After her three children started school, Van Rampelberg found herself with free time, which she decided to dedicate to art.[5] She took up painting, but hid her pieces.[5] Her husband, after seeing her paintings, encouraged her to try and have them exhibited. Van Rampelberg's first exhibition was in 1985.[6] Her oil paintings are primarily narrative, drawing on stories and images from her childhood.[3]
Van Rampelberg first began carving wood after an avocado tree fell outside her house and she decided to try sculpting the wood as a way to relieve stress.[4] Her first sculpture, My Mum and I, is held by the Nairobi Contemporary Arts Institute as of 2024.[3] She continued experimenting, and had carved three pieces she enjoyed within three months.[4] Her sculptures are semi-abstract, and "[centre] heavily around women, their place in society, black beauty and gender inequality" as well as exploring religious themes.[3]
In 1996, Van Rampelberg carved Adam and Eve, a piece consisting of two figures made out of ebony wood.[3]
In 2013, Van Rampelberg was one of six artists included in an exhibition at the Nairobi National Museum celebrating 50 years of Kenyan independence,[7][8] and she also had a solo exhibition in the One Off gallery at Rosslyn, near Nairobi. Several of her sculptures were bought that year by the Sankara Hotel at Westlands.[6]
In 2014, Van Rampelberg was the artist in residence at the Lamu Painters Festival.[4]
In 2020, Van Rampelberg was included as part of a German exhibition centering on work by Michael Armitage, who was a childhood friend of one of her children.[9][10] The exhibition was also shown in London at the Royal Academy of Arts in 2021.[11] In 2022, the exhibition moved to Nairobi under the name "Mwili, Akili na Roho", and was expanded with works by three additional artists.[9][1]
In 2023, two of Van Rampelberg's sculptures were included in an exhibition by Alliance Francaise focusing on Kenyan women artists.[12] In 2024, a retrospective of Van Rampelberg's work was held at the Nairobi Contemporary Arts Institute.[3]