portret
Art on paper / Paper art

My work has evolved in recent years from drawings, through collages, to spatial work. At the base is the graphic quality of drawing; ink, charcoal, or pencil on paper.

Collages
For my collages I use a collection of years that was just waiting in a drawer. The time put into these works is not wasted, but invested into something new, creating extra condensed and intense collages. The accumulation of time, reuse of drawings, even my own history as an artist is compressed in them. Time is a space, just like the landscape.

The structures of the old drawings are like ready-made colors and lines in my own handwriting. The old drawings are glued together and cut off again, making layers visible, like layers of an excavated mound or quarry; the deeper layers, physical, but in the work also immaterial and symbolic.

Sculptures
When I make sculptures, I use large pieces of paper from a roll that I pre-finish with textures. By folding and modeling with the paper, forms arise that I call “cosmic ornaments”: paper sculptures that are mysterious and abstract, but also tangible and earthy. They give form to experiences for which there are no words.

Everything except language
knows the meaning of existence.
Trees, planets, rivers, time
know nothing else. They express it
moment by moment as the universe. (Les Murray)

Mysticism is not only about a sense of unity, but also about a meaning that shows silence, space, and nature. A deeper layer of visible reality; everyday things can be seen with different eyes. An image can connect the invisible with the visible, the moment with infinity.

Ervaring van tijd en plaats: Terp

contact: info@josefienalkema.nl

subsidies

2023 Vermeulen Brauckman Stichting

2022 Snelloket Province Groningen

2021 Snelloket Artcouncil Groningen

2021 Incidentenbudget Artcouncil Groningen

collections

Royal Library Den Haag

Collection Helmantel

education

Academy of Visual Arts Minerva, Groningen
Art Therapy, Stenden, Leeuwarden

expositions and projects

2026
Tekenkabinet XIV at KunstRAI26 Amsterdam
PaperPaper, Museum Nienoord, Leek
Paper Vibes 2.0, Boterhal, Hoorn
IAPMA Art Paper Biennale, Art Centre Bad Silkeborg, Denmark
Solo ‘Walk in paper’, Pictura, Groningen
Review DvhN 24-12-25

2025
Solo exhibition, Gallery Pictura, Groningen
Kunstwerd project, County Eemsdelta
Lauwersland art route, Tinallinge

2024
Tekenkabinet XII, contemporary drawing, Amsterdam
Monnikenwerk 2024, Groninger church, work on location
Solo exposition, KEIK, Groningen
Wintersalon, Pictura, Groningen
International Paper Art Exhibition Papier Global 6, Deggendorf, Germany
Group exposition, Watertower, Groningen
In Silence, Museum Monastery ter Apel

2023
Anniversary exhibition, Galerie Noord, Groningen
Monnikenwerk/Graceland Festival, installation
Like Art live, Suikerbrij Festival, Groningen
The Collager, Galerie Noord, Groningen, catalog
De Ploeg across the border, Kunstzentrum Coldam

2022
Gallery Alta Bosca, Gorredijk
DagDelen(DayParts), interactive art project
DagDelen, solo exhibition, Ter Apel Monastery
Graphic scores and soundscapes, Ter Apel Monastery (videos)
Open Stal, art route, Oldeberkoop
Like Art Event, interactive art project, Groningen www.likeart.nl
World chapel, interactive art project/performance, Graceland Festival, Zeewolde
Feast of the Spirit, art route in medieval churches
Mural, commissioned work in Leeuwarden
Kunsthof Gallery, Appingedam

2021
CODA Paper Art 2021, CODA Museum, Apeldoorn (video)
Monnikenwerk, working on location in medieval church (www.monnikenwerk.nu)
Art project DagDelen on different locations
Solo exhibition DagDelen, Andreas church Westeremden
Connections, group exhibition, Museum Helmantel, Westeremden
Madness, artists collective 6mperuur10mdiep, Gallery Hoogenbosch, Gorredijk

2020
Pop-up gallery, Groningen
Monnikenwerk, working on location in medieval church, www.monnikenwerk.nu
Traces residency and group exhibition, artists collective 6mperuur10mdiep, Museum Oude Wolden, Bellingwolde

2019
Summer Exhibition, Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle/Heino www.zomerexpo.nl
Monnikenwerk, work on site in medieval churches in Groningen, art event with 10 artists in 9 churches
Buitenmodel: propositions for landscape, residency and exposition with artist collective 6kmperuur10mdiep, Art Centre Emmen
Groningen artist paradise? Museum Wierdenland, Ezinge

2018
Letter to Life, theme exhibition, Wilhelminakerk, Dordrecht
Ploeg 100 Years, Gallery Pictura, Groningen.
Group exhibition, Gallery Forma Aktua, Groningen
En plein air, hiking trail and exhibition, Museum Wierdenland Ezinge
Drawing installation, medieval church Tjamsweer, part of art route

2017
Tekenkabinet, contemporary drawing, Amsterdamwww.tekenkabinet.nl
Installation/performance ‘No one LIKE you’, artist collective Sound of Silence, performing arts festival Noorderzon, Groningen.
Huntenkunst, Artfair, Ulft www.huntenkunst.org
De Ploeg anniversary exposition, Veenkoloniaal Museum Veendam

2016
Wintersalon, Gallery Pictura, Groningen
Installation ‘Immaterial business’, artist collective Sound of Silence, performing arts festival Noorderzon, Groningen
De Ploeg on paper, Ploeg exposition, Veenkoloniaal Museum, Veendam
Spatial installation, Vries, art route Feest van de Geest
Art and Monuments route, county of Loppersum

2015
‘Woester’ salon des refusés Zomerexpo, Art Centre Groningen
Open Stal, art route, Oldeberkoop
Installation ‘Pause’, artist collective Sound of Silence, performing arts festival Noorderzon, Groningen.
Huntenkunst, Art fair, Ulft
Exposition ‘Look inward’, Gallery Pictura Groningen
Exposition ‘Look inward’, Gallery Pulchri, The Hague

2014
Installation ‘Sound of Silence’, artist collective Sound of Silence, Groningen
Panorama Groningen, Ploeg exposition, Kunstkring Den Haag, The Hague