Meinsje Vlaming’s “The Uncanny and the Sublime” will be on exhibit for one more weekend at the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery. This very special show is the culmination of several years of dedicated work in both painting and puppetry, with results that are both surprising and thought-provoking.
Meinsje is well-known in the community as a multi-faceted artist. She is a painter, sculptor, carver and puppeteer with a history of performance and dance. It may be less well-known that she has also been enrolled as an advanced student of painting and puppetry for the last few years, thanks to the global connectivity of the internet. Never a stranger to self-directed learning, Meinsje’s deep curiosity and desire to continue
growing as an artist have recently led to her work under the supervision of a master carver and puppeteer as well as a master painter. The current exhibition is a beautiful manifestation of the striving and exploration she has recently undertaken through her studies.
Where other artists might rest on past successes or continue to create in a proven style, Meinsje’s explorations of form and technique continue to evolve. The resulting body of work reflects a diversity that is both interesting and inspirational. It is a wonderful demonstration of what an artist can accomplish in a short period of concentrated work through the exploration of deep themes.
On top of being prolific and diverse, Meinsje has been ambitious in her painting by taking on the concept of The Sublime, which has art historical roots in the nineteenth century movement of Romanticism. Within Romantic painting, poetry, music and philosophy, the individual’s subjective experience is taken as primary over anything that reason or science might reveal, with emphasis given to passion, intuition, and the
aspiration to evoke a strong emotional response from a viewer or audience. The Sublime may be the pinnacle of Romantic thought, as it reflects the grandeur and sheer scale of the natural world, with its overwhelming beauty as well as its danger and potential for destruction. These themes are well developed in Meinsje’s recent work.
In this marvelous exhibition, we also see ample evidence that Meinsje has been thinking about The Uncanny, especially in relation to her puppets. From her artist’s statement:
“…the uncanny presents us with an unsettling feeling that something is not right, the familiar made strange. The doll that comes to life, the puppet that moves too humanlike… the uncanny dwells in the supernatural realm (with) forces beyond natural and scientific understanding.”
The Uncanny is especially palpable in the marionettes currently on exhibit at the gallery. They hang lifeless from their strings, suspended in wait for the hands that will animate and bring them to something approaching life. In keeping with the archetype running under the surface of Pinnochio, we know that puppets can never cross over to become fully like us. Their difference from us lies in the mystery that animates. It is the puppeteer’s work to share their life-force with their puppets, temporarily enlivening them with motion, and gesture, and the ability to tell our stories.
When you revisit Meinsje Vlaming’s beautiful exhibition, “The Uncanny and the Sublime,” take a minute to think about the stories that run under the surface of this impressive body of work. In this little article, we have only had time to touch on a few. Themes of personal identity and place in the world are also very relevant to Meinsje’s art, as are ideas related to memory and the deep history of humanity. Underlying it all, I think, is a deep personal engagement with the fundamental questions of our existence and the mysteries of Being.
What force is represented by the light in Meinsje’s sublime paintings? What energy runs through the puppeteer’s hands to enliven the gestures of her uncanny puppets? For Meinsje Vlaming, creating art is a way to think about the big questions. As viewers of her work, we are blessed with the opportunity to come along for the ride. “The Uncanny and the Sublime” continues this weekend, with a Puppeteer’s Talk on Friday July 3 rd at 7pm, and gallery open hours on Saturday and Sunday, 2pm – 6pm
each day. We hope to see you there.
Links of Interest:
- At the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery: Meinsje’s Uncanny Puppets and Sublime Paintings (2026)- Cortes Currents
- Meinsje: Living Between Two Worlds (2018) – Cortes Currents
- Articles about, or mentioning, Meinsje
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