Friends

Supported by many individual artists, artist collectives, art organizations, subsidy providers, sponsors and friends, Grafein organized the ‘Grafiektriënnale’ in the Netherlands in 2019 and 2022. This manifestation provides a platform for the printmaking arts in the broadest sense for over three months – an achievement to which we look back with great satisfaction.

The next one is Grafiek25 from September 1 until November 30 2025.

If you don’t live inthe Netherlands and you want to join us, you can contact us to make plans for 2025.

Grafein needs more than just project grants to continue to inspire people about printmaking with its limitless possibilities and applications. We need friends who can support us financially as well as friends who can support us practically. In return, we would like to support our friends in their printmaking activities and ideas and promote printmaking to a wide public.

To give everyone who is willing an opportunity to support Grafein as a friend, Grafein established three Friend Circles, with different entry fees: €15, €50, €100. Friends in all Grafein categories are informed about special Grafein projects. Also, each Friend Circle has some dedicated benefits.

If you are interested in supporting Grafein in any of the three categories, but are not familiar with the Dutch language, please feel free to contact us at info[at]grafein[dot]nl. Grafein Foundation is a cultural ANBI institution, meaning that donations are tax deductible in the Netherlands.

Since 2024 Grafein has a few friends in Germany (Mimi Bindsbergen), Austria (Anne Bé Talirz, Kathi Erben and Renée Kellner) and Northern Ireland (Coby Moore).

The three circles of friends

Circle Veldhoen

This Circle is named after the prolific Dutch artist Aat Veldhoen (1934-2018, https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aat_Veldhoen): the idiosyncratic Veldhoen shared his art with anyone who was willing to listen, view and buy through what he called “popular printmaking”. His commitment to this is legendary, and to demonstrate it, for years he rode around with his cargo bike through Amsterdam, selling his work starting at a price of 3 guilders (about € 1,50) each.
With a donation of €15 per year, you can become a Velhoen Friend.

Circle Toorop

This Circle is named after Jan Toorop (1858-1928, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Toorop) and his artist daughter Charley Toorop (1891-1955, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Toorop): Jan Toorop put Art Nouveau on the map in the Netherlands especially through his very imaginative lithographs. Charley Toorop also used this technique, and developed her own strong visual language being one of the most important Dutch female artists.
With a donation of €50 or more per year, you can become a Toorop Friend.

Circle Helene

This Circle is named after Helene Kröller-Müller (1869-1939, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helene_Kröller-Müller, one of the most important art collectors and benefactors the Netherlands has ever had. She bequeathed the world’s second largest Van Gogh collection to the Netherlands and founded one of the first museums for modern art in 1938, named after her ( https://krollermuller.nl). She is an inspiration to every enthusiastic collector who wants to leave a personal mark, which includes those that collect prints, old, modern, as well as contemporary ones.
With a donation of €100 up to €1000 or more per year, you can become a Helene Friend.

You can meet our Friends on the Dutch Vriendenpagina.

Circle Segers

This Circle is named after Hercules Seghers (1589/1590-1638, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_Seghers, though known as Seghers, he wrote his name as Segers). Seghers was both a painter and a printmaker, but he is best known for his inventive intaglio prints. He experimented with all aspects of the process of creating a print, invented his own way of color printing and incorporated the marks of the etching into the print. Rembrandt was a big admirer and actually reused at least one of his plates in his own work.
Organizations willing to become a special Friend of Grafein are invited to contact us for more information.