February Artist Marieke ten Berge

Children’s book author and illustrator Marieke ten Berge lives with her husband and 3 kids in an old farmhouse in the countryside of the Netherlands. She creates her illustrations by making linocuts of the drawings for her book. About her work, Marieke says, “Since I was a child I long for the mountains and especially those of the far North. We travel at least once a year with our kids to Scandinavia and we love to hike and camp in Norway. When we enter the wilderness in the North it feels like home. So we come back every year.

It's also a big source inspiration. In my work you see a lot of things related to the North. For example, I like to put illustrations of puffins in children’s books. Most of my work on wood and lino cuts is inspired by the trips I make. Another important subject in my work is climate change. I feel it as a mission to include that in my work.

I came to Svalbard two year ago to work on my book "Noord' about animals above the pole circle. This year I return to Svalbard to work on a new book for children. During my stay I will start on my new picture book about a girl and her friendship with an arctic fox, and I want to make new landscape studies.”

During her stay in Svalbard Marieke will give a special class for children in the library, and will also have an exhibition of her work at the Spitsbergen Artists Center.

For more information you can see her Instagram page. https://www.instagram.com/marieketenberge/