'Ik, God en Mijn Oma' (2010).
Edith Kuyvenhoven is an Amsterdam-based comic artist, illustrator and live cartoonist, known for her 'Elp de Cavia' cartoon series and the graphic novel 'Ik, God en Mijn ma' (2010).
Life
Edith Kuyvenhoven was born in 1977 in Stadskanaal and raised in Enschede, in the eastern parts of the Netherlands. At age 13, she sold her own homemade cards in an amateur art shop in Enschede and at age 17, she won the national first Design prize from the Kunstbende organization. In 1996, she moved to Amsterdam to study Graphic Design at the Rietveld Art Academy, graduating in 2001. Her graduation project was the comical pocket calendar 'Tweeduizendtwee Dingen die Gedaan Moeten Worden' ('Two thousand and two things that need to be done"), published by BIS Publishers.
Cartoonist
Since 2002, Kuyvenhoven has worked as a freelance graphic designer and cartoonist under the banner "edith-made-it" for such clients as Volkskrant Banen, Cultuur-Ondernemen, Manuscripta (CPNB Foundation), The School of Life, Cinekid, the student paper Folia, Uitkrant, the feminist magazine Lover, the Kidsweek/7Days newspaper, the Lowlands festival and the mental healthcare magazine GZ-Stijl. For several years, Kuyvenhoven made weekly cartoons about the dispirited and philosophical guinea pig 'Elp de Cavia', whose ponderings appeared online, in NRC.Next, and on T-shirts and postcards.
'Elp de cavia'.
Publications
In 2005, Kuyvenhoven's children's picture book 'Pim en To aan Zee' was published by Pimento. With a government grant, she created her debut graphic novel 'Ik, God en Mijn Oma' ("Me, God and My Grandma"), a story about the uncertainty of a young woman in relation to her grandmother's rock-solid faith, filled with anecdotes and childhood memories. The book was published in 2010 by Jean-Marc van Tol's Catullus imprint and presented at Gallery Lambiek.
'Eikeltjes Dagboek'. Translation: "Do you know what time it is? Oh, it's a quarter past 12, or three o' clock. Ah, what does it matter, anyway?"
Graphic contributions
In 2012, Kuyvenhoven gave a visual impression of the Eddy Terstall film 'Simon' for the anthology book 'Film Fanfare', published by De Bezige Bij/Oog & Blik. In 2015, she made a contribution to 'Oeverloos', Maia Matches' free comics paper for the Amsterdam quarter Noord. In 2020, she released her 'Coronakwartet', a satirical Old Maid card game dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdown measurements.
Other activities
In addition to her work for print media, Kuyvenhoven has worked as a live cartoonist. She has also been a committee member with the Grant Programme for Design of the Dutch Creative Industries Fund (2013-2015). Besides cartooning, she has been a teacher in Dutch language for both secondary school children and expats. Her brothers are photographer Vincent Kuyvenhoven and pianist Christiaan Kuyvenhoven.
Comic for GZ-Stijl magazine (2023). Translation: "Three years' worth of toothpaste. Five years' worth of shampoo. Ten years' worth of razor blades. 100 years' worth of make-up!!!".