Smit, Carolein

Netherlands, 1960

Carolein Smit was born in Amersfoort, Netherlands in 1960. She currently lives and works in Zussen, Belgium. Carolein attended the Academy of Fine Arts in the city of Breda, where she specialized in Graphics and Lithography. In 1996 she attended the European Ceramics Working Center. It was there that she developed her unique style, changing the way ceramics was viewed both by professionals and public: she elevated it from the realm of domestic and decorative to the stature of Fine Art. Her vivid, large scale and impressive works often depicted animals who are sometimes given playful anthropomorphic attitudes or are macabre. At times, they are fragile and hurt. Carolein often places her animals on a pedestal of grass lawn, which patterns are masterfully executed and which colors are perfectly cooked. Works of Carolein Smit are housed in such important museum collections, as that of the Victoria and Albert Museum, UK, the FLICAM International Ceramic Art Museum, China, the Leipzig Museum of Applied Arts, Germany and the Schwartz Collection, USA.