Esmeralda, Gypsy Girl Sculpture

Born in Île de France in Dec 1960. In 1994, after graduating in literature (Sorbonne) and 15 years of teaching, she moves to the Netherlands, studies sculpture with Karel Gomes, the craft of mould making and bronze casting with Fred Steffens and, in 1999, upon her return from one year trip in the US, she becomes a full time sculptor!Year 2000… First exhibition. Since then, her statues never stop circulating, in The NL and internationally, in Europe and in the US. On a regular basis, numerous Art Merchants and Galleries contribute to the promotion of her Art: Peter Pappot (Amsterdam), E.J. van Wisselingh & Co (Haarlem), J. C Dumas (Paris), Smelik & Stokking (Amsterdam, Den Haag), Ton Schulten (Ootmarsum), and E. King (Napa Valley, California) and more… Her bronzes enter Auction Houses and appear in prestigious Art Fairs such as Pan Amsterdam, Kunst Rai and Den Bosch Art Fair. With encouraging regularity she serves private customers creating garden statues, grave monuments, trophies, awards and commemorative statues.In 2006 for the first time, her art attracts the interest of the Municipality of Haarlem, the City where she lives and works in her Atelier Gallery of the Kleine Houtstraat. For her City she designs and realizes a Kenau for the Emancipatieprijs Award and a Lieven de Key for an Architecture Award, a medal now permanently displayed in the Teylers Museum, as part of their coins and medals collection. In 2010, Haarlem commissions her a monumental bronze representing two heroes of the “80 Years War”, Kenau Hasselaer and Governor Wigbolt. Ripperda. Since April 2013, it majestically stands, 4 meter tall, on the newly renovated railway Station Square, while the 30 cm original design is exhibited in the Historisch Museum Haarlem, with the following title: Kenau & Ripperda, from Motivation to Inspiration, a pro-peace monument. Her inspiration comes from the people and returns to them. She is a Humanist sculptor. "I use the incarnated body to sculpt experiences. Love, desire, self-esteem, courage, audacity, generosity, surprise, affection, inspiration, clarity, interest and the unlimited range of experiences a human being can have. It is as if experiences have to run through the body in order to reach the soul. I observe and sculpt the visible to access the invisible! When I was commissioned The Kenau & Ripperda monumental bronze, I intended to create a pro-peace monument for my City.