Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine January 2019 | Page 592

Tes Verheij
Artist
Artcraftcafe Gallery
Front Street, Philipsburg
Sint Maarten
Tessel Verheij was born in
Zandvoort, The Netherlands.
She lived, studied and worked
in Holland for 31 years
before moving to England in
2003.
Since early childhood, Tes has
been fascinated with art and
history. Her biggest influences
have been Surrealism and the
Arts & Crafts Movement (Art
Nouveau, Jugendstil) with
artists such as Gustav Klimt and
Mucha. She decided to follow
her life’s passion to pursue a
career to become an artist in her
own right, and help others on
the same journey by becoming
an art teacher.
Tes studied full time as a
teacher of secondary education,
receiving a Foundation Art
Diploma for Secondary
Education in Drawing in 1992,
and earned her teaching degree
in 1995. She went on to teach
art to students of various ages in
Holland. In addition to teaching,
she worked in her studio,
exhibiting with a group of like-
minded artists in Zandvoort
aan Zee, and building a base of
collectors.
Tes spent four years at the
famous Merton Abbey Mills
Market in London where she
exhibited artworks and ran
her art school for adults and
children. While there, she
received the honour of being
commissioned to design and
paint the front archway and
mural at Merton Abbey Mills
alongside renowned artist
William Morris who founded
the influential Arts and Crafts
movement.
In 2008, she left her successful
London Art Craft Café behind
to start a new life focused on
spending more time with her
children. This began a journey
of extended travel throughout
Europe, Egypt and around the
world, fuelled by a mission
to explore other inspirational
artists and art movements. It
was during these travels that
she discovered the beautiful
island of St. Maarten where she
now lives and paints full time.
Tes’ primary style is figurative
with compositions in oils and
acrylics on canvas, pastels on
paper, inks on paper, mosaics,
and her signature creations of
Vitrail (glass paint) on canvas,
which is a complicated and
time consuming technique to
master. In addition to stunning
underwater scenes, portraits of
animals and people, she also
paints mystical and spiritual
pieces inspired by her dreams
and experiences.