(2020) When my grandfather passed away in early 2020 and a pandemic broke out shortly after, my grandmother ended up all alone in a family house. I felt so bad for her that I decided to paint flowers for her. That way, I could still give her a bouquet without risking her health.
While I was working on it, I realised there were many more grandmas out there who could use some flowers. So I came up with a plan to, indirectly, give a bouquet of flowers to every grandmother in the world. That’s how the art project Bloemen Voor Oma (Flowers For Grandma) was born. I turned my flower still life on canvas into a poster, colouring sheet and postcard, and distributed them as widely as possible, mostly to children. The poster featured a message: “Let’s make as many grandmas happy as we can. Take a photo of these flowers and send it to your grandma, your mother, or anyone you want to brighten up.” The colouring page could be coloured in and sent to grandma. The postcard could be filled with a sweet message. In this way, I think I managed to give hundreds, if not thousands, of grandmas a bouquet of flowers.
With quiet pride, I’d like to share that this social art project BloemenVoorOma, after being exhibited in several places, has now found its permanent home. It’s hanging in a prominent spot in the central library of Hoorn. This was made possible by a super kind (and anonymous) couple who had previously bought work from me. They’ve been following me for years and see how I try to spread unconditional love into the world through my art. Of course, that works best when there are also people who support my work by buying it — so that I can sustain my (pretty spartan) life as an artist. These two saw that and decided to buy three floral pieces from me: one to keep for themselves, and two to donate to places where we could brighten the day of as many grandmas as possible. I donated one to the central library, and the other is now on display at the Risdam branch. I feel proud and grateful.
With love,
STHOM
