Marjan Nordholt
About Marjan Nordholt
Bovensmilde, Netherlands
Born in Delft, raised in Lansingerland. I have been living in Drenthe for 10 years, now in Bovensmilde, on the edge of the Fochteloërveen.
Art Academy and Industrial Design
I took classes for half a year at the art academy in Den Bosch. Because I couldn't find my way there, I started studying Industrial Design at the Delft University of Technology.
Website Designer and Graphic Designer
Najram (2004 – present)
Portfolio najram.nl/portfolio-najram
Since 2004, I have been working as a freelancer. My one-woman business is called Najram (Marjan but reversed).
Through software development and building content management systems, I got into web design and graphic design. I design logos, corporate identities, advertisements, trade show stands, presentations, and promotional materials, and I also create illustrations. All of this mainly for smaller companies.
Visual Artist
Marjan Nordholt (2018 – present)
Portfolio marjannordholt.nl/shop
Drenthe Thumbs
In 2018, I started my own work, a series of prints called Drenthe Thumbs.
Drenthe, because they represent what I perceive in my surroundings. Thumbs as a reference to so-called thumbnails.
Thumbnails are automatically cropped images. This way, images with different ratios can be uniformly displayed in overviews. Due to the cropping, the most important part of the image often disappears from view. A person can, for example, be decapitated.
Thumb nails is not a very fresh name, so I freely translated the concept to Thumbs. In the Drenthe Thumbs, a large part of the subject is out of view, but you get just enough information to understand what is being told.
The Thumbs look cheerful and innocent, but the theme is survival, eating, and being eaten. For example, blackbirds that chase each other, however funny to see, defend their territory. It can get intense, to the point of bleeding and sometimes death.
All but one of the Thumbs were drawn and published in 2018. Drenthe Thumb 3.02 was completed and published in 2025.
Cut Down
After moving (2022) from Vledderveen (Drents-Friese Wold) to Bovensmilde (Fochteloërveen), I started photographing nature during my walks. Cut Down is the working title of my photo project.
Cut Down because of the felled trees that I wonder about. Not about why they were cut down, but about all the life that lives on and from trunk and stump. But also cut down, because nature as a theme is not particularly original.
Nature as a Theme
It is not so difficult to get people excited about a beautiful flower meadow or rugged sea view. More everyday nature, on the other hand, is often not seen or experienced as troublesome, especially in the nearby living environment. What falls from trees is called 'all that junk'. What sprouts in unexpected places is called weeds. What you bring in under your shoes is called 'dirt on my clean floor'. A large part of nature evokes aversion in the masses.
Nature as Medicine
A sip of nature a day, keeps the madness away
Nature, in its entirety, helps me become calmer, gain insight into certain life questions. It shows me the meaning of life and life after death. Nature offers an enormous variety, logic, and beautiful patterns. Often unseen, because it is so everyday and colorless.
I want to improve that visibility by coloring reality differently. In the hope that nature, even the unpopular part, is not taken for granted, cursed, or destroyed. But is seen and appreciated more, in all its value and beauty.
In 2023-25, I edited and recolored photos. In 2025, I completed many works, categorized them into series, and thought about how I wanted to present them. Then I built a website and published all completed works: MarjanNordholt.nl
Technique
All my designs are digitally produced (vector) illustrations. The photos, on which most works are based, are my own. I convert the photos into fragments, which I then edit individually. The Drenthe Thumbs are not based on photos, but entirely handmade.
None of the works are generated by AI.
My work is printed on high-quality paper and glued behind a scratch-resistant, glossy sheet of plexiglass, on Dibond (aluminum). Due to the gloss and thickness of the plexiglass, the print has a certain depth and luxurious appearance.