By Deb Kroon
Staff Writer
Saskia Niessink was born in Uganda, Africa. So how did she end up in Ellsworth, MN?
It was a time of great political unrest in Uganda. At the age of seven, as living became tumultuous in Uganda, Saskia’s family escaped the country and moved to England, where Saskia remained until she graduated from college. Both of her parents were teachers of art and pottery, so creating something from nothing was not new to Saskia. Actually, she can trace her artistic roots back several generations to her great, great-grandfather, William Wise. William was a graphic designer who worked freelance for Minton China Works during the 1870s and 1880s. He was famous for his “Minton” tiles. He specialized in depictions of rural life.
Saskia herself, even with this long history of artists, had no desire to take art classes, either at school or from her parents. She preferred sports and being outside. When she was fourteen or fifteen, a friend talked her into painting some pottery. It started out as a fun venture with a friend, but quickly became an addiction for her. Her father bought her first kiln, and she has not looked back!
After college, Saskia moved to the United States, and ended up in Colorado. She lived there for nineteen years. It was in Colorado that Saskia met her husband, Craig. Craig’s roots were back in Luverne, MN so after about eight years, they decided to move back to the area. Craig and Saskia wanted to own some land of their own – a place where they could raise chickens and miniature donkeys, as well as garden. Saskia admitted it was quite an adjustment moving from near the Denver area to Ellsworth. They bought an acreage about one mile outside of Ellsworth, the Marlin Buus place, and moved in May. They took most of the summer to get settled. The acreage came with honey bees, grapes, lots of fruit trees, a big barn and lots of room. So in their spare time they’ve found themselves very busy with home grown fruit, produce and fresh honey. Saskia also has a passion for birds. She has one parrot that has been with her for thirteen years. She had two Macaws, but she gave them to a friend that needed them worse than she did. They also have cats, and two dogs.
Saskia has a full time job besides her art. She drives to Sioux Falls to work at the Children’s Castle on the Sanford complex. Saskia is a pharmacy tech. She works with IVs and chemotherapy. She leaves for work at least by 4:00 a.m. each morning, but the nice thing is she is done by 2:00 p.m. Craig works in Luverne, where he is a stylist at “Sincerely Yours”.
I was lucky enough (for me anyway, not sure how Saskia felt) to be able to spend extra time with Saskia after our interview. I locked my keys in my car, and couldn’t get my husband to answer his phone. (Why do we carry cell phones?) Anyway, Saskia was telling me about one of her trips to work. Actually the story began because we were talking about raising chickens and the predators that live around here. She was driving on the back highway westbound, when she caught a glimpse of a tawny animal in her lights in the distance. She slowed down thinking she didn’t need to hit a deer to start her day. As she got closer, she realized it was not a deer. It wasn’t making any effort to get off the road, so she slowed way down. As she got near, the animal turned and looked at her, and she realized she was looking at a very large cat. Coming from the mountains of Colorado, she knew what a mountain lion looked like, and she was looking into the face of one. It was big! It took it’s time crossing in front of her, and then sat down on the side of the rode. She frantically tried to find her phone on the seat. After just sitting there and looking at her, it finally got up and plodded off into the corn. Of course she was still searching for her phone. What a way to begin a day!
As we walked down to her studio/classroom which is located in the basement level of the barn, she told me a little of her history. Even though she spent time watching her parents do their craft, she wasn’t really interested. “There has to be something in my blood,” she said. “I’ve never taken a class or a lesson. I really would rather be outside. But that’s one thing about me, I always like to try something new.” So after she painted pottery, she thought she’d try her hand at sculpting it. She started out creating simple pieces she said. I saw an owl she had sculpted on a shelf. It was anything but simple.
Next, she moved on to glass. She taught herself how to cut the glass and to fuse it to make quite as assortment of different items from clocks to whimsical animals. She has a separate kiln for her glass. “Glass needs to see the heat, ceramic needs to feel the heat,” she explained. “In the glass kiln, the heat elements are in the lid. In the ceramic kiln, the elements circle all around the kiln.” She can do glass in her ceramic kiln, but she can’t do ceramics in her glass kiln. She continued to explain, “In the large kiln a piece takes twenty-four hours start to finish, where in the small kiln, it’s fifteen to sixteen hours.”
From teaching herself glass fusing, she moved on to mosaics – mirrors and tiles to name a few of the items displayed in her studio. One of her newest ventures is ‘mixed media’. That is what she was the most excited about. “You start with a blank canvas,” she said. “In mixed media, you have no idea what your finished product will be. That’s what is so fun about doing it. I love to work with people on this. They think I’m nuts,” she said animatedly. “I throw things at the canvas, paint or ink, whatever I feel like trying, and see what evolves.” She uses different mediums, like tissue paper, paste, paint, even cut glass. These were my favorites! The things she had created were amazing!
She also paints, not her favorite, but she is good at it. “Most of the pieces I have here in the studio have been painted for Paint & Sip classes” she said. I would gladly have taken any of them home. She had hung several large paintings and even a portrait of one of her dogs. These were paintings she had done for herself.
Saskia’s real love in all of this is teaching others how to do it. “When people come to a class and have never tried anything like this before, I love to help them through. It is a great feeling when they do it and realize that they have. “I don’t do this for money. It’s for the enjoyment of watching someone succeed. I plan to keep prices low so people feel they can come and create something with me.”
