About The Artist

The Romantic Adventurism of Will Kellermann. Behind the signature Will Kellermann lives a very special artist. She likes to see herself described as a romantic adventurer, and there is truth in this. After studying at the academies of Tilburg and the Hague, she left Holland and lived in Switzerland where she studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich (school for applied arts) and had her first exhibitions. In the eighties she came to live in the 'artist village' of Kortenhoef in the Netherlands. Her leaning to other times and places and a longing for beauty are shown by her appearance, the environment she lives in, the works of art of her illustrious predecessors around her and her untiring urge to travel. Will Kellermann often seeks her subjects in nature, but in all her paintings there is a soul of feminism, whereas the freedom of women is her main theme, sometimes symbolized by birds and butterflies. This is especially predominant in her unique 'silkcolors'©, where she uses silk as a canvas. She also likes to paint 'en plein air' and undertakes painting trips throughout Europe, with an international group of fellow painters. The quick impressionistic style with short brush strokes is emerging in her oils in a way that we recognize from the great French Impressionists. A significant aspect of Will Kellermann's work is her use of colours. In the 'silkcolors©' one is almost stunned by the richness of the colours of the silk paint, which get an unrivaled shine, once layer over layer applied on the silk, due to the natural fibers of the canvas. She claims that her brush is guided by the nature of the silk, wherein the true colour pigments come to live. The adventurism of Will Kellermann is also apparent from her many experiments which have lead to the development of this extremely complex technique. Sometimes the paint is applied onto the silk in a transparent way and other times it is rendered opaque, so that very interesting contrasts arise. Using these techniques, she follows with passion the steps of the old Asian masters. Will Kellermann allows herself to be seduced not only by oil and silk paint but also by watercolours and pastels. With these techniques she draws and paints portraits and quick impressions of anything that her artist's eye is enchanted by, from sunfilled terraces to flamboyant nudes. When one sees Kellermann's pastels, the name which comes to mind is Renoir, the French painter who later in life became focused on working with the velvety pastel. It hardly needs stating that there are many collectioners of Will Kellermann's colourful work, so varied in topic and technique. Her paintings are exhibited in many countries and she won several awards, a.o. from the Cross Gate Gallery Kentucky and Art et Culture Boissezon France. Shortly her work will be introduced in China and will be exhibited in the museum of Sao Bras in Portugal. Her work has been in many galleries as well as the Jacob Smits Museum in Belgium. It is also in the portfolio of the Art Foundation of 's Graveland, where Art gallery McSorley is situated. Her book (Dutch and English), published in 2003, gives a good view on the artist and her work. The Romantic Adventurism of Will Kellermann (€ 49,50) is available in the gallery or to be ordered on line.