Meet the artist: Joana Schneider

Ahead of the 16th edition of Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam, we caught up with Joana, to find out what inspires her innovative approach to creating art and what she’ll be bringing to Amsterdam Noord this Autumn.

Could you tell us about your background and how your career as an artist started?

I started out as a jewelry maker, creating work on a very small scale, about 5 by 5 millimeters. At a certain point, I started to feel restricted by the scale and felt the pull towards creating larger works. That lead me to the Royal Academy in The Hague where I pursued textiles and an interest in knitting and weaving techniques. 

Through my thesis, I became interested in textile art that isn’t necessarily defined by the traditional skills. That curiosity led me to the craft of the fishermen and net makers. Rotterdam has the largest seaport in Europe and the sea is omnipresent in the Netherlands. Born and raised in Munich, this was a striking contrast for me, and I became fascinated by the maritime industry. I started to incorporate this fascination conceptually and physically into my work. 

Net-making is an area of textile traditions which is male-dominated. In my time learning from and being mentored by local net-makers and fisherman, I felt that many were, and are, textile artists without knowing it. The materials they use are physically very demanding but then again, the different knotting techniques require a great deal of finesse and care.

In addition to the techniques I’ve learnt from the net-makers, I also apply and invent new knotting and wrapping techniques and I’ve developed my own machines. The most important specialized machine for my creational process is a machine that turns rope around its own axis more than 500 times per minute. It enables me to tightly wrap different yarns around rope. The technique is called ‘gimping’ and comes close to coiling. I developed the technique in collaboration with the Textiel Museum Tilburg four years ago. This is a very important part of my process because it allows me to truly personalize my materials. 

Can you talk us through a typical day in your studio?

Which artist has had the greatest impact on you and why?

Claudy Jongstra had a great impact on me. During my studies I did my internship at the Claudy Jongstra farm which is located close to Leeuwarden. Claudy included me entirely into her daily business which was an invaluable experience I am very grateful for.

The role of sustainability seems to play a big part in your work; can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Working only with existing and recycled materials is a restriction, I gave myself from the very beginning. This could be rope and fishing net but also old furniture such as a door from a used closet or a round table top of a coffee table. I prefer to use these old furniture parts instead of newly produced wooden frames for my installations. That’s my way to go. However, what I really do not want to do is to send out a moral message or educate people about how human action and the environment are connected. I do not want to create with a moralising undertone.

Besides, this limitation does also offer great opportunities. It might sound paradoxical but restrictions offer me the necessary freedom for creation. You only have to imagine, for four years already I have been working with the material rope and it has allowed me to create a library of exciting textures and forms. 

What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam?

This year I will show Baby u Know a large-scale wall installation I started to create three years ago. The work playfully addresses contemporary motherhood in the digital age. It connects to a digital self-staging and self-promoting performance that has influenced the relationship between mother and child. Phenomena such as using children for promotion purposes have opened up fundamental questions around children’s digital and privacy rights. The work will be accompanied by a brand-new series of small-scale works. I am already very excited about how these two elements will come together at Affordable Art Fair!

Thanks to Joana Schneider for answering our questions! Now is the time to grab yourself an Amsterdam fair ticket and to explore what’s coming up at the fair.