To register for (the opening of) my exhibition 'KLASSIEK?!', please use this link.
The exhibition remains until the 28 of November, and can be visited on weekdays. Registration is necessary.
The exhibition is hosted at the school where I work and where I went. It is the place I first learned Greek, and where I now teach students about classical antiquity. In this exhibition me and my students ponder the question of what the classics entail: What are they? Whose are they? And what do they mean to us? Next to an overview of work I made in the past 8 years with these questions as their theme, also my students have made work to give shape to their own interpretations of 'the classical'.
My name is Jessy Rensink and I am a visual artist and classicist; since 2023 I teach Latin and Greek in a high school and make visual work in a range of styles and media. After studying illustration at the art academy of Utrecht (HKU) for two years I decided to switch to classics, in which I obtained an MA degree in 2024 and an MA in teaching as well in 2025. Art and classics have always been inseperable for me, and I believe my work as a teacher of classics and as an artist are very much informed by each other.
In my work I am interested in classical antiquity; making art is for me the perfect way to reflect on my relationship to the classical an on the topics and subjects that intrigue me the most within classics. Some of these themes include the reception of classical art; the history of our field of study; Greek tragedy and the way we can recognize so much humanity in them; the timelessness of art. Art for me is a research tool that allows me to fully embrace the ambiguity of humanistic topics by making my own ambiguous interpretation of them. The form my work takes on is broad, ranging from painting to drawing, from making puppets to silkscreen prints.
Since 2022 I am connected to Oogappel Gallery (www.oogappel.xyz), a gallery for young artists that is located at de Olmenhorst.
In 2025 I was able to do artistic research in Florence for five weeks, thanks to het Philologisch Studiefonds. During this stay I researched the renaissance influence on our contemporary view of 'the classical'.
An overview of some exhibitions in which I participated:
-KLASSIEK?! (2025) Solo exhibition @ Fioretti college Lisse
-Dag van Rome (2025) @ Rijksmuseum van Oudheden
-Olmenhorst Art Festival (2025) @ Olmenhorst
-het Creatieve Klokhuis van de Olmenhorst (2024) @ Oogappel Galerie
-Kultuurmakersgala (2024) @ makerscentrale
-Get Lost festival (2019) @ Scheltema (with art collective ROEM)
-Beeldklank (2018) @ het Huis van Betekenis
Thank you!