Marjolein Gamble is an artist whose creative journey has been shaped by a lifetime of movement, teaching, craftsmanship, spirituality, and connection with people and place. Born and raised in the Netherlands shortly after World War II, she made the remarkable decision to move alone to Cape Town at just 17 years old. Since then, Cape Town has remained her home, providing the cultural and natural environment in which her life and creative practice have continued to develop.
Across decades of personal and professional experiences, Gamble has maintained a deep commitment to creativity. Her journey has taken her through education, woodwork, watercolor painting, yoga, design, textiles, and entrepreneurship before ultimately returning her to the intimate practice of drawing. Today, her pencil artworks explore psychological states, spirituality, and human connection, revealing an artist deeply interested in the relationship between the visible world and the inner landscapes of human consciousness.
A Life Rooted in Creativity and Education
For much of her life, Marjolein Gamble worked with children at preprimary and preparatory levels. Her approach to education was strongly influenced by creativity, and she incorporated arts and crafts into her teaching practice.
For Gamble, creative activities offered children more than an opportunity to make something with their hands. They provided ways to explore ideas, express emotions, and develop their own understanding of the world. Her work with young people allowed her to see creativity as an essential part of personal development and human connection.
Her interests also extended into the design and construction of creative moving toys. Working with woodwork and machinery, she developed toys that combined imagination with physical movement. These projects often involved collaboration with adults and disadvantaged youth, creating opportunities for shared learning and creative participation.
This period of her life established an important foundation for the artist she would eventually become. It taught her the value of making, experimenting, and working collaboratively, while reinforcing her belief that creativity can play an important role in people’s lives.
A Year of Artistic Exploration in Sussex
In 1974, Gamble spent a year at Emerson College in Sussex, United Kingdom, where she studied woodwork and watercolor painting. The experience allowed her to deepen her technical abilities and expand her understanding of artistic materials and creative processes.
Woodwork introduced her to the physical qualities of materials and the discipline required to transform them, while watercolor offered a different visual language based on color, transparency, and fluidity. The combination of these disciplines enriched her artistic foundation and contributed to her broader understanding of craftsmanship.
Although her artistic practice would continue to evolve over the decades that followed, the knowledge gained during this period remained part of her creative vocabulary. Her journey demonstrates how artistic development can happen gradually, with each experience contributing to the next stage of an artist’s life.
Rather than following a single, predetermined path, Gamble has allowed her interests and experiences to guide her. Her creative life has therefore become a continuous process of learning and discovery.
The Connection Between Creativity and Well-Being
Since 1996, Gamble has also taught yoga from her home studio, reflecting another important dimension of her life and creative philosophy. Her long-term involvement with yoga demonstrates her interest in the connection between physical awareness, emotional balance, and spiritual well-being.
Yoga encourages mindfulness, presence, and a deeper awareness of the relationship between body and mind. These principles resonate strongly with Gamble’s artistic interests, particularly her exploration of psychological and spiritual states.
Her art can be viewed as an extension of this holistic perspective. Just as yoga encourages individuals to become more conscious of their inner experiences, her drawings invite viewers to consider the emotions, thoughts, and spiritual dimensions that exist beneath the surface of everyday life.
This connection between creativity and consciousness has become increasingly important in her artistic practice. Her work encourages contemplation and invites audiences to look beyond the immediately visible.
Creating “carte-blanche”
In 2013, Gamble founded “carte-blanche,” a design business that brought together creativity, local craftsmanship, and social responsibility.
The business used African fabrics in its designs while supporting local seamstresses and artisans. Through this initiative, Gamble was able to combine her interest in design with a desire to contribute to the local creative economy and support the skills of people within her community.
The project reflected her longstanding belief in collaboration and the importance of creative craftsmanship. Rather than simply producing decorative objects, “carte-blanche” created opportunities for artisans and celebrated the beauty of locally sourced materials and traditional skills.
The business continued until the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The major changes brought about during this period eventually created an opportunity for Gamble to redirect her attention toward her own artistic practice.
Returning to Her Own Artistic Practice
After decades devoted to teaching, yoga, design, and creative entrepreneurship, the pandemic provided Gamble with an opportunity to return more fully to her personal artistic pursuits.
She began working with pencils, a medium that developed naturally from her previous experience designing colorful cards and notebooks. Pencil offered her a direct and intimate way to explore line, tone, texture, shading, and detail.
Her return to drawing marked a significant shift toward a more personal and introspective form of creative expression. Unlike some of her earlier projects, her current artworks are deeply concerned with exploring ideas and emotions that are often difficult to communicate through words.
The simplicity of pencil allows Gamble to focus closely on the subtle qualities of her subjects. Through delicate marks and carefully considered details, she creates works that encourage viewers to pause and contemplate.
Her drawings demonstrate that a relatively simple medium can carry complex emotional and philosophical ideas. The pencil becomes a tool for exploring the invisible aspects of human experience.
Exploring Inner Landscapes
Psychological states, spirituality, and human connection are central themes within Gamble’s current artistic practice.
Her work explores the inner landscapes that exist behind everyday appearances. Human experience, in her view, is shaped not only by what can be seen externally but also by thoughts, emotions, memories, beliefs, and spiritual awareness.
This creates a dialogue between outer reality and deeper consciousness. Her drawings encourage viewers to consider the invisible forces that influence how people understand themselves and connect with others.
The human figure and the emotional experience become spaces for reflection. Rather than simply presenting an image for the viewer to observe, Gamble’s work encourages a more contemplative relationship between artwork and audience.
Her approach is sensitive and thoughtful, allowing viewers to bring their own experiences and interpretations to each piece. The meaning of the work can therefore develop differently for every person who encounters it.
A Journey Toward Inner Expression
Marjolein Gamble’s artistic journey is inseparable from the many experiences that have shaped her life. Her early years in the Netherlands, her move to Cape Town as a teenager, her work as an educator, her studies in woodwork and watercolor, her years teaching yoga, and her experience as a creative entrepreneur have all contributed to the artist she is today.
Each stage of her life has added another layer to her understanding of creativity. Her work with children taught her the importance of imagination and self-expression. Woodwork introduced her to craftsmanship and materials. Watercolor expanded her understanding of artistic techniques. Yoga deepened her relationship with awareness, presence, and spirituality. Her design business connected creativity with community, culture, and collaboration.
Today, these diverse influences converge in her pencil drawings.
Through a technically sensitive and deeply thoughtful practice, Gamble explores the emotional and spiritual dimensions of human existence. Her art encourages viewers to slow down, look closely, and consider the complex relationship between what is visible and what remains hidden.
Ultimately, Marjolein Gamble’s work reflects a lifelong dedication to creativity—not as a single profession or discipline, but as a way of understanding the world and oneself. Her artistic practice has evolved naturally alongside her life experiences, allowing her to transform decades of learning, observation, and personal discovery into meaningful works of art.
Her drawings emerge from a rich history of creative exploration and offer intimate reflections on consciousness, connection, spirituality, and the mysterious inner landscapes that shape human experience. Through her art, Gamble continues to demonstrate that creativity can take many forms and that an artist’s journey does not need to follow a straight path. Instead, it can evolve through every experience, every discovery, and every new way of seeing the world.