Creative teachers, employees and students from Windesheim will exhibit their works of art in the atrium and media center of the Zwolle campus until mid-December. From beautiful paintings to beautiful poems and colorful lamps.
‘Power wires? Dangerous!’
Face masks, water pistols, coffee cups, soap dispensers: you name it, teacher at the teacher’s college for primary education (PABO) Annemieke van Duijn has made a lamp out of it.
“It starts in the thrift store, where I like to wander around. Then I see an object and I think: that’s nice, I can do something with it. I can think well thematically, for example during the COVID period I made one lamp made of water guns and face masks and one of soap dispensers and toilet rolls. And one with candy wrappers, because all that sitting at home made you fat.
I drill a hole in something, through which the cord goes. If I can do that without breaking it, which is bound to happen, then you are already halfway. Actually, making a lamp is not very difficult. It’s just a fiddly thing and you have to attach the wires properly, otherwise it won’t work.
My grandfather worked as an electrician at the IJssel power station in Zwolle, I always went with him on the road. But of course I wasn’t allowed to touch all those power wires, because “that was dangerous”. Making lamps is also a bit dangerous in a way, so it’s fun!
In our living room there is my ‘cunt lamp’, which I painted with chalkboard paint and then wrote ‘cunt’ on it. Why cunt? Just because I can and because the lamps with ‘love’ and ‘home’ were outdone. I like to shock people, so that when my mother comes into the room she says: what do you have on the windowsill?!
I also make table tops, with epoxy. That is a kind of synthetic resin that I pour into a mold, for example over dried flowers. You have to stay with it when it dries, otherwise the flowers will all clump up. I have to use tweezers to keep pushing them back into their place. Because things go wrong you learn all kinds of things, but that’s the fun part about it.”
Dragon ‘in your face’
Eva Buijs is a project coordinator at the Health and Welfare knowledge center. She once bought a large printed canvas at the home furnishings store, but at a certain point she was so done with the print that she decided to paint over it herself.
“I have loved painting since I was a child, preferably on real canvas. But during my studies I stopped for a while because I didn’t have the time or space for it. Now I live in an apartment and have set up a room for my work and hobbies. Last summer, after years, I felt like doing a big painting project again; I searched Pinterest for cool images and came across a digital work of a dragon. ‘That has to be it,’ I thought.
I’ve had the canvas for quite some time now. It’s just one of those printed canvases from the Kwantum that I still had hanging in my student room. In terms of style, it no longer fit in with my new apartment, but I thought it would be a shame to get rid of that thing, so in the context of sustainability I wanted to use that canvas for my new painting.
First I had to make it completely white, then I started sketching and adding areas of color.
I have been working on it an average of ten hours a week for months and I just now finally finished it. There are about four layers of paint on it in total. My mother thinks it is beautiful, but it is ‘in your face’ when you enter my home. I think that effect is really cool; a red dragon has to be big! Through this project I have rediscovered my old hobby, and I am quite proud of my dragon.
‘It feels good when you see yourself getting better’
Joey Marcuñé, a first-year Information & communication Technology student, makes digital drawings in fantasy style. For the exhibition at Windesheim he submitted his ‘Teddy Victorius’, a drawing of a teddy bear slash knight who defeats a nightmare.
“I keep trying to master new things by watching videos of other people drawing. Eyes for example, they are very difficult to draw. You just have to practice many times to really get them right. It feels good when you see yourself getting better. Sometimes I try something and it turns out okay, then I think: I couldn’t do that before!
I get my inspiration from animated series such as Arcane, from the League of Legends series. When I saw that I was blown away, it looks so perfect! And I look at the online platform DeviantArt, where many people share their work, all in the fantasy genre. I also share my drawings there, under the name Avhaari.
I make a short poem with many drawings, which I think fits well with the art I make. Always in English, because then it just sounds more dramatic and cooler. For example, under ‘Teddy Victorius’ it says: “When nightmares come, they’re there to save. No nightmare strong, as Teddy brave.””
‘My works of art have multiple layers’
“You cannot be a very good artist and a very good teacher,” says Marlies ter Beek. But as an art teacher at the teacher’s college for primary education (PABO), she thinks it is important to keep working herself. She draws in her studio about one and a half day per week.
“I have a fascination with elements that decay, and I go out in my neighborhood to draw them. They could be natural phenomena such as the flowers and plants in my garden wilting in the fall. Have you ever seen a sunflower that’s done blooming? It’s beautiful!
But I also find old buildings and machines very interesting, that old brick or rusty iron. I then take a photo of it on the spot and in my studio I draw it on paper with Indian ink. After drawing I cut it and stick them in white boxes, which I also make myself.
My works of art have multiple layers in different respects and that gives a very playful effect because there is space between the frame and the paper. To be honest, I didn’t think of the idea myself. During a visit to a museum, I was inspired by artist Marjolijn van den Assem. She makes beautiful 3D works from paper, often in black and white; those appealed to me enormously.
My golden tip? If you really want to enjoy drawing and painting, it is better to invest once in good material. The material must be able to express what you want. From paper, paint, brushes, markers to ink: everything must be good.”
‘Lying on the ground’
Laura Geux is an event organizer at the Engineering and ICT Division and she has just started with photography.
“Before I came to work at Windesheim, I worked in the travel industry for a long time, traveling all over the world. I have fantastic memories and photo albums from that, but at a certain point I wanted to come home with more beautiful images than pictures on my phone. That’s why I bought a camera and wanted to do more with photos.
I have been a member of a photography club for a year now and I was given the theme of ‘wonder’ as an assignment. I saw a study trip with ICT students to New
York as a great opportunity to fulfill the photo assignment: there is so much that is amazes in that city! The photo I submitted for the exhibit was taken at Summit One Vanderbilt. Almost everything inside that skyscraper is made of glass. To take the photo, I lay on my back in the middle of the hall on the ground floor and took the photo upwards, yes that was a bit crazy but it assured a great picture.”
The exhibition, which started the week after the autumn break, is organized by the media center and Windesheim Events.
Text: Wouter van Emst en Reinhilde van Aalderen
Large photos: Herman Engbers
