Starting at age ten, Wendy van Boxtel trained in traditional Dutch art techniques under a noted local artist, developing a foundation that would later inform her highly experimental approach. She went on to study activity therapy before attending the Kunst Academy in ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. After immigrating to the United States, she spent several years working in an arts access program for people with special needs, followed by professional experience as a graphic designer.

Her non-traditional path continues to shape her practice. She combines graphic instincts with illusion-based compositions.

During the last few years Van Boxtel has developed a body of work recognized for its striking visual impact. She creates geometric illusions and hyper-real figures that seem to shift with viewer movement, engaging both perception and emotion. Her work has been exhibited by galleries and collected locally and internationally.

Van Boxtel and her husband have five children, four biological and one adopted, and started fostering children several years ago. These experiences have deeply influenced her artwork, strengthening her understanding of the importance of belonging, care, and stability in a child’s life. Through her art, she explores these themes of connection, transformation, and hope, while seeking to raise awareness and inspire others to consider becoming foster parents.

STATEMENT

My art is rooted in transformation, both personal and perceptual. As an immigrant from the Netherlands a foster and adoptive parent, my experiences have shaped the way I see the world and the stories I tell through my work.

I was bullied for years as a child, and it took time for me to learn to recognize my own worth. That experience has stayed with me, especially since becoming a foster parent. While I cannot compare what I went through with the experiences of a child in foster care, fostering has given me a deeper understanding of how important it is for children to feel safe, wanted, and loved. Both experiences have influenced my artwork and my interest in how people grow, change, and begin to see themselves differently.

My artwork grows from reflections, emotions, and experiences. I am interested in creating work that allows others to recognize something of themselves, even when their experiences are very different from my own.

I bring painting and sculpture together, using optical illusions and distorted, three-dimensional forms to challenge what we think we see. At first glance, an artwork may appear fragmented or difficult to understand. But as the viewer moves, something changes. Forms begin to make sense, unexpected details emerge, and what once seemed confusing becomes clear. I find that moment fascinating because it reminds me how differently we can understand something simply by looking at it from another perspective.

I want viewers to experience my work on more than a visual level. Each artwork will include a QR code that opens an audio recording of a poem on the viewer’s phone. The poetry offers a way to explore the emotions and stories behind the piece, its meant to give the viewer an emotional immersive experience.

Although my work often explores difficult emotions, I also enjoy bringing humor and unexpected elements into it. I want people to feel curious enough to move around a piece, look again, and perhaps discover something they didn’t notice before. That interaction is an important part of how my artwork comes to life.

Much of my work reflects the possibility of change, of moving from uncertainty toward understanding, from feeling lost toward finding a sense of belonging. These are ideas that have meaning in my own life, but I believe they are also experiences many people can relate to.

My work encourages empathy and help people look beyond their own experiences. I believe art can help us reconnect with the compassion that’s already inside us.

As a foster parent myself, I am an advocate for growing the number of foster and adoptive families around the world. Too many children are still waiting for safe, loving homes, and I believe awareness can help change that.

As the founder of a new global resource, www.betherefuge.com I created this platform where people can find foster care and adoption information specific to their own country. The website has launched and continues to grow, with more countries, organizations, and resources being added over time.

As the platform expands, it will be accessible through QR codes at my exhibitions and across my online pages, making it easier for people to take the first step toward fostering or adopting and helping a child find a safe, loving home.