SYLVIE VANDENHOUCKE | BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sylvie Vandenhoucke develops a distinctive oeuvre in which a thorough analysis of the subtle optical changes on surfaces and materials through light and space, takes central stage.

Indebted to the ever-inspiring history and traditions of the use of light in classic paintings, she consciously expands her quiet universe with works ranging from wall-pieces and small intimate objects to large installations. Key to Vandenhoucke’s artistic expression are systematic and repetitive strategies she establishes at the beginning of a work and the slowness of the processes she chooses to exploit. As such, the work develops virtually as a drawing: small elements find their place in the whole through an internal logic of the set up system. Or, hand-carved voids impose the rhythm of changes in colour hues.

Sylvie Vandenhoucke holds a unique sensitivity for materials. This particular material approach enables her to establish a singular visual language of reduction. As such, an innate quietness emerges in her work.

Sylvie Vandenhoucke’s work can be found in many private and public collections worldwide including Museum of Arts and Design (New York), Corning Museum of Glass (New York), Toledo Museum of Art (Ohio), Chrysler Museum of Art (Virginia), National Museums of Scotland (UK), Musée du Verre de Sars-Poteries (France) and Design Museum Ghent (Belgium).

Vandenhoucke holds a MA and MPhil from the Royal College of Art (RCA) London (UK). She taught at several universities in Europe and beyond and was an invited External Examiner for Doctoral Degrees at the RCA London in 2011 and 2012. From 2009 till 2012 she was Visual Arts Research Coordinator at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium. As an active researcher she received several grants including an Arts and Humanities Research Council Grant (UK, 2006) and a Research Fellowship of the Higher Education Funding Council of England (UK, 2007).

In 2016 she joint the Visual Arts Department at LUCA School of Arts, Ghent (Belgium) where she now works as Senior Lecturer in Sculpture, Glass and Ceramics in combination with a research position at LUCA / KU Leuven (since 2020).