A welderwith a soft spotfor animals.
Atelier Staaldier is the workshop of Ciska Heemskerk: a welder by trade, a drawer for love. In an old cattle barn on the edge of Voorbeeldstad she has been making animals of steel since 2009.
Ciska Heemskerk in the barn · helmet up
“A heron is mostly neck. Get that right and the whole sculpture comes alive.”
Ciska Heemskerk
Ciska worked for twelve years as a welder in structural steel. Bridges, stairs, gates. On Saturdays she drew animals.
In 2006 she turned a pile of offcuts into a heron for her mother’s garden. Three years later she rented the old cattle barn on the edge of Voorbeeldstad. It now holds a plasma cutter, a press brake and two welders, and behind the barn a sculpture garden with thirty sculptures in the grass.
She works without staff. Only in spring does a trainee from the trade school work beside her. That way around forty sculptures a year leave the barn, and never the same one twice.
- 430sculptures since 2009
- 3–6 mmcorten steel
- 6–10 wksfor a bespoke sculpture
From apprentice welder
to number 430
- 1998
Apprentice welder at a steel fabricator. Learns MIG and TIG, and that a seam can be beautiful.
- 2006
Welds a heron from offcuts one Saturday for her mother’s garden. The neighbours want one too.
- 2009
Rents the old cattle barn on the edge of Voorbeeldstad. Atelier Staaldier begins.
- 2016
First commission for a public space: two stags at the entrance to a park.
- 2026
Sculpture number 430 leaves the workshop. A roe deer, for a garden by the river.
Rather see them for real? They stand in the grass behind the barn, Thu to Sat.
Directions and addressThu – Sat
10:00 – 17:00
The barn
is open
Walk in if the door is open. If the plasma cutter is on, wait a moment by the coffee: Ciska will see you. Children are welcome; the sculpture garden is grass and gravel.
Which animal is looking for a home in your garden?
Send a few photos of the spot and tell us which animal you have in mind. Two weeks later there is a sketch to scale, with the price on it.