Sieglinde Van Damme
visual artist | creative thinker | author | mentor
Sieglinde Van Damme is a multi-disciplinary artist based in California, although she used to be an economist with European roots. As an award-winning artist, she participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions spanning the US, Europe, Russia, India and Japan. She's been working and exhibiting as a professional artist for over 20 years.
My Artist Philosophy …
I’ve never considered art & creativity as something separate from life. For me, it’s a way of thinking. A way of being.
A way of remembering that no matter what, there’s always another option we can choose. There is always a new possibility waiting to be discovered - even if we cannot see it (yet)!
”re-imagine what else is possible“™ - art that moves you, a life philosophy that frees you
My work is rooted in that rebellious refusal to stay stuck in the status quo. I work mostly abstract because it leaves the meaning open-ended and allows the work to meet you where you are right now … and then grow and evolve alongside you. I allow each piece to evolve intuitively: layered, textured, sometimes chaotic, often refined, always sophisticated. My process is fluid. Mediums shift and combine. The message is deep and subtly unfolds. I don’t force clarity; I allow discovery.
Much of this comes from my own experience immigrating from Europe to California in 1998. I realized early on I couldn’t simply carry my identity across the ocean unchanged.
I had to reimagine … not who I was, but who I could be to live and adapt to a new society. That question stayed with me. It still lives in every canvas or project I touch:
What else can this be? Who else can you be in the way you show up in your life?
I don’t create work to impress or explain. I create to awaken something in you. My art isn’t about giving answers, it’s about offering space. Space to feel. Space to shift. Space to remember what freedom feels like when it's yours to define.
We are all creators. Life is not a fixed path; it’s a living canvas. And regrets? They’re not medals. They’re simply reminders that we’re still choosing.
So choose again. Choose freely. Choose beauty. Choose happiness and fulfillment. And if my work can be a visual companion on that journey … then I’ve done my part.
Thank you,
Sieglinde
"My work is an invitation to step into possibility. Especially in chaotic times, beauty and reflection are not luxuries, they are lifelines.”
Sieglinde’s art and writings have been published in various catalogs and media publications both in the US and in Europe. Her art is included in private and corporate collections around the globe, including Sotheby’s International Realty in France - Monaco.
Sieglinde holds both an MS in Economics and a Master in Fine Arts. Award highlights include:
2009 Lorenzo il Magnifico Award for video art in Italy
2014 Belle Foundation Grant for artistic merit in CA
2018 Leigh Weimers Artist Award in CA
2019 Grant from the San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs' Creative Industries Incentive Fund through the Center for Cultural Innovation
2021 & 2022 Certificate of Artistic Merit from the jury at the Luxembourg Art Prize
2024 Global Arts Award from the international jury panel invited by Opulent Art Gallery
Artwork Represented by:
Answer to a Wall Gallery, Leuven (Belgium)
Whitney Modern, Los Gatos, CA (USA)
