Wednesday 25th March

Today we visited the CODA Museum, and mainly viewed the exhibition 'Into the Zoo, jewellery and objects,' by Felieke van der Leest.

I found her work very interesting, and when you look past the fun, quirky aesthetics each one has a story to tell.

She employs a lot of knitting and crocheting, which has a very handwoven, warm feel. With this, she would dress it onto plastic animals, and use dozens of other techniques, such as slicing them up, attaching stones and other objects, and really creating a personality out of each and every single one.

There is a joy and passion you can see with each piece, and there are A LOT of pieces to see.

Yet there is a message behind each piece. Subtle tellings and hints speak of a greater purpose beyond basic humour and surprise.

The poster image is known as 'Anti-War Warrior', with the head of a bull terrier and the body of a sportsman. He holds a broken arrow where the breakage points to the target point on his chest, which is coloured like a rainbow. The target shows that he is a victim, but the arrow is broken, and the target is colourful. He is no fighter, but, ironically, he is a 'warrior' against war and conflict, violence.

I learnt that Felieke liked to combine materials, such as gold with plastics and cloth. It points to the contrast between value and worthlessness, real or fake. Just because it has gold, does it mean it's more valuable than any of her other pieces?

Billg Bang

I feel Felieke has really explored her area and knows her subjects very well. She is not second guessing, but rather is familiar with the concepts she is attempting to represent, which I feel she is doing very well in a fun method that sparks passion.