Basic information

Name: Kim Sontosoemarto, 1959
Place of birth: Paramaribo, Suriname
Based in: Suriname
Discipline: Artist, painter, ceramicist and batik practitioner

EDUCATION
Self-taught in painting
Ceramics with Soeki Irodikromo, Suriname
Raku firing with Dorothé van den Berg, Italy / Suriname
Wheel throwing and raku firing with Frank Theunissen, France
Batik with Bambang Soemardiyono, Batik Nakula Sadewa, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Porcelain painting with Tiny de Bie, Netherlands

BIOGRAPHY

Kim Sontosoemarto is a self-taught painter and ceramic artist whose practice brings together painting, clay, raku firing, porcelain painting and batik. After living in the Netherlands for 25 years, she returned to Suriname in 2000, where the shift in light, color and landscape redirected her artistic process toward ceramics and experimental firing techniques.
Following ceramics lessons with Soeki Irodikromo, Sontosoemarto developed a deep engagement with clay and later introduced herself to raku firing with guidance from Dorothé van den Berg. Her work continues to explore decorative surfaces, material transformation and cross-cultural craft traditions.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2019 — About Women & Health, Gallery Alma Blou, Curaçao
2017 — UnDu, Gallery Alma Blou, Curaçao
2016 — Trimuri, Gallery Alma Blou, Curaçao
2015 — Kunst-Kijken-Kopen, Paramaribo, Suriname
2015 — Nationale Kunstbeurs, Paramaribo, Suriname
2015 — Position 125, Paramaribo, Suriname
2015 — Art without Borders, Willemstad, Curaçao
2014 — I Figure, Paramaribo, Suriname
2014 — Nationale Kunstbeurs, Paramaribo, Suriname
2014 — Sacred Rhythms, Cayenne, French Guiana
2014 — Fiesta del Fuego, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
2014 — Unleashed, 30 years of the Association of Visual Artists in Suriname (ABKS), Paramaribo, Suriname

AWARDS

2014 — Winner, Suriname Handicraft Festival