The fantasy animals on the strip of grass behind the Tjasker flat in Molenwijk have been there since 1972, four years after the flats were completed, as part of an urban development plan along with the Bijlmermeer and much of New West. The critters are painted in bright, primary colors. Their playful, asymmetrical forms contrast against the clean lines and patterns of the modernist architecture behind them. The artwork is by Marijke Ouendag-van Lis; she placed a similar sculpture at the Bonkelaar elementary school, also in Molenwijk. Six years later, in 1978, she placed another such fantasy figure in Amsterdam, at the Zaanhof in the Westerpark neighborhood. Ouendag-van Lis called the sculptures ‘Woezels’, inspired by the characters from Winnie the Pooh: “Woezels are green and blue and thin and fat. Round and square and up to ono good.”
The sculptures don’t just look playful; they are actually meant to be played on. Archive footage from the 1970s shows neighborhood children clambering on the animals. This functional approach to the sculptures did not come out of the blue. The artist had studied social psychology and was annoyed by the lack of playgrounds for children in public spaces. This is not only frustrating for the children, who quickly become bored, but also for the parents: “You discover that you live in an urban environment that is not designed for the child. That creates enormous stress for mother and child. You have to take care of any social contact for your children yourself, at least if you don’t want them to crash in the streets,” the artist said. Ouendag-van Lis does not see the Woezels so much as art objects. She had no formal art training, and in daily life was mostly busy as a housewife. But she didn’t stop there: she committed to making the lives of the child and parent better through various avenues, on a neighborhood scale, among other things by establishing a preschool.
