Heleen Cornet book signing at Five Square Art Gallery

Artist Heleen Cor­net has been living on sev­eral islands of the Dutch Caribbean for forty years. During those years she has made thousands of paint­ings, around four hundred of which are shown on a hundred pages of her new book titled “Artist on Saba – 40 years, 400 paintings”. The book will be officially launched during a book­signing event at Five Square Art Gallery in Windwardside on Friday, November 16, 4:00pm to 6:00pm. Cornet could be found regularly on the top of Mt. Scenery where she made drawings of Saba’s dramat­ic rain forest. She camped on the volcanic mountain for more than four weeks in total. These drawings have resulted in big oil and wa­tercolour on canvas paintings. Lately she has made a series of gold-leaf paintings that are on display in the book.

Her outdoor paintings show the great diversity 4 her work and the captivating beauty a Saba. Her book shows the nature of the Caribbean islands where she has been living and the joy of life that is part of the essence of her work.

Comet was born in the Netherlands, where she ob­tained a degree in Educa­tion and a Master’s in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Amersfoort. After having lived in Nor­way for a couple of years she moved to Bonaire in 1975. There she taught fine arts at the local high school for five years. After living for one year in Curacao and St. Maarten, she moved in 1986 to Saba, where she has been working as an art teacher at Saba Compre­hensive School. Together with her husband, marine biologist Tom van’t Hof and family she has made Saba her residence ever since. Cornet published several book together with her husband for the marine parks a Bonaire, Curacao and Saba for which she made the illustrations. The books Saban Cottages and Echoes of the Past are illustrated with waterco­lours depicting the picturesque historical houses in Saba and St. Eustatius.

Cornet was asked for pres­tigious exhibitions in which she participated with rain­forest installations, such as at the Fundatie in Zwolle, the Netherlands, the First, Second and Third Biennial in Santo Domingo, Domin­ican Republic and the 23rd Biennial International in San Paulo, Brazil.

A preview of Artist on Saba is available at HERE. Copies of the book are on sale at Blurb and at Amazon.com.

The Daily Herald.