Maarten Schaddelee | Feature Artist

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Maarten Schaddelee, "Lovers in the Circle of Life"

yellow cedar, red cedar, marble turntable base, 16 x 13 inches. Courtesy of the Gallery

Maarten is a sculptor who expresses his deep passion for life through his art.

His enthusiasm bursts through his work, which depicts the beauty of our West Coast environment and our coexistence with nature.

Maarten Schaddelee is a sculptor who expresses his deep passion for life through his art. His enthusiasm bursts through his work, which depicts the beauty of our West Coast environment and our coexistence with nature.

Born in Soest, Holland in 1947, Maarten emigrated with his family to Victoria in 1955 where the Schaddelee family opened The Dutch Bakery and Coffee Shop Ltd. Maarten trained as a Master Cake Decorator and Baker and worked with the family for twenty-eight years. During that time The Dutch Bakery earned a reputation for exceptional artisan baking.

After spending several years carving in his spare time, in 1991 Maarten made the difficult decision to leave the family business to focus full-time on his art. He developed a series of lyrical works that captured the joy of the birds and animals on the west coast. Maarten became known for his whales, eagles, dolphins and seals and worldwide interest in his work began to grow.

Maarten’s early works were part of the Royal B.C. Museum’s “Whales, The Enduring Legacy” exhibit, 1997 – 1998. Two of these sculptures ‘Heartless and Delicate Balance’ are now showcased in ‘The Bob Wright Centre For Ocean, Earth And Atmospheric Sciences’ at The University Of Victoria.

The study of Michelangelo’s life and work and a pilgrimage to Italy 1997 expanded his artistic work to include his story telling and dialogue in stone with the Great Masters of art, spirit and mythology. He has created busts of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, St. Francis, St. Clare, Mary, Goddesses and others.

In 1999, Maarten’s work was featured in the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s exhibit “Form and Spirit.” Later that year Maarten was selected to join sculptors from across Canada in a one month sculpting symposium in Iqaluit, Nunavut titled “Our Life In Stone.”

Maarten has been honoured by People’s Choice Awards and continues to receive local and international attention for the freedom and fluidity his work imparts. His sculptures have been chosen for Sister Cities Suzhou, China, Morioka, Japan and Khabarovsk, Russia.

Maarten was grateful to be chosen in 1999 to join the celebrated B.C. artists at Painters at Painter’s, Campbell River B.C.

Maarten’s large public and private commissions can be seen at the prestigious Swallows Landing award winning development and his ‘Westcoast Spirit’ a nine foot stylized marble whale’s tail at Upper Harbour Place Phase II.

Maarten lives and works from Maarnada, his oceanfront home and sculpture garden overlooking Haro Strait.