‘We used to sit around the pot stove in winter, very cosy’

Artist Bea Prins had to give up her free life in a dike house with a studio a year and a half ago and has lived in a nursing home in the center of Sittard ever since. She deliberately sits with her back to the window. Then she doesn’t have to see the view with buildings and the busy car traffic. In her house the view was purely green, now she overlooks her mini-museum with her own work of glass and ceramics. She wears a red artificial flower in her updo like every day. A broad smile appears on her face every now and then.

Due to the energy crisis, tips on how to save and stay warm in the winter are flying around us, do you have any wise advice?

‘You can put on everything you have at your disposal in the house: a warm sweater, possibly another sweater, a warm cardigan, a scarf, gloves, woolen socks and slippers. It is important to have warm feet, then the rest of your body will also be warm.’

You grew up without central heating. How was your childhood home heated?

‘We had a stove that we all sat around in the winter, which was very cosy. When we went to bed, everyone was given two pitchers: a gin for your feet and a rubber pitcher for your stomach. We also had a fireplace, but it was only lit during holidays.’

How do you look back on your childhood?

‘It was a great time. There was security in the family, that is what a child longs for. My parents weren’t strict and let me go. I tried my best to be nice and almost always got a ‘yes’, rarely a ‘no’. I was an afterthought. My sister was 13 years older than me and my brother 10 years. From the age of 4 I went to the opera with my parents. I attended ballet and was allowed to dance on stage during the performance. My father was conductor of the Residentie Orkest and the French Opera. My mother was his great support; where he was, she was. He counted on her to help him with everything.’

In your birth year 1922, women were given the right to vote. How have you seen the position of women change?

‘I was in the middle of it, but I wasn’t consciously involved in it. As a girl, I was in utility school, in a special class for students preparing for college. After primary school I went to the girls’ high school. I wanted to be a doctor. But the war and marriage prevented me from going to medical school. When I got married in 1942, I realized that studying was not going to come anymore. I did my duty as my father commanded me and became a housewife. I’ve always done other activities alongside it, such as making plaster molds, ceramics and later sculptures made of glass. My husband died quite young, in 1971. From his retirement I was able to do it for a while. I needed more income to allow my three sons to study. I started training as a chiropodist and assistant physiotherapist. When I went to work, as a woman I was looked at a bit strange. I didn’t care about that, because I had to get on with my life.’

So because you came to be alone, did you still develop yourself?

‘You could put it that way. I have become very independent. But I can’t say it was an easy time. Being alone and the thought of being alone made it difficult. I had to pull myself up to be an example to my children. That realization gave me strength. As soon as the children were out of the house, I had time for ceramics again. Years later I moved to a dike house near the harbor of Schipperskerk, I was allowed to use the landlord’s garage as a studio. Until I was 95 I worked with clay and glass. I still miss that.’

Did you regret not becoming a doctor?

‘No, my attitude is: life goes as it goes and apparently should go.’

Do you believe in destiny?

“Everything I’ve been through and done has come my way. I didn’t look it up. You don’t have to think, but make things happen. When I first saw Pieter, my husband, I felt a strong attraction to him. I remember having to push a coat aside so as not to lose sight of it, and ran after him. He walked on. But later came a second chance. Also, when I was young, I met people who were working with clay. So I started making ceramics myself. I couldn’t have done it either, but my subconscious and my hands wanted it. I started out simple with plates and vases and once I got the hang of the technique, I started experimenting with shapes. I was able to exhibit my work and start giving workshops.’

How do you view the current threat of nuclear war?

‘I can still remember the fear of a Third World War in the early eighties. We thought the world would end because of cruise missiles. Now, with Putin’s threats, I’m not so gloomy. Man does not want to perish, because he has a primal instinct for survival. Putin too, also because he has two daughters. He will eventually draw the short straw.’

I heard you have a keen interest in witches.

‘I feel a connection with good people. A witch was a woman who helped others with vegetables and herbs, until someone got jealous and called her witch and she was burned at the stake. I have immersed myself in the lives of witches, and have learned from it how people can interact with each other and that it is important to be patient with each other.’

There is a box of tarot cards on the table next to you, what do you use it for?

‘For times when I’m having a hard time, that’s been the case often enough. Then I draw a card from the deck, it makes me think. I’m going to see possibilities. The choice I make can take me a step up. For example, I once drew the king. The king is a ruler. Do I want to be a ruler? No. I am a listener and a doubter, but a good doubter. Once I make a decision, I don’t go back to it. I’m glad I made a choice, haha.’

What are difficult moments for you, perfect for a tarot card?

‘If I don’t know how to proceed. That can be depressing and keep you spinning in the same train of thought. If you don’t do anything, you won’t get out of there.’

As a listener, do you see changes in what people are concerned about?

‘Nowadays people primarily struggle with the fear of not having enough money. If you allow fear, you activate it and that feeling only increases. It is true that you have more power and influence if you have a lot of money. I think that’s worthless. Life isn’t about possessions, it’s about personal growth. We are on Earth to learn. In the lives you lead, you come to more and more insights that take you to a higher plane. Our subconscious is getting stronger. There will come a time when we reach the final stage of growth, and the millennium begins, where everyone is free and happy and ready to help the other, where there is no more strife and war. It gives me a sense of justice that everyone goes there.’

What have you learned over the past hundred years?

‘As long as your finger and thumb are not the same size, you will continue to learn. We are part of the universe, it doesn’t matter if you are human, animal or tree. It may sound weird or arrogant when I say I want to bring heaven to earth. But still it is, a little. I have that predisposition through my past lives. I do that by listening to others. Listening is the best way to help others. If you surrender to that, you will hear a lot. You learn a lot from that; you will see connections in how people interact with each other. What keeps coming back in the stories is that people feel hurt and pushed into a corner, not seen. It is best if, while talking, they come to understand how that feeling arose and come up with solutions themselves to deal with it. The feeling you have often turns out to be lighter after a night’s sleep. Sleeping is letting go.’

Is it correct if I characterize you as spiritual, creative and cheerful?

‘That could be. I am very much against negativity. Then you go backwards. I was born smiling. But you can also teach yourself, by just doing it. You can look at the positive side of everything. When you see it, you reach the higher and you don’t have to come back in the next life.’

It is striking that all the 100-year-olds I interview have a positive attitude to life, just like you.

‘I believe that immediately. You don’t get old from being sad.’