Berendina de Ruiter & Wojciech Pietranik: Stories from the Studio

This week we had the privilege of visiting Berendina de Ruiter and Wojciech Pietranik in the studio they share on the eve of the QPRC Arts Trail weekend in Queanbeyan.

Berendina is a Dutch-born Australian artist working in Italian Carrara and Australian marble and other stones. She strives for beauty, harmony and serenity in her work. She has worked with masters in Tuscany where she learned to carve the beautiful Carrara marble. She has exhibited and worked on commissions in Australia, Holland and Germany.

Wojciech Pietranik was born in  is a Poland he is also known  for his design work for coins and medals.  His work is held by the British Museum, the Royal Coin Cabinet in Sweden and in private collections across the world.

The pair met at the Canberra School of Art in the late 1980s. Their long-term friendship has resulted in sharing the Queanbeyan studio for the last five years. Each works mainly in stone, Berendina in fine Carrara marble and Wojciech preferring the dark basalts.

Berendina and Wojciech are both Churchill fellows which gave them each the opportunity to refine their skills. You can find out more about their projects here;  Berendina
and Wojciech.