about
Gitta Pardoel
space, memory and nature
Gitta Pardoel is a Dutch artist and illustrator whose practice is rooted in a lifelong fascination with nature, space, and the stories that live between them. Trained at the Delft University of Technology in architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture, she went on to deepen her artistic education at the Utrecht Academy of Art and later obtained a master’s degree in art, architecture, and design from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.
For many years, Gitta worked as a designer on projects ranging from airports and urban landscapes to family homes, parks, and gardens. This experience sharpened her sensitivity to how people move through and feel in spaces—an awareness that now flows into her autonomous work. In her art, the structural thinking of the architect meets the curiosity of the observer: lines, forms, and rhythms echo built environments, while organic shapes recall leaves, plants, birds, and the quiet choreography of the natural world.
Working primarily in drawing, painting, watercolor, mixed media, and illustration, Gitta explores nature in both semi-abstract and detailed, realistic ways—as if zooming in and out at the same time. Her compositions often feel like visual poems: layered, tactile surfaces where memory, observation, and imagination overlap. By combining different materials, she creates works that feel both intimate and expansive, inviting viewers to look slowly and discover new connections upon each encounter.
Nature and narrative are central themes throughout her practice. Alongside her studio work, Gitta has created children’s books and layered illustrations in which flora, landscapes, animals, and stories intertwine. In recent years, writing poetry has become an important parallel thread in her creative life, bringing word and image to equal footing and further enriching the poetic character of her visual work.
Gitta’s art has been exhibited widely across Europe and beyond, including in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, as well as in countries such as Qatar, Morocco, China, Tunisia, and Argentina. Her work is part of various corporate and private collections worldwide. For almost a decade, she has also taught art and design at several art academies, sharing her experience and encouraging emerging artists to observe the world with both precision and wonder.
Now based in Vera, Andalusia, Spain, Gitta continues to explore the quiet dialogues between landscape, plant life, architecture, and memory. Through her drawings, paintings, and illustrations, she invites viewers into a contemplative space—a place where the singing of a bird, the curve of a leaf, or the shadow of a tree can become the beginning of a story.
education
2023-2024/ MA course illustration and storytelling
2001-2003/ MA Art, architecture and design, Leicester(9) GB, NL
1992-1997/ Artschool, Utrecht, (8)NL
1983-1991/ MSc Technical University Delft, architecture, urban design,interior landscape architecture, (8,5) Delft, NL
teaching
2008-now/ Senior lecturer at the Academy of Art, Communication and Design, Academy of Fine and Performance Art, Tilburg. spatial design, interactive architecture, visualisation, illustration.
workshops, courses and lectures garden design, interior design, architecture, art, drawing,
2008-1018/ Lecturer interactive architecture at the Royal Academy of Art, the Hague
2008-2014/ Head of the Academy of Art, Communication and Design, Tilburg
exhibition
2025/ Baku, Azerbaijan
2024/ ensemble, Tunesie
2023/exhibition childrensbookmuseum the Hague/ gallery Haagse Kunstkring
2020/ exhibition and symposium Xi’an, China, Silk route Foundation/ Hammamet, Tunesie
2019/ Hammamet, Tunesie
2018/ 51e premio vasto di arte contemporanea, scuderie di palazzo aragona studio uno ripartimento da zero Avezzano, Castello Orsini Colonna, italia
2017/ studio uno ripartimento da zero Avezzano, Castello Orsini Colonna, italia
2016/ Ins Blau- Art Gallery, Remscheid Honsberg, Germany/ Kunstschouw Zeeland/ Gallery Davydovych/ Regency artspace, Doha, Qatar
2015/ Gallery ArtHeereveenArt, Heereveen/ Amsterdam Artfair
2014/ Gallery staphorsius, artists.nu, the Netherlands
2013/ Instituto cervantes milano, Italia/ Gallery staphorsius, artists.nu, the Netherlands/ Ars Visiblis, Almería, España
2012/ Caravane Tolentino, Italia/ Caravane, Meca, Almería/ Biennal de Jaen
2011/ Arte Gira, Almeria, Spain/ Italy tolentino/ Galeria 23 y 12, El Vedado, C. Habana, Cuba/ Arte Gira, Cuba, Spain, Switerland/ Meca Mediterraneo Almeria
2010/ Chiesa di Santa Caterina ,Smerillo, Italy/ Polo culturale “San Francesco”,Monterubbiano, Italy/ Museum Rijswijk, the Netherlands
2009/ Museum Rijswijk, Rijswijk, the Netherlands/ SLEM, New York/ SLEM, Oerol, the Netehrlands
2008/ Museum Rijswijk, the Netherlands
2007/ Old Church, Amsterdam, the Netherlands/ Gallery Beeldkracht, the Netherlands
2006/ Gallery Artishock, Rijswijk, the Netherlands/ Gallery Marziart Hamburg, Germany/ Museum Rijswijk, Rijswijk, the Netherlands
Biennial Albiac, Rodalquilar, Spain
2005/ MECA Mediterráneo, Almeria, Spain
2004/ 404festival, Rosario, Argentina/ VA, image and sound, the Netherlands
2003/ Vrije Academie, Den Haag, the Netherlands
2000/ Vishal, Haarlem, the Netherlands / Gallery Beeldkracht, Scheemda, the Netherlands
1998/ Algemeen Burgerlijk Pensioenfonds, Heerlen, the Netherlands
solo
2014/ Gallery Artishock, Rijswijk, the Netherlands
2013/ Gallery Mikstmedia, the Netherlands
2011/ Galeri hornan, Falun, Sweden
2007/ Sloopt!. Gallery 91, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
2005/ MECA Mediterráneo, Almeria, Spain (duo)
2004/ VA, 2 audiovisual installations, the Netherlands
2001/ Gallery Beeldkracht, Scheemda, the Netherlands
2000/ Gallery de Kamer, Amersfoort, the Netherlands
symposia, contest
2025/ International artsymposium Matbu, Baku, Azerbaijan
2024/ Symposium 4th edition of ensamble d’art contemporain, Hammamet,
2022/ nominated literatureprize Leidschendam
2020/ Symposium Xi’an China
2019/ Symposium 4th edition of ensamble d’art contemporain, Hammamet, Tunesia
2018/ Symposium 4th edition of ensamble d’art contemporain, Hammamet, Tunesia
2016/ Printworkshop Mac.a Briech, Marocco
2016/ Al Asmakh atelier, Doha Qatar
2004 / selection 404festival, Rosario, Argentina
2002/ workshop Granada, Spain
1998 / ABP 2e prize, the Netherlands
1988/ internationaal designseminar Split, Yougoslavie
1989/ internationaal designseminar Delft
Publication
2019/ MusjesHuis, childrenbook