A lively hotspot in the heart of Amsterdam in emerald green tones.

The fence around De Nederlandsche Bank on the Frederiksplein is a true optical experience. While passing the building, a rhythmic, dynamic pattern appears and disappears in the trellis of the fence. The figures on the sides of the rails were designed in 1992 by artist Peter Struycken, a pioneer in the area of environmental art and generating computer-program based image, light and colour compositions.

My studio is situated on top of a Fifties concrete modernist apartment building in the Rivierenbuurt in the south of Amsterdam. The best thing is that my building is just one floor higher then the rest of the houses in the neighborhood so I get a good view of the city and the ever changing Dutch skies. What makes my view really special is the view from the balcony on an inaccessible inner garden. The garden is made on the roof of a parking garage of an office building and nobody can go there since there are no stairs or entrance. Once a year the gardeners come with a tall ladder. They are the only ones that enter the garden ever. The nice thing is that still there is a winding path in the middle of the garden for only your eye to trace it.

Surrounded by the growing business area of Amsterdam Zuid, this modernist historic monument from the 60's oozes freedom. The clash of strict, grey, practical architecture of Gerrit Rietveld with the chaotic, colourful, anarchic bustle of art students working in these spaces is amazing. The 5 years I spend here as a student changed my life and shaped me to a great extend to who I am today. Now, temporarily walking these corridors again as a guest teacher, I realise how much I had missed this place since graduating 8 years ago. This is not a common art school. It's a family, a movement with a very personal and radical approach. Many students coming for a temporary exchange end up staying, because after wandering through this twisted Mondrian painting you will never be the same…

To get out of the hustle of the city, my husband and I love to bike down to Amsterdam's Forest to see the goat farm, or picnic in the sun.  There are also little spots to swim :)