Winnie van der Rijn is a multi-disciplinary artist of opportunity– collecting materials, experimenting with techniques and pursuing her curiosities. Her work exists in the realm of possibility and potential. Themes of memory, identity, gender, beauty and power reflect her everyday experiences, interactions and concerns. She embraces the discarded, the flawed and the marginalized creating fictional histories, alternative narratives, future truths & imagined worlds in the form of false relics, ritual artifacts and altered portraits. Winnie’s art practice includes textiles, sculpture, collage and collaboration (which she considers its own art form). She plays well with others. Winnie actively exhibits her work throughout the United States.

A life long learner, Winnie graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989 with a BA in Sociology. She has studied printmaking, sculpture, metal-smithing and Marxist theory. In addition, Winnie has explored weaving, machine knitting, bookmaking, altars, exploding picture boxes, automata, shoe making, millinery, sewing, fusing, stamping, metal weaving, resin, riveting, precious metal clay and mixed media. She is wildly curious about how things are made.