Mathilde Melsen
About the artist
Mathilde Melsen combines illustration and ceramics to tell stories from her sense of wonder at the world around her. She draws inspiration from nature, small everyday moments and old folk cultures. With collage, various materials and a playful eye, she creates poetic works in which simplicity and experimentation meet.
Mathilde Melsen (2002, Belgium) earned her bachelor's in Illustration and her master's in Applied Arts at Sint Lucas Antwerpen.
Starting point of the work
Heart of Oak is a cosy, small-scale tattoo shop full of original, illustrative drawings. What struck me immediately were the many geometric shapes, animals, and the striking colour palette of black, yellow, red and turquoise. Inspired by the illustrative panels in the tattoo shop, I'm making a ceramic panel with an illustration of a folk- or plant-like figure, in clay with collage-like forms.
“What struck me immediately were the many geometric shapes, animals, and the striking colour palette of black, yellow, red and turquoise.”
Heart of Oak
Heart of Oak is anything but an ordinary tattoo shop. Owner Gil Guerra greets you with a warm laugh in a space full of quirky details and character. Behind the counter stand several tattoo stations, which can be separated from one another by curtains. Various artists work here side by side, and guest tattooists regularly join in. As the ink pens hum, original designs are placed on the skin with a steady hand and a great deal of gratitude.