Kirsten Spuijbroek

Kirsten Spuijbroek (b. 1981) is an artist based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She studied Product Design at ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, graduating with a BA in 2009, and previously attended the Hout- en Meubileringscollege in Amsterdam.

Spuijbroek’s work explores difficult and often unspoken aspects of human experience, with a particular focus on grief, loss, inner emptiness, vulnerability, and emotions that are frequently avoided because of their painful nature. Rather than softening these experiences, she gives them form through sculptures that can appear erratic, uneasy, and untamed, often using a dark and restrained visual language.

Her porcelain flower sculptures bring together fragility and permanence. Flowers become symbols of life’s transience and of the spaces created by absence and loss, while the material itself allows her to explore the tension between delicacy and resilience. Spuijbroek pushes her materials to their limits, experimenting with their behavior and possibilities. Her works do not seek to resolve the emotions they address, but instead create space for contemplation and reflection.

Spuijbroek’s work has been presented at venues and events including the International Biennale of Artistic Ceramics in Aveiro, Portugal; the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza, Italy; CODA Museum in Apeldoorn; Tropenmuseum Amsterdam; and Museum Arnhem. She has also participated in numerous exhibitions in the Netherlands and internationally and completed residencies at the European Ceramic Work Centre (EKWC) in 2017 and 2022. In 2023, she was selected for the International Competition of Contemporary Ceramic Art at MIC Faenza.

Her work is held in the collections of the GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts in Leipzig and Museum Arnhem, as well as in private collections. Spuijbroek is represented by ROOF-A Gallery in Rotterdam.

Visit Kirsten Spuijbroek’s website and Instagram page.