VAN LEEUWEN, BERT

Born in Haarlem, Holland, 1922, Bert followed his fiancée to Nova Scotia, started in the Aircraft plant in Amherst as Chief Design Engineer in 1953 and opened his own design office in 1974 and is still at it.

Mr. Loots was his first art teacher in High School. He was very good at teaching the art of seeing even though it seemed very boring to draw pots and other objects. He also taught other fundamentals, like watercolour, ink and pencil drawings.

Quick sketching became an important feature of his engineering design activity. Growing up in Haarlem, with centuries of famous hometown artists on exhibit was a privilege he did not appreciate enough at the time. Bert liked famous Haarlem painters, like Frans Hals, Jan Steen and Kees Verwey and also the Expressionists.

Bert has exhibited widely, starting with the 1959 Nova Scotia Traveling Exhibition. Field trips with the two Amherst “Brits”: Fred Nicholas and Dr. Alfred Whitehead, are fondly remembered. Bert sells from his home studio and through galleries and much of his work is in private collections in Canada, the USA and Europe. He is a member of the Tantramar Artists & Artisans’ Guild, The Sackville Arts Association, Visual Arts Nova Scotia and teaches under the PAINTS – Professional Artists in the Schools – Program. In 1999 he won first prize in the Truro “Art in Bloom” Exhibition. He was the featured artist in the Owens Art Gallery 2006 SAA Members’ Exhibition.

His life-long development as an artist has certainly helped his career as an award-winning consulting engineer and industrial designer. Further information, including a CV will be supplied upon request.