Sanne Bernhart

Drawing, painting, designing her own clothes – creativity runs in Sanne Bernhart’s blood. After two successful careers in education and lifestyle coaching, her desire to create something new won out when she discovered an art form that made her decide to focus more on becoming an artist.

Sanne’s passion for detail and refinement on one hand, and her desire to work with and manipulate rough materials on the other, is reflected in her creation of bronze sculptures. Nature is her source of inspiration; in the leaves of a cabbage, Sanne sees a bowl. Once immortalized in bronze, a rhubarb leaf becomes a valuable conversation piece. And from more than a hundred fig leaves, a woman emerges.

Sanne’s work has a mystical, elusive quality to it, with the naked vulnerability of nature literally cast in bronze. It’s art to be enjoyed daily, and perhaps a message to cherish nature as we do art.

Born in Amsterdam on January 6, 1972, and trained as a teacher, Sanne chose to teach at a Montessori school. The principles of Montessori education, where creative ability and self-sufficiency are central, have always appealed to Sanne, and are the driving force behind her choice to become an artist, as well as evident in her work.

Sanne Bernhart loves sports and, as she puts it, “has a few pairs of shoes for every sport.” This led to a career switch; after studying physical and medical coaching, teaching children became teaching adults how to live a healthier, more balanced life.

In search of the perfect balance, Sanne studied Eastern wisdom, became proficient in yoga and Eastern health culture. From 2014, she collected the evidence and practice based knowledge and during Corona time she published her lifestyle book ‘Food Fit Focus.’

The book marked the end of a period, or perhaps the beginning of something new. Exercise took her outside, into nature. As an “eye person,” Sanne saw details that others missed, and her love of nature grew. Wherever she goes in the world, she takes something with her, from stones and feathers to the pods of an acacia tree.

“The beauty of nature captured and cast in bronze, harmony and structure as precious jewels to behold. A reflection of the grandeur of Mother Earth, a timeless creation of inestimable attraction.”

As an art designer, she works in her studio in Loenen aan de Vecht and in her trusted bronze foundry, Steylart in Waardenburg, for finishing. Sanding, milling, polishing and patinating. Leaves, vegetables and fruit immortalized in a bronze work.