biographical notes

1943

Born in Dordrecht, Holland

1953

His family emigrates and lives in Southern California

1956

Lives in Dordrecht for six months, and returns to America

1962

Moves to Zwijndrecht, on the riverside across from Dordrecht

1963

Back to Long Beach California and Studies art (ceramics) and Language (Russian) at California State University at Long Beach

1965

Meets the Dutch environmental sculptor Joop Beljon during a sculpture symposium on the campus in Long Beach. Returns to Holland at the end of the year

1966

Studies for a teaching degree in art at the Tilburg School of Art

1967

Makes first work composed of different units, calculating their proportions to have the same volume

1968

Receives his first commission for a large bronze work, discoid form

1969

Graduates and enters the last year of sculpture class at the Rotterdam Art Academy

1969

First one man exhibition of sculpture in the office of Dicke Architects in Dordrecht

1969

Teaches at a secondary school in Zwijndrecht for two years

1969

Receives his first commission for an environmental land art project, garden and fountain, for the DSW plant in Dordrecht

1970

Graduates and receives the Rotterdam Art Foundation Threshold Prize

1970

Meets Henry Moore and his wife Irina for the first time in Forte Dei Marmi, Italy

1971

Start of membership of various organizations and government committees

1971

Visits Irina and Henry Moore at their summer house in Forte Dei Marmi

1972

became a member of the board of the Dutch Sculptors'Association

1972

First work, perpendicular cylinders 2, in which he uses a transitional stage as the final work

1972

Makes lines on the surface of curved glass planes in order to create spatial linear forms

1973

Receives a grant from the Ary Scheffer Foundation to work in Germany and Italy

1973

Works in Plexiglas with Vera Röhm in Darmstadt, Germany

1974

Works in marble in Querceta, Italy, at Henraux, where he is introduced by Henry Moore

1976

Makes first works without a closed interior, having open curved planes, called the planes, junction series

1977

Is professor of sculpture at the Rietveld Art Academy in Amsterdam for two years

1978

Participates in the Tenth Sculpture Conference in Toronto, Canada

1979

Secretary of the Dutch Sculptors' Association for five years

1979

Marries Lidwien Kuster

1981

Professor of sculpture at the Royal Academy of Arts in Den Haag for two years

1981

Meets the glass artist Andries Copier in Delft, as a member of the advisory committee of COSA (Centraal Orgaan voor het Scheppend Ambacht)

1981

Member an later chairman of the Stipend Committee for Artists and Architects of the Dutch Ministry of Culture for three years

1981-1986

Member of the board of Nationaal Comité Nederland (NCN) of The Netherlands National Committee of artist members of International Association of Art (IAA) - Association Internationale des Arts Plastique (AIAP)

1982

Designs and builds his studio after four years of preparation

1982

Together with Janjelle Stroosma he visits Truus Schräder-Schräder in the house that she and Gerrit Rietveld built

1983

Corresponds with Charles Biederman

1983

Joost Baljeu visits his studio for the first time

1983

Chairman of the East West Forum, a sculpture symposium with Japanese and Dutch artists participating in Dordrecht, The Netherlands

1983

Meets and accompanies Queen Beatrix at the opening of the East West Forum in Dordrecht Holland

1984

President of the Dutch Sculptors' Association for two years

1984

rijksgecommiteerde (second examiner) Royal Art Academy of Art, The Hague NL

1984

Designs a bridge in Dirksland, Holland

1985

member (treasurer) of the board of the Janjelle Stroosma Stichting (Foundation) Dordrecht NL

1985

Travels to Medellin, Colombia to meet and pick up the two adopted daughters Carmen and Julia

1986

Princess Juliana unveils his Durrer monument, primum movens ultimum moriens in Amsterdam. Meets the Princess and Prince Bernhard

1986

First meeting with Donald Judd in Mänchengladbach; a year later in Eindhoven

1987

Start of yearly work in Finish Lapland, above the polar circle, working in wood again

1987

Corresponds with- and visits Annie Oud-Dinaux, the widow of architect J.J. P. Oud, over a period of several years until her death. Ater having heard about his new Zwijndrecht Studio, she had written him to visit her and show pictures of it.

1987

external committee member final exams - Rijksgecommitteerde for Royal Academy of Art - The Hague NL

1988

Together with Wim Smits he visits Donald Judd in Eichholteren, Switzerland

1989

Meets with Charles Biederman, in the car driving from a conference in Vlissingen to Dordrecht Holland

1990

Divorces

1990

Constructs his stainless steel work Opening the Arctic Circle in Kemijärvi, Finnish Lapland

1990

Executes photographic light sculpture aurora borealis on the Pyhä Tunturi in Finland

1990

Six Dutch sculptors: van Bennekum, Glandorf, Goerres, van Loo, Schole and Wubben write a letter to Kemijärvi attempting to discredit him, purportedly as board members of Dutch Sculptors' Association. A year later the problem was resolved with the board itself

1992

Marries Marjo Heikkinen, in Kemijärvi

1992

Is secretary of the Dutch Sculptors' Association for a second time

1992

Birth of Oskar in Turku Finland

1993

Birth of Vincent in Zwijndrecht Holland

1993

Asked to sign a petition against Highway A14 over the River Seine under St. Germain Terrace near Paris.

1993

Takes the initiative to develop a sculpture park along the river banks near Zwijndrecht

1994

Participates in a panel discussion Konkrete Kunst und äffentlicher Raum, Haus Dacheräden in Erfurt

1994

Is asked to submit a design for a park on the river bank, Suvantoranta, in Kajaani, Finland

1994

Conducts a workshop ORANJE LANDSCHAP on landscape design, studying the river Wien in Vienna Austria

1995

the Landscape & Art Network visits land art projects of Lucien den Arend in South Holland

1996

Realizes the Drecht Riverbanks Sculpture Park which is opened on June the 5th by Queen Beatrix

1996

Birth of Vera in Zwijndrecht, Holland

1997

Visits Bulgaria in preparations of an exchange between Bulgarian and Dutch art

1997

organizes the first biennial in the sculpture park Outside In, Finnish Contemporary art

1997

develops his own domain on internet http://www.st-ives.net presenting the site selected art with professional artists from around the world

1998

coordinates an exchange between Dutch and Bulgarian artists - SEA North Sea Black Sea; the first exhibition being in Varna Bulgaria

1999

coordinates the second exhibition, SEA (Black Sea North Sea), which is preceded by a symposium in the Open Air Museum OPAM which is opened by His Majesty King Simeon II of Bulgaria and Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands

1999

receives the Bulgarian decoration in the 1st class Order of The Knight of Madara (Madara Rider - Ridder van Madara) - Awarded to people for particularly great contributions to the consolidation of bilateral relations with Bulgaria.

1999

has two one-man shows in Helsinki and Lahti, Finland

2000

leaves the Dutch Sculptors' Association

2000

Victory is removed by the populist Mayor Vreeman of the Dutch town of Zaanstad

2000

participates in Struktur und Form in der Musik von Johann Sebastian Bach (Structure and form in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach) in Erfurt Germany

2000

lecture - Die Erkundigung der Grenzbereiche zwischen Landschaftsarchitektur und bildende Kunst - at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich (ETH), of Zürich Switzerland - other lecturers were Vito Acconci, Magdalena Jetelova, Dani Karavan, Andy Goldsworthy, Bernard Lassus, Peter Latz, Franco Zagari - view the invitation (pdf file)

2003

moves with his family permanently to Penttilä in Kangasniemi Finland

2003

second prize - MUOTIALA, Tampere, environmental art competition

2004

accepted as a member of the Suomen Kuvanveistäjäliitto (Association of Finnish Sculptors)

2005

appointed cultural ambassador for Unesco - IHE Institute for Water Education ... and water became art

2006

AIESM manager for Finland

2006

permanently installs his large works on the grounds of Penttilä in Kangasniemi Finland - establishes Penttilä Open Air Museum

2006

travels to Denver USA on invitation by the city and county of Denver to make a proposal for the Justice Center Campus

2006

travels to California and visits the Watts Towers, for which he cereated and maintains a website - and visits the Giant Sequoias in Sequoia National Park

2007

works on his personal sculpture park and improves the grounds at Penttilä

2008

joins MOD Architects design team to make a proposal for Vantaa city about idea planning and design of thw Veromies area - the centre of the future Aviapolis, the third centre of Vantaa

2009

the University of Goteborg, Sweden nominated the sculptor for an acting professorship in Iron and Steel at the Steneby location.

2009

Is invited to make a proposal for a sculpture on a roundabout at the UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso)

2010

Travels to El Paso to present his proposal.

2010

accepted as a member of the Mikkelin Taiteilijaseura

2011

Participates in a land art symposium, Naturkunst in Alzey Weinheim, Germany

2013

Participates in the Waste Material Mask Workshop in Izmir, Turkey.

2013

presentation and public lecture at zlg events courtyard - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

2015

participates in Moscow Biennale special project, Moscow, Russia.

2015-16

participates in "Présence Construite de la sculpture à l'architecture" in Topographie de l'art - Paris France.

2012-18

realizes QUISNAM VERTITUR Evolving linear shape - a roundabout sculpture in Kangasniemi, Finland.