Daily Danai

Art & Design Education

How to: Graduate Artschool

A few days ago I provided a meeting for our graduate students. It was based upon the idea that graduation can be a special kind of obstacle for students. The challenge of graduation is often not graduation itself, but the story we tell ourselves about what graduation means. I had designed a meeting that involved […]

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How to: Get Creative

Just finished the War of Art by Stephen Pressfield. I liked his concept of Resistance. Resistance for him is a destructive force that disables you from being creative. In his words: ‘with ever tree of creativity that grows; comes a shadow. Being creative for him is about finding ways to overcome that Resistance. In his […]

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How to: overcome yourself

Words I often hear from students during reflection-moment are distractions, procrastination, anxieties, and imposter syndrome. Studying on itself probably would not be half as difficult if it was not for ourselves. There is a title of a book that I often think about: ‘You Are What You Do’. Sometimes we perceive studying as a ritual […]

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Inclusive Classroom

Last year I encountered challenges in creating a safe environment for students. When people feel unsafe in a conversation there are two paths: silence or violence. Silence can be used as a means to avoid potential situations by withdrawing (by any means) from the conversation. Violence is when verbal strategies are used in an attempt […]

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Outreach program

In September 2018 I had the privileged to visit School of the Art Institude of Chicago (SAIC), and to explore how they have developed outreach-programs for the community of Chicago. I have tried to summarize some of the valuable things I’ve learned in this post. Many thanks for Paul Coffey and SAIC for their support.

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Authentic Relationships

Yesterday I had the pleasure of giving an introduction for teachers of the Willem de Kooning Academy during the opening of the ‘Drive & Development Week’. The event was organized by the Education Station. Our goal was to stimulate the exchange of ideas between teachers beyond the boundaries of disciplines or departments. The topic of […]

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No More Homework

Last Friday I made a visit to Gorssel where our 2nd year WdKA illustration students were spending some days to draw and paint outside, visit musea like Kroller Moller Park. Our goal of the fieldtrip is to strengthen the bond between students and stimulate informal learning. We chose for an isolated location to be away […]

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2018 Personal Change

“Sad Satan 2018” The sculpture above was a gift made by Han Hoogerbrugge. He gave it to me for my new job at the WdKA. The title is “Sad Satan’ and it has two holes in his head; where his horns used to be. Since January 2018 my position at the WdKA has changed from […]

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Professor in Illustration

Yesterday I visited the symposium and departure lecture of profession dr. Saskia de Bodt. Over the last 9 years she has been the Dutch ‘special professor in Illustration’ at the University of Amsterdam. This position was supported by the Fiep Westendorp Foundation.  She wrote several publications among which: From Poe tot Pooh; illustration to pay […]

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