs. There was no money for paint; we swapped a loaf of bread for my first box of pastels.



New challenges

Thumbing and riding trains to Portugal, the unknown land of warmth and beauty. twenty years old, for the first time a few pastel works hang in the little old church of Obidos, a Portuguese village on the coast.

Here we sold our first painting. It became the primary necessity of life; we inspired one another’s spirits and constantly sought new challenges. We made many paintings and sold a few. Back to Holland to the College of Social Studies, but what now – we were at a crossroads. Do we opt for security – life in the suburbs – or do we create a world that connects to our thinking; a captive soul will never be able to create.

There is always a choice, but a free spirit cannot be captured, not even with poverty as a friend.



California

And so we traveled again, new ideas abounding, and the new world smiled upon us. With a box of chalk and a newborn baby, we booked a trip to America: California. We bought a 45-year-old Chevrolet camper and traveled through the country in good spirits. Between feedings and dirty diapers we visited galleries and museums and finally landed in Carmel Valley.

A “rich man’s dream and no money to spend”, but fortune in America reached out to us, and we were able to take free classes with our little Moses in a laundry basket.

Art is an expression of discontent or pleasure, and only you can embellish or destroy it.



Bijlmer

The way of life, setting priorities, discipline and happiness – it all ensures that the roots of art will be fed and can flourish. n the village of Carmel Valley we also sold paintings, and a second baby was in the making. We returned to Holland and landed in an apartment in the “Bijlmer” with two little children, a dog and an old Mercedes camper, a map of Morocco, lots of diapers and flour… the world lay open to us once again.

Mint tea, couscous and the daily prayer from the mosque defined our days, the children played on the beach and all of a sudden, there was room to bring white paper to life. Life in a Muslim culture is clear-cut. A country of control, with strict rules; happiness is a big part of the game. Showing our work in Morocco in the 80’s was impossible for a woman.

Back to Holland again, with a wealth of drawings. I worked from early morning to late evening. and finally, the result I longed for.