Petra Groen

Petra Groen lives and works in Amsterdam, Enschede and New York Ctiy.
A lot of her time is spend by traveling. She has created during her travels a way of observing new cultures, environment and the people around her. Which gives her inspiration in her studio to form her sculptures and installations.

The central focus of her sculptures and installations is the process"”an investigation of her experiences, emotions and immediate environments.

She uses a large diversity of materials, mostly of the flexible kind, including fabrics, fiberglass, plastics, and metal. Her studio is a treasure chamber of collected materials and objects, she mostly found on her travels, which she moves around, assemble and place on shelves. She recombines them to create narratives that serve as an encyclopedia for new concepts and art pieces. She wants to confront the viewer with their own personal associations.

Her art work is informed by nature in all of its varied forms: growth processes, cell structures, organs, microbiology. The human body plays an important role, namely tissue, emotions and scale.
She desires to externalize the internal. Using nature and the human body as a form of inquiry. Her intention is to create experiences that for...

Education:
1992 - 1997 AKI, Art academy, graduated in Mixed Media, (MFA + BFA) Enschede Holland
1994 - 1995 SFAI, San Francisco Art Institute, department: New genres and Film, San Francisco, U.S.A
Awards/ Stipends:
2009 - received a stipend by Sculpture Space, Utica, N.Y.
2008 -Basis stipendium, Fonds voor de beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam (State Grant)
2005 -Grant by the city of Enschede for the art event “Wissel-Waar”
2004 -Grant by the city of Enschede for the art event “De Onthulling”
2007 -Awarded for The Pritzker Foundation Endowed Fellowship 2007, Woodside, California
2000 -Winner of the: Public award, during the city purchases 1999 Enschede, Holland
1995 -Sobel Grant, Grant for talented students in the state of California, SFAI, San Francisco, USA