Hi I’m Maria Fraaije, a Dutch illustrator/artist working in drawing, painting and animation.
I draw remote landscapes by walking through them and capturing what I see in handsewn sketchbooks. In the studio, I move away from direct observation and focus instead on the intangible qualities of the experience: the steepness of a hill, feeling awe at the call of an invisible nightjar, or coming home in the dark and seeing a moth resting on the window. In doing so, my work tries to describe space between the landscape and my memory of it.
I’ve been granted the Talent Development Practice Fund from the Creative Industries Fund, have been the City Artist of Rotterdam, exhibited drawings in the Kunsthal, Le Guess Who and in Museum de Fundatie Zwolle.
Aside this more autonomous practice, I have taken illustration commissions from Hermès Paris, de Correspondent, de NRC, TU Delft and others.
I have an MSc and previously worked as a sustainability consultant/researcher at DRIFT.
Get in touch: fraaijeboel@gmail.com
Residencies
Mawddach residency, Wales, 2025
Eker Gard residency, Norway, 2025
Fair Isle studio residency, Scotland, 2024 & 2025
Cove Park residency, Scotland, 2025
Shows
Hampstead Heath Art Society Works on Paper Winter Exhibition | London, 2026
Dommeldal Kunstloc Brabant | Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven | 2026
CBK ‘Vergeet niet in te checken’ | C3 studios, Art Rotterdam, 2026
Drawing Closer, Royal Drawing School, London | 2026
Portrait of a Small Landscape (book), TENT, Rotterdam | 2025
Stimuleringsfonds Presents Talent, Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven | book, drawings, 2024
De Energie van het Oude Westen | Park West, Rotterdam | research, illustrations, 2024
De Kunsthal Rotterdam | Getekend: Rotterdam, ze hebben mijn huis vermoord | animation, drawings, 2023
Museum de Fundatie | Ongehoorde Geluiden | animation, drawings, 2022
Le Guess Who Utrecht | Ongehoorde Geluiden | animation, 2022
Bibliotheek Utrecht | Ongehoorde Geluiden | animation, drawings, 2022
De Leidse Sterrewacht | Museumnacht Leiden | animation, 2015
Press
“Maria Fraaije: Student Story” | Royal Drawing School | 2025
“Met deze beelden moet de energietransitie meer divers en inclusief worden” | NRC | 2022
“Help mijn huis wordt vermoord: Rotterdam verandert maar door” | Volkskrant | 2022
Education
2025 Online Drawing Development Year, Royal Drawing School, UK
2015-2017 MSc Industrial Ecology, TU Delft, Netherlands
2011-2015BSc Biomedical Science, Leiden University, Netherlands
Prizes and grants
2023 Building Talent: basic funding for practice development | Creative Industries Fund
2022 City Artist Rotterdam | City archive Rotterdam, Centre of Visual Arts Rotterdam (CBK), Kunsthal Rotterdam
2022 Bouwen aan Talent met Huis van Betekenis | Creative Industries Fund
2021 Beeldkracht: beeldbank voor een inclusieve energietransitie | Creative Industries Fund