Eja Siepman van den Berg

Eja Siepman van den Berg graduated from the National Academy of Visual Arts in Amsterdam in 1967. Many museums in the Netherlands have exhibited and purchased her sculptures. Eja Siepman' s work is based on studied poses. These may be a step or a zigzag movement in the knees and back. Sometimes this pose may contain a minimum form of expression such as resilience or determination. Then again it might seem to embody a purely formal quality, sometimes even inspired by a trivial source, for example the zigzag position which she first noticed in an advertising photo for tights. Whatever the inspiration, the sculpture is initially based on an idea and not a living model. If there is a model, it is briefly used for taking photos or it may be a wax model which is later enlarged. The sculpture only acquires its final form in the detailing of the enlarged wax model, in numerous subtle workings of the surface and plastic form, before the wax model finally goes to the bronze caster.