As a little boy, Niek Welboren dreamed of going to Easter Island one day. Thirty years ago, his dream came true. For four months he lived and worked on the South American island. A year later, an artist from Easter Island came to Texel and carved an Easter Island statue in the garden of Niek’s gallery. It sealed the bond between Texel and Easter Island. “I talk about Easter Island every day and it continues to inspire me,” says Welboren.
Niek Welboren and the Easter Island statue in the Texel polder – NH Nieuws
The Island Gallery of Niek Welboren and his girlfriend Kerstin Ekman in the Eierland polder on Texel breathes Easter Island this summer. Drawings and paintings in the gallery, photos in the backyard and of course the large statue in front of the Eilandgalerie. It is celebrated that it is exactly 30 years ago that Niek’s big dream came true. He made a four-month journey to Rapa Nui, the island off the coast of Chile in the Pacific Ocean, better known as Easter Island.
“As a twelve-year-old Texel boy, I read Thor Heyerdahl’s books about Easter Island and I already knew that I wanted to go there one day,” says Niek. “And in 1992 the time had come. I first camped with cockroaches in my tent. But then I got a nice little house where I could live and work. Walking, sitting, watching and a lot of drawing. I have the time of my life had.”
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The Island Gallery contains the drawings and paintings that Niek made during and after his trip to Easter Island. It is striking that the works of art all radiate something mysterious. “I never really wanted to capture the Moai, the well-known images, one on one. It’s always more about the mystery, the legends and the powers that lie behind these images and the island,” says Niek.
first egg
For example, he made several works about the Vogelmen. “You had different clans on the island. The person who found the first egg in the spring gave it to his foreman, who then had control over the island for a year,” says Niek. “A bit like our first lapwing egg, but with much more impact.”
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A year after Niek’s trip to Easter Island, a sculptor from Easter Island came to Texel. With financial support from the neighborhood, this artist carved an Easter Island statue in the polder within a few months.
“I don’t speak Spanish and he doesn’t speak Dutch, but we just understood each other with hands and feet. It was a very nice time,” says Niek with a laugh. The image seals the bond between Texel and Easter Island. “It’s a privilege to have the image here in front of your house. You wake up and you see it.”
The Eilandgalerie in the Eierland polder on Texel is open from Wednesday to Sunday.
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