Faces on the Ferry

Blog overview

American artist Rachelle Meyer lives in Amsterdam Noord and uses her 12 minute ferry commute to sketch her fellow commuters and the city’s changing seasons. In this blog series she takes us with her on her Faces on the Ferry art project.

The Eternal Tourist

by Rachelle Meyer

November 16, 2019

  I like to think I can tell which passengers on the ferry are tourists. There are some dead giveaways, of course – suitcases on wheels, pairings of cargo shorts with baseball caps, shopping bags from cheese shops and major museums. What I envy is their fresh-eyed excitement.  When we turned our gaze towards Amsterdam …...

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Springfulness

by Rachelle Meyer

November 14, 2019

  Spring comes on like a gift. The sun, an almost forgotten friend, coaxes the ferry passengers out onto the deck. He opens us up like flowers. It was the changing of the seasons from winter to spring that inspired the broader Faces on the Ferry project. When I flipped back through my mini sketchbook …...

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Illustrate with Words

by Rachelle Meyer

November 11, 2019

  I love the written word. One of the reasons I chose to put “Dedicated Readers” in the spotlight in the Faces on the Ferry series is because I think they deserve attention, simply for choosing to absorb information in this thoughtful, patient way. A book, of course, is the traditional cherished object. But I’ll …...

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Common Time

by Rachelle Meyer

November 7, 2019

  After I moved to Amsterdam Noord, I started sketching fellow passengers during my twelve-minute ferry ride to the center in the mornings. I’d finish the pencil sketches off with fineliner pens and marker over a cup of coffee once I got to my studio. Between January and May 2017 the tiny sketchbook filled up …...

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