Teacher
I teach printmaking at Kunstencentrum Vrijdag, and as a guest teacher at Academie Minerva — Off Course, project weeks, and for a time I stood in as workshop instructor. I also teach Kunst Algemeen at the theatre teacher training of NHL Stenden, and I have taught fine art and art history at the Praedinius Gymnasium, where I once was a pupil.
Teaching and making feed each other. When I took Rembrandt as a master in the studio, the lessons changed. What I saw my students run into became the research question. How do you teach someone to make art. How do I do that myself. What does a school need for that.
I am adamant about non-toxic printmaking. Many workshops are still set in their old chemistry. I took a masterclass with Marnix Everaerts in Ghent, and I have given masterclasses myself at the Grafisch Centrum in Groningen — safer etching, photopolymer. Safer practice is not a side subject. It changes what printmaking is allowed to be in a school.
At Vrijdag I am also on the education team, and I help organise LabWeek, an interdisciplinary project week. At the Prins Claus Conservatorium I work with master’s students on research posters — form as a way to get the research clear.
At the Praedinius I built quite a lot: a student design studio, a photography line through the years, project weeks, work with gifted children. I like a school when it can still be a workshop.