27 December 1997. Remembering a great artist. Tapta
Almost 30 years ago, I lost a friend. Tapta, who was born Maria Wierusz Kowalski 1926 in Kościan, died in Brussels at the end of 1996. I met her for the first time in 1978 and from 1979 until she retired from La Cambre school of art, I was each year part of her jury on textile and soft sculptures. So many brilliant pupils having their diploma works and installations in the most remote and strange places of the city...I can only remember this cold morning, beginning January 1998, when, with her friends, students and with her daughter and son, we gathered around her last major work (Esprit ouvert) recently inaugurated close to North Station Brussels. We all shared the words of Jean-Pierre Van Tieghem , art critic and a good friend who passed away March 2015. I remember the happy moments shared with her husband in their warm environment in Uccle, as well as her enthousiasm in Paris for "Fribres Art" exhibition, in Lausanne for the tapestry biennals, as well as in Villeneuve l...