A Schelde Riverscape
Vlassenbroek___Broekkant, Baasrode, Scheldeland BE
November 2015

En-Plein-Air-Drawing as a last-minute attempt to capture the riverlandscape between Vlassenbroek and Broekkant. Explore the book.


Wapke Feenstra, Team Vlaams Bouwmeester, Ronald Van de Sompel, Montse Hernandez i Sala, Waterwegen & Zeekanaal, Stad Dendermonde, Lucie Renneboog, Ibe Ryde, Lulu Cuyvers, Patricia De Landtsheer and all that came along to draw.
Jap Sam Books
Museum of Contemporary Art (GfZK) Leipzig, Germany

From Summer 2014 till Spring 2015 people with sketchbooks appear on banks, polders and dikes along the Schelde River. Rising sea levels and the inevitable heavy rainfall make Flanders a very dangerous place during spring tide. Government agencies and engineering firms work hard to keep the water in check. The River Schelde gets more space, dikes are moved… in a constantly shifting panorama. Time to picture the scene. And everyone is drawing; artists, civil engineers, landscape architects… even fishers are taking notes. But landscapes are elusive, they defy every attempt to commit them to paper.

Wapke compiled a book which features the drawings made in and around the river. They portray the landscape between Vlassenbroek and Broekkant – made by workers, artists, and visitors. Enthusiasts who seized the challenge, because en-plein-air is the tradition here. In the last century painters and sketch artists loved to try their hand at representing the river or they ventured into the polder. The tradition had faded but it was revived in this project as a slow and last-minute attempt to capture the fleeting landscape.

ARTIST BOOK: compiled from drawings made by tourists and villagers. Published by Jap Sam Books. Texts by Wapke Feenstra and Ronald Van de Sompel. Image-editing and collages: Wapke Feenstra. Design: Montse Hernandez i Sala.
Production and local events on www.tekenen-in-vlassenbroek.be

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