series IMMORTALIZED I have been busy with this project for about 20 years now. It started with my fascination for the beauty of nature and its transcience. In this series the circle of life is immortalized. Flowers, leaves and seed boxes are petrified in fluid clay, frozen and buried in the material they once emerged from. These series is an ode to the quiet splendor of nature. In terms of symbolism, the fleeting nature of life immediately appealed to my imagination. There is drama and melancholy, but it is not a sad artwork. Rather a celebration of the beauty of life. In a more literal sense the beautiful wilting flowers appealed to me. I literally use this in my work. Real flowers and leaves, which are already dying off, i immerse in the clay they once originated from. Transcience of life. By leaving the ceramics completely white and unglazed, the elements light and shadow are emphasized. Also the element shape of the objects cay play a prominent part because the viewer is not distracted by colour. Because the ultimate thin layer of clay and the real flowers and leafs or seed boxes burn away in the ceramic kiln, the work is very fragile and stays fragile even after the stoke. That means that a lot of material is killed during the process.  The process starts with the harvest. The first phase of the process consists of selecting real flowers, leaves and seed pods that have to be carefully selected, picked and dried. Due to the vulnerability of real vegetation, little is suitable for ‘drowning’ in the clay and then burning it. So a long period of research (years of trial and error) has preceded. Because each type of vegetation can only be harvested once a year, years of research and testing has preceded it. Because all elements come out of the furnace as loose particles, the objects have been put together piece by piece.