At the beginning, I knew only a little about the technique and I had the idea to invite talented and experienced stone lithographers to come and work in the studio. That way I could watch and learn. I met stone lithographers from Paris, Amsterdam, South Africa, and the United States. Michael Barnes from Illinois was one of the first visitors and he has been a regular one ever since. He has been an important influence to the studio and thanks to him, other talented printmakers from the States have also come to work here. Daks : You seem to have a mix of artists but predominantly from Africa and the USA. How do you find the artists that you invite for your residency program? van der Riet : I quickly realized after creating the studio it was important to invite other artists to come and share it. So I started inviting artists to come and reside in the studio. Because of my African roots, I reached out to artists in
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