JOHAN SIETZEMA

 His life as an artist is a long period of study. Of construction, of form, of the material provided by Nature, of old building methods and of the expressive effect of natural processes.
His works reflect this research. Series of drawings, scale models, photos and notes guide and conducts his focus. A gigantic diary like a sensitive poem.

Again and again an image is created which is filled with what he has learned. Branches and twigs form figures which look like hairy beasts. A tree trunk is given a covering of organic material and changes into a fungus. He weaves wicker into walls for palisades of stalks. Peat and loam are pushed around branches and stakes. Sometimes he builds a kiln around it so that the fragile form can be baked and preserved. On the beach at Heemskerk on Sea he built “ Houses” with sand, sea water and concrete. They became forms which remind one of layers of rocks which were pushed up thousands of years ago by gigantic forces in the landscape. Houses? Nature is a house. Nature provides a house. Sietzema is at home there. He uses Nature to provide form, naturally. His growth structures touch something universal.  

Ans van Berkum; Art Below Sealevel 2004