Saskia Van Voorn was born in 1958 in the Netherlands. Growing up in an artistic environment it was part of daily life to draw and paint, meet other artists and visit art galleries and museums. She studied painting and printmaking at the “Minerva Academie of Fine Arts” in Groningen and graduated in 1981. It was during her years at art school that she met Siene de Vries, a fellow student, who was to become her husband. After a successful early arts career, she and her family immigrated to New Zealand in 1988. They now have their home and studios at Le Bons Bay on Banks Peninsula.

Landscapes, plants and people feature in Saskia’s paintings and prints. She generally works on a small scale in a figurative manner. The natural environment is her favourite subject and main inspiration. Saskia specialises in woodblock printing using a technique inspired by the 18th and 19th century woodcuts of Japan, Ukiyo-e (images of the floating world). She makes detailed drawings, made “en plein air” and photos, which she uses for her woodcut designs, capturing the mood of a particular moment in the often-changing landscape. For one print she uses multiple woodblocks, mostly 7 or 8, each block chosen for its own specific texture and grain.

Saskia has exhibited her work widely in solo and group shows over the last 45 years and has artwork held in several public and private collections around the world.