Try and Treasure

| An intriguing look at the works of ceramic by Dutch artist Babs Haenen

| A new publcication published by Jap Sam Books in collaboration with Archivorum

Babs Haenen creates expressive and impressionistic ceramics that give equal importance to colour, line and form. Her works are embellished in a painterly manner, highlighting the influence of abstract painting and landscape motifs, like rippling water, on her practice.

Haenen first worked as a dancer before studying visual art at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam 1974-1979, and later she also taught there 1994-2013. In 1990 and 2003, Haenen received a grant from the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. She was the recipient of 1991 Inax Design Prize for Europeans, Japan. In 2012, she was granted the Mondriaan Fund, Visual Arts and Cultural Heritage. In 2029, Haenen was awarded the Achterbergh Prize.

Archivorum is a non profit organisation that started in 2023. Archivorum has a tripartite focus: the Archive, Public Events and Research. What distinguishes Archivorum from other art foundations/organisations is the commitment to spreading archives as social resources of civil progress, as well as cultural growth. This is achieved by uniting the spaces of both a physical and online library and archive, with a physical space for residencies and public events, as well as education and research platforms. In continuation of its commitment to the protection and promotion of artists and art-related publishing, Archivorum is launching a series of artists’ books called Archivorum×M, and involves artists and publishers from all over the world, with the aim of enhancing and disseminating their creativity through books. Here, the nature of a ‘book’ becomes a peculiar expression of the artists’ creative production, yet also still an object of common use that can be disseminated more widely, accessible to all.