The Gallery at the Marmara - Manhattan is pleased to announce “BodyWise”, an extraordinary exhibition by Dutch sculpture Hetty Huisman, will be on display from November 1, 2001 - January 6, 2002. Intrigued by the human figure and it’s limitless diversity, Huisman created sculptures of human form. Cast in Bronze, clay and ceramics. The sculptures range from lifelike portraits to more abstract representations of body parts. She was obsessed by the challenge to create beautiful objects from this most down-to-earth of all base materials; to transform brown, wet and cold lump into something inspiring, mono or multi colored, warm, of a shape and beauty that fascinates everyone who looks at it. From there, Huisman wanted to take this one step further: put more ‘life’ in to the human figure that has soul, disguised as…. a work of art. The body is primarily a way of being in the world – it’s a form of lived experiences which are fluid and ever-shifting. It is also a way of interacting with one’s environments, of shaping it, and being shaped by it. The body is wise. The body is not one fixed ‘thing’ but many possible ‘bits’ of things, and Huisman succeeds in evoking the contour and personality of an entire figure. Early in her career, while studying at the Liberal Arts Academy in The Netherlands, Huisman experimented with sketching, watercolors, and oil painting before settling on sculpture. She went on to study ceramics, bronze sculpture, and figure modeling in Luxemburg, Switzerland and New York. Her work has been featured in galleries throughout Switzerland, Belgium and United States and she has taught workshop across Europe. In 2000, Huisman was awarded first place in sculpture at the Greenwich Art Society “Art and Nature” exhibition on Connecticut.