Not To Stare Up At Me

After the results from the
final exam had been discussed
we all received a rose.

Time is a strange thing these days, it accumulates at one moment, giving me the impression of a timeless vacuum and the next moment it goes by so rapidly that hours seem to slip through my fingers! My body got rid of all tension and stress when the teachers told me that from now on I was an certified artist. A new Bachelor to add to the 2012 Graduation List! The energy of our class went through the roof of the glass building. Smiling faces all around, cheering, congratulating and phoning friends and families at home. 

Simone with her 3 year old daughter Rosie having
a great time at my picture

The next day was the Official Opening, with several speeches, VIP tours, newspapers and television crews all over the place. The sun outside was blazing. Making me aware that summer had begun. Everybody seemed to be in an exhilarating state of being. The aisles were packed, people with flowers everywhere, flashes of cameras and people posing. I never thought it would be such an insane event. I guess you reach that state automatically when you look in the eyes of the ones you love who have come to share the joy and to express their pride. 

My mother striking a pose with me

Best take Advantage, Be All That You Can Be

Even though tools seem
 to be everywhere
we try to keep them together
 on two locations

We have become one crew, a crew that is ready! We moved out all our stuff from the KB Factory into the Gerrit Rietveld academy. We move around swiftly, just like ants. Empty a room, build up walls, cover the floor for protection and then we start painting. All according to a very detailed floor plan. This is happening at full speed, six DOGtime rooms at once. When we're done you'll not recognize them as classrooms anymore. But this is not just DOGtime at the first floor, the entire two buildings are buzzing with activities, students, teachers and lots of helping hands (family and friends) to make it all happen. All departments are represented at the graduation show; fashion, architecture,ceramics, audiovisual, design, glass, VAV and print & text. 


In previous years I was on the visitor side. You'll take a lot for granted there. Things that never cross your mind are actually very important to be hidden away from the guests awareness. It's all in good spirits and great fun. Iti is there to supply us with sandwiches and other solutions that our engines need to stay healthy. We talk, think and laugh our way through the day. I believe we are actually ahead of schedule, with this being the second day of work and almost everyone is ready to install beamers, dvd-players, lights and lots and lots of extension cords! But the technical story is a different story all together.

Fase one, connecting the screens
to make walls out of them

Exhilarating Top Of The Mountain

Time Table Graduation Show 2012

Wednesday July 4th 16:00 - 20:00 Official Opening

Thursday July 5th 11:00 - 20:00 

Friday July 6th 11:00 - 20:00

Saturday July 7th 11:00 - 20:00 

Sunday July 8th 11:00 - 16:00 

with diploma ceremony from 16:00 - 20:00

DOGtime 1st foor

Gerrit Rietveld Academie

Frederik Roeskestraat 96

1076 ED Amsterdam

To The Eyes Of The Man Of Imagination, Nature Is Imagination Itself

Manel explains the division of exhibit space

The architectural drawing of the first floor at Rietveld was brought up to us by Manel. The DOGtime part for the final exhibit is unlike previous years, it will be on the first instead of the third floor in the beautiful main building! Therefore making it very accessible, most people will get their first impression from the graduates of 2012 there. When he clarified the floor plan, dividing students in gallery spaces, I felt my knee being kicked from across the table by someones feet. Only to reveal Claudia who was sitting there with a bright smile and her thumbs up. It was then that I realized what Manel had said, i had the left wing all to myself! No shared space, just the unique opportunity to show my work in a room that is flooded by light and looks over gorgeous lush trees. It gave me a little premonition of a zenith yet to come.

Elevator Pitch...SO WHAT?

Elevator button at studio Papenbroeksteeg Amsterdam

Artists are storytellers... SO WHAT? Whatever your creative endeavor, you have to be able to tell the story of your personal brand, and describe your artistic vision, if you want to make a difference. SO WHAT? Today the DOGtime 5th year will give their elevator pitch. What do I want to talk about? What can I do for others? What is it that I hope to do? Questions that will be featured in my pitch: what is it about me, what matters most and what do I bring to the 'art' table? These questions are followed by a SO WHAT...just to pinpoint the exact energy that should be received. I will go and try to build a relationship with the audience, I have nothing written down from A to B. I will go with the flow. Just a few words that grasp who I am and what I like to do. It starts with a 'did you know...' spoken in a rather soft tone of voice and then alters quickly by me screaming to the audience.

'Ambition is not what a man would do,

 but what a man does,  for ambition without action is fantasy' 

Bryant H. McGill

YES, I really am going to scream to the government committed jury, the teachers and students! For it reflects my energy, my need for more and my struggles. I hope I'll keep my nerves under control. Because a loud mouth should be backed up by actions, composure, body language and shift back to a more comfortable way of telling my story. Diversification is key to express what I want to show in this 5 minute opportunity with a CEO. But most of all I would like to transfer a sense of energy instead of a rational train of thoughts.

The Beginning Of The End

Recently my mind has begun to ponder the idea if I truly am as free as I think I'am. Reason for this train of thoughts is a article that compared the human brain with that of a dolphins brain. Apparently new MRI scans show that dolphin brains are four to five times larger for their body size compared to other animals with a similar size. They discovered that the neocortex - the part of the brain that is involved in high-order thinking and processing of emotional information - is even thicker in dolphins than in humans! This means that they rely on their emotional state of being more than we do. If we look at their communication skills,  their complex forms of play or even their use of tools we must accept that they are a very high intelligent form of life, just like us. It sounds so simple to say 'Yes they are intelligent, they adapted to  water and we to land' but it implies much more. It came to my mind that they do not have jobs, they all enjoy sexual activities with members of the opposite AND the same sex without social discrimination and there is no record of a dolphin attacking a human being! Now I ask you, who is more intelligent? Did they have a Christ Dolphin? Who knows... but collecting more and more discoveries from this species I realized how humans  are influenced by our upbringing and surrounding: our parents and teachers and presidents and doctors and priests and television-sets  and newspapers and magazines. The whole lot! And yet the one remaining question still stands: What is the meaning of life? 

'All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it'

Samuel Butler


Conclusion: what is freedom and am I really happy about it all? I enjoy the material world a lot. But do I need everything that is available? We need and we want, more, faster, harder and cleaner. Not so much for the other person to be happy with it NO WE MUST HAVE IT OURSELF! That is kind of strange and I believe old fashioned. We live in a world filled with abundance and yet in Holland we are told that we have a crisis. But I see no crisis, on a sunny day the terraces are full, when its cold we put on the heating. And yet our government needs more money to save the economy so that there won't be a financial disaster as in Greece. Wait a second, but you just told me we had a crisis and now we must pay to prevent the crisis before it becomes worst? Anyone with a sane set of brains knows that something else is going down the drain. What can you do about it? I'd go out for a swim, hunt some fishes and have fun with my fellow dolphin friends.... THINK ABOUT IT!

Where Little Things Hide

It seems that little things gather together and just hang out in equal space that I temporarily call my own. I may think I'am the creator of my life but maybe the little things rule my world. And I'm just enslaved to collect them. To provide a thing called 'home' where they thrive and enjoy each others company. They remain solid in my presence but might get into all sorts of trouble once I've left. It becomes visible when words are attached and a story unfolds. How long is a day for them? It turns out their echo lingers on into all sorts of constructions once they are spoken. But very often we dismiss them in our busy life. If I had a maid who would clean everything then I doubt he/she would even notice them...These little ones....

Full of Dragons

Yes! 

The Chinese year of the Dragon has begun! 

Congratulations to all who will experience this non-stop 'roller coaster ride' as a special moment in time, we'll have a ball! I had to wait 12 years to be in this lucky position again, but hey I'm prejudged because I've been born under its sign. The anticipation has been building up! Why all this commotion you might wonder? The answer lies in the question; 'where were you in 2000?' I recall the tremendous amount of energy that was available 24hours a day, seven days a week. Possibilities hung heavy in the air, like walking on a bubble-wrapped floor. All that I touched, spoke about or even looked at, modified itself to a gorgeous kind of gold. I have many fond memories of that year; new friendships, nice traveling and great parties that I attended. And of course the sense of danger, for no Dragon can exist without a certain 'edge'. At the time of this 'new' Millennium there was great concern about computers crashing and systems blowing up.... well nothing happened! This time our calendars will stop, time itself will stop as we know it. I'm looking forward to it! But I'm under the slight impression I'll be to busy to notice it...

The thesis pressure has come and knocked me off my feet. Honestly, they tell you this on forehand but I don't think they should, cause no one can prepare for it. To grasp all you've researched and narrow it down to one cohesive story is quite a thing. In some sort of way my thesis is about order, reflection and symmetry; a simultaneous process of writing and application, in the text and visual language. Like the knight, from the game of Chess I march through civilized history of modern thinking and art. Collecting Pythagoras, Descartes and Spinoza like they were little Happy Meal figurines. But really, honestly there is no reason to complain! Because something happens while you are so busy grasping the essence of your story, you become one with it, or it becomes you? No one talks about this, but the sensation is exuberant! The task that lies in front of me is to sort the text out in such a way that the bindery understands how to make it into one piece. This visual presentation is dictated by the content of the thesis, so everything is connected! 

When I started this year I knew it would be a good idea to have a certain break, a special treat that I could collect when I was halfway there. After an impressive evening with Dianne Reeves at the Concertgebouw in December I knew I wanted another Grand Diva that would fix me up.  The website of Carré got my full attention when I saw Jessye Norman's name on their calendar! A quick survey told me these were serious ticket prices! But hey, if my thesis was ready and I knew what I wanted to show for the green light assessment, nothing could stop me. You can imagine the excitement I experienced when I walked to my seat, just two hours  after I'd finished my epilogue. My heart was beating like a mad man and when she entered the stage I could only let her wipe me off my feet.

Somebody