art & architecture

2025

Emmen, The Netherlands

Council chamber townhall

OER, Oerzacht, Oerpracht, Oerkracht

For the renovated council chamber of Emmen City Hall in The Netherlands, Beatrice Waanders and her team realized an 8.5-meter-wide, 2.5-meter-high triptych named OER, crafted entirely by hand using historical felting techniques. The work is made from wool sourced exclusively from the Bargerveen sheephold, whose flock maintains the region’s distinctive raised-bog ecosystem. In doing so, the artwork materially anchors itself in the municipality’s own landscape and its long-standing pastoral traditions.

Drenthe, with its many sheep flocks and expansive natural reserves, is a province in which cultural history and ecology remain visibly intertwined. Although sheep husbandry has shaped the region for centuries, its presence has rarely been given substantial form in public art. With OER, Emmen introduces a significant work that re-establishes this connection, presenting local wool not merely as a material but as a bearer of cultural memory.

The composition draws upon the visual language of the Drenthe landscape. Its layered textures evoke peatlands, open heath, clustered fields, forests, and still waters. Through the tactile softness of wool—an organic fibre steeped in regional heritage—the work reflects the quiet resilience and enduring beauty of one of the Netherlands’ oldest cultural landscapes. Serving as both a contemporary artwork and a gesture of place-making, OER offers a contemplative tribute to Drenthe’s ancient terrain, where nature and culture remain inseparably bound.

The artwork was unveiled on 4th of June 2025 by the Dutch King’s Commissioner in Drenthe Mrs. Jette Klijnsma, in the presence of the mayor and the full municipal council from the city of Emmen.

2025 October

Vledder, The Netherlands

Oervloed

Beatrice Waanders is captivated by the historical richness of Drenthe, The Netherlands. She works with the ancient technique of hand felting, maintaining a close connection to material origins. Her installations Oervloed and Oerlicht are created from the wool of local sheep flocks around Vledder and naturally dyed with regional plants from the same fields.

The Johannes the Baptist Church in Vledder, one of Drenthe’s oldest, houses an 11th-century baptismal font—the only one in the Netherlands still in its original location. Its historical and aesthetic significance inspired Oervloed, in which the artist’s hand is visibly present, and the raw wool resonates with the pure materiality of the font. Green and yellow accents echo the church’s stained glass, while the felt flows from the font like sacred water, symbolizing the abundance of this heritage. The hanging installation Oerlicht engages poetically with the church’s stained-glass windows. Reflecting the motif of Christ as shepherd, each fiber of Drents Heath Sheep wool is rendered in meticulous detail.

Together, the works constitute an ode to Drenthe, where natural and cultural heritage have been intertwined for centuries and remain tangibly present.