Born in Rotterdam to Sjoerd and Marianne van Leeuwen, VanWietske van Leeuwen grew up in [[Mijnsheerenland]]. Her father ran a timber trading company in [[Overschie]], and her uncle was the photographer Piet van Leeuwen.<ref>[https://rkd.nl/nl/explore/artists/48993 Piet van Leeuwen (1942-)] at the Netherlands Institute for Art History.</ref> She studied handicrafts and textile art at the teacher education in Delft from 1984 to 1989, and ceramic design at the [[Gerrit Rietveld Academy]] in Amsterdam from 1989 to 1993<ref>[http://wietskevanleeuwen.nl/wietske_van_leeuwen/curr._vitae.html Curriculum Vitae] at wietskevanleeuwen.nl. Accessed 22.05.2015.</ref> under [[Jan van der Vaart]], and [[Henk Trumpie]].<ref>Press release "[http://wietskevanleeuwenwww.carlakoch.nl/wietske_van_leeuwenpersberichten/curr._vitaejanenleerlingen.html CurriculumJan Vitaevan der Vaart en leerlingen]," atin wietskevanleeuwen.nlGalerie Carla Koch, Delft 2005. Accessed 2215.05.2015.</ref>
After graduation she started her own studio in Amsterdam, and received a number of grants from the Mondriaan Fonds, Dutch Foundation for Visual Arts. Her works are constructed in a baroque style, with shells and fruit as recurring motifs. Since 1997 she is also working as teacher ceramics and drawing at various courses.
