About me

My name is Ria Hooghiemstra. I am born in 1960 in IJsselstein and I grew up in Bolsward, a small town in Friesland (the Netherlands). At the moment I am living in Heerenveen.

In this art project and at this website I am telling my own life story. In images and in words. It is very personal, but also universal, because it is about basic feelings, thoughts and emotions.

Before I started this art project I followed a 5 year international training course for medical painting therapy, according to the principles of Liane Collot d'Herbois. This education has been an important first step in my process of healing. It has provided me with more courage and strength. Because of this I was able to start and continue this art project. I was able to face my inner dragon and to fight with him.

During my training I learned a lot about light, color and darkness.
Valuable knowledge for the artistic process. 
I have learned about all the different colors and their qualities. This knowledge I have used in making the rainbow birds and the earth birds.
What I have learned about color, I have used in a playful way in the shapes, gestures, postures and habitats of the birds.

I am using textile as a medium for my art, because this feels very natural for me. I have been crafting with textiles since childhood and I very much like this medium. I have explored many different textile techniques and in this art project I have used almost all of them. But some techniques are really my favorites. The one that stands out the most for me is sprang, a very ancient braiding technique with lots of possibilities. If you want to learn more about this wonderful technique, you can visit my website Sprangria.

If you ever have the opportunity to come to the Netherlands, you can visit the fairytalewood with all the creatures in it at my museum Vertelmuseum De Vlechtvogel.