Marleen Haezebrouck
From This Inner Glow, 2009
440 mm x 800 mm
Marleen Haezebrouck
What Lies Beyond the Horizon?, 2015
1060 mm x 480 mm
Marleen Haezebrouck’s Statement
All my tapestries arise from personal emotions, impressions, and ideas. I can be very impressed by remote and desolate landscapes (deserts, the altiplano, the sea…) and by the energy and beauty of nature. Events in my personal life and surroundings also inspire me. That’s why there’s great diversity in my work.
I always start with small sketches or drawings. Later I work out the design in the exact colors, forms, and proportions to match with my primary emotion or impression. This means a period of restless searching. I do not only want to weave a good-looking work of art, showing correct technical skills or nice colors and the right composition. My work should have a meaning, and express an idea to respond to my mind’s picture. I work at a high-warp loom in 2-D or sometimes in 3-D. Although my favorite materials are a cotton warp and a woolen weft, I have also used flax for the weft in smaller sizes. Anyway, I mostly use multiple wefts for color blending. I like intense colors and strong contrasts. The search for the right hues makes me feel like a painter: a painter with wool! Doing so, the creating process goes on at the loom and therefore remains fascinating till the end. Not many other activities give me a greater thrill.
Marleen Haezebrouck
African Vibrations, 2004
1500 mm x 1350 mm
Marleen Haezebrouck’s Biography
I was born in the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium. After some workshops, I started spinning, dying wool, and custom hand weaving on a shaft loom in the ’80s. At that time I had a full-time job and two kids. So, there was not much time left for these activities. In the late 90’s I took a 3-year course in tapestry on Saturdays. I was fascinated! I discovered the greatest freedom of expression in this traditional Flemish textile technique. Later I took a 4-year course in Gent to learn more about most existing weaving techniques.
After I stopped working all my free time was devoted to traveling around the world with my husband and to working at one of my looms. Besides tapestry I still continue to weave scarves and smaller works, mainly using the Moorman technique on my shaft loom.