John VanderWerf was born in the Netherlands in 1948, migrated with his family to Australia in 1953 and lived in Mt Evelyn for most of his life. He has worked as a Visual Merchandiser since he was 18 years old and managed his own Visual Merchandising Business for 30 years, which included designing and building Christmas sets and exhibitions in major Shopping Centres and Trade Fairs.
John has always enjoyed experimenting with paints as a hobby and through a variety of projects within his business. In 2002 he began water colour lessons. Since then John has exhibited & sold some of his artwork in various art exhibitions including an exhibition at Lady Hawke Café in Mt Dandenong, being the artist of the month, and through the Sherbrooke Art Society Gallery.
John won awards in 2008, 2009 and 2010 at the Lilydale Agriculture & Horticulture Show including Best Exhibit, First Prize, Third prize and Highly Recommended for his Water Colour and Acrylic paintings
John has a strong desire for experimenting with a variety of mediums where his natural inclination aims for something novel and new, and the use of synthetic materials which form some of his contemporary artwork giving a 3 Dimensional perspective.
In 2011 John started his most recent form of artwork making sculptures from aluminium composite. This material is hard wearing and non-fading, often seen on the outside of buildings as coloured panels or used for business signage. John has been able to transform these panels into imaginative pieces of art by cutting and bending the material manually into sculptures suitable for wall hangings, table centre pieces and garden ornaments. All works of art are original pieces and displays the creativity of John’s work
John’s ability to experiment shows the diversity of his artwork. He has sold several pieces of his sculptures through various art exhibitions as well as being invited as guest artist at Mornington Art Exhibitions in 2018
His innovative creations have received a Highly Recommended award at the Spring Awards Exhibition at the Sherbrooke Art Society in 2016 and 2018, and won Best 3D Artwork at the Mount View Art Show in 2019.
John is a member of the Sherbrooke Art Society and Gallery 247.
