The garden of Marres is, at around 1,000 square meters, the largest public city garden in Maastricht. In August, Marres invites you to take part in workshops exploring all the beauty this hidden piece of nature has to offer.
Drawing workshop De Verborgen Taal van de Tuin (The Hidden Language of the Garden)
by Gladys Zeevaarders
Marres x Kasteel Wijlre Estate
How can you capture the essence of a place in a drawing? And how much space do we actually include when we draw a scene? In this special drawing workshop, we’ll dive into the garden of Marres and uncover its hidden language—a language of shapes, memories, and wonder.
You’ll receive a handmade field guide as your starting point, inviting you to set off on an adventurous pencil journey through the garden. This field guide will serve as the foundation for a personal archive we’ll build together, filled with sketches, mementos, and stories.
We’ll use this collection to question and explore the space and to create a visual narrative without words—told entirely through shapes and images. Inspired by old botanical illustrations, you’ll combine your own sketches with fragments of photos and stories from the past and present of the Marres garden.
With a variety of drawing materials and visual examples, Gladys will show how wordless visual stories can come to life. Explore books on forgotten plants to help shape a unique, personal interpretation of this walled garden.
This workshop is an invitation to slow down, to feel, and to connect deeply with the nature around us through drawing.
Date:
Saturday 23 August 2025
Times:
You can sign up for one of the two workshops:
12—2PM
3—5PM
Admission:
€5,00 per person
Language:
Dutch
Group size:
Maximum of 12 persons per workshop
Location:
Marres
Capucijnenstraat 98, Maastricht
Materials included:
- Handmade field guide printed with Riso
- A4 Arches 640gsm paper for the visual narrative
- Various pencils and drawing materials
- Collage paper
- Botanical books (reference material)
Linocut workshop
by Elisa Verkoelen
The garden of Marres was the source of inspiration for the linocut that Elisa Verkoelen created a few years ago. “In the Marres garden, I saw how light and shadow alternated, and how the garden was made up of layers.”
On Sunday, August 24, 2025, she will lead a linocut workshop. Discover the Marres garden in a new way: work with negative space and let shadows and shapes tell new stories, which you will then translate into blind drawings and black-and-white linocuts.
No prior experience with linocutting is necessary to participate in the workshop. It is recommended to wear clothing that can get dirty.
Date:
Sunday 24 August 2025
Time:
12—2PM
Admission:
€5,00 per person
Language:
Dutch
Group size:
Maximum of 8 persons per workshop
Location:
Marres
Capucijnenstraat 98, Maastricht
Materials included
Information
The workshops will take place in all weather conditions—please dress and equip yourself accordingly!
Questions? Email receptie@marres.org
Would you also like to visit Vultures & Fireflies? You can with a valid admission ticket.
Museum Card holders, ICOM members, children under 18, students of the Maastricht Institute of Arts / Jan van Eyck Academy / Maastricht Academy of Performing Arts / Maastricht Conservatory, and Friends of Marres always receive free admission.
Partners / thanks
Marres receives structural support from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Province of Limburg and the Municipality of Maastricht.
In addition, Marres thanks Hans Engelbrecht, our volunteer Thuur, as well as everything that grows and flourishes in the garden.