The 1972 supplement to The Oxford English Dictionary defined Bloomsbury as "a school of writers and aesthetes living in or associated with Bloomsbury"; in the 1989 edition of the same dictionary, the definition was turned into "a set of writers, artists, and intellectuals living in or associated with Bloomsbury."
The word "set" actually sounds more appropriate than "school" as the Bloomsbury Group didn't actually have any specific rules or codes of conduct, it was indeed a collectivity of people and friends that flourished in the early 20th century. Yet if we wanted to complete this definition, we would add that the Group has inspired, and keeps on inspiring, multiple artists and thinkers, the latest one being Claudy Jongstra.
The award-winning Dutch textile artist felt indeed a kinship with the Bloomsbury collectivity and decided to dedicate to the group a series of pieces.
Studying their radical thoughts on art, literature, economics and society, Jongstra realized that she shared with them not just arty inspirations, but also a passion for a more fresh and creative way of living.
The group of artists and freethinkers moved indeed out of the city into the countryside and established a studio alongside a gardeners and farmers life; in much the same way, Jongstra moved her practice to the village of Spannum, in Friesland, The Netherlands, and set up a self-sufficient studio focused on no-waste working processes. Her practice has no boundaries: she owns indeed her own flock of rare Drenthe Heath heritage sheep (that she is helping saving from extinction), keeps bees and a botanical garden and designs sustainable felt pieces made in collaboration with her team that comprises felters and dyers and an international staff of art students from all around the world.
Jongstra's sheep produce the wool which is then cleaned, washed, carded to obtain smooth wads of soft fibres, and spun, then dyed using vegetable materials derived from crops such as madder, St. John's Wort, marigold, calendula, camomile and dahlias from the artist's organic botanical garden. Her rich textiles characterised by deep and vibrant colours are instantly recognizable (remember when Viktor & Rolf used her trademark designs in their A/W 19 Haute Couture collection?) and sustainable as well. 
During the Coronavirus pandemic Jongstra's collaborative designs and large scale installations with other studios, artists and architects slowed down a bit, but this allowed her to keep on working, researching and experimenting on her pieces.
Creating works blurring the boundaries between fine arts and applied arts and working on socio-cultural projects aimed at reconnecting communities are just other points of contact between this artist and the Bloomsbury Group.
Moving from them Jongstra created pieces that are currently on display at the Amsterdam-based Galerie Fontana (until 10th July 2021), as part of the event "Connecting with Claudy – A Tribute to the Bloomsbury Group".
The event features several textile art pieces inspired by the individual residences of the members of the Bloomsbury Group, they could therefore be considered as textiles with an architectural twist.
"Charleston Farmhouse" (a key country retreat for the group away from the city) takes centre stage with its maelstrom of Drenth heath and merino wool, mohair, silk and cotton in earthy natural tones that reproduce the Charleston scheme of natural colours.
In "Sissinghurst", a reference to the location in Kent home to Virginia Woolf's friend, lover and muse Vita Sackville-West, Jongstra played with the thick Vs light dichotomy, creating a tapestry of soft and fluffy thick wool in pale and yellow pink tones combined with a dark teal, on a background of delicate silk organza. Brighter flashes of yellow or fuchsia pink were included in the deep blue "Monk's House" (the country retreat of the novelist Virginia Woolf) and in "Ham Spray House", a Bloomsbury home and refuge for 36 years between 1924 and 1960 (it was the home of Lytton Strachey, Dora Carrington and Ralph Partridge).
Neutral tones prevail in "29 Fitzroy's Square", location of the Omega Workshops (there's also a room divider Jongstra made dedicated to Omega that could be interpreted as a canvas on which Jongstra painted with threads) and where George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf also lived.
The event also includes a series of large ceramic bowls designed with Cor Unum (that manufactures in The Netherlands ceramic products by leading international designers, architects and visual artists) and hand-painted by Claudy Jongstra in engobes including red-burning clay from her own biodynamic farm in Húns. Looks like the artistic liberty and flexible creative forms of the Bloomsbury group prompted Jongstra to explore a wide diversity of disciplines and areas of research and design.
