Arteles Catalogue 2023-2020

Back to Basics program / JUNE 2022
Antje von Stemm
Germany
www.vonstemm.com
About
Hello, my name is Antje von Stemm. I am a childrenbook
artist based in Hamburg, Germany. I hold a diploma in design
and illustration (Department of Design / HAW Hamburg) and
additionally trained as a paper engineer in Santa Fe, USA.
For my projects I often combine different artfields:
I am switching between writing, drawing, painting,
paperengineering, tinkering, photographing, filming and
performing. Especially the areas where different art fields
meet and intersect hold a great attraction for me.
Meanwhile my experiments resulted in a bunch of creative
craft books, pop-up books and video tutorials, mostly for
children. I also teach and inspire: I hold creative workshops
for children and adults in schools, libraries and at festivals.
Some of my book projects have won some nice awards,
including the German Youth Literature Award and the LUCHS.
I work with ten other creative humans in the Freudenhammer
studios, Hamburg.
Diving into forest microcosm
I tried to use my time in ARTELES as loosely and playfully as
possible and not to take on too much pressure. I started with
a “seeing-and-collecting” phase: for a few days I wandered
in the woods around the ARTELES houses and collected
pencil drawings of natural structures on small blank cards -
buds, leaves, moss, stones, branches. Then I selected two of
these cards at a time and combined the structures in colored
pencil drawings. The result - without my having intended
to do so beforehand - was a series of fantastic natural
creatures. In the next phase I transferred the ideas of these
drawings into small 3D figures - five small nature creatures
were created from wire, colored paper and adhesive tape.
With these little wild beasts under my arm, I then wandered
back into the forests, looked for good, magical places and
then photographed the creatures there. While wandering
for hours around with these little figures, stories and scenes
arose in my head, which I am now writing down piece by
piece - I’m curious what will become of it!
You can find out more about me and my work on my website
WWW.VONSTEMM.COM or my Instagram channel @
antjevonstemm