Hi! 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 very 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 can be quite 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 apple orchard 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:
-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
-in september of 2025 I will make a solo exhibition in the school where I work, open for students and the world. I hope to show there the interconnectedness of art and classics by combining their contexts.
Thank you!