Woensdag – Karwei May 21, 2008
Posted by stonecyffer in Holland, Nederlands, Quad Cities, Tilburg, college, education, photography, travel.Tags: college, education, Holland, karwei, mosaic, Nederlands, photography, Quad Cities, social work, Tilburg, travel
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Today our morning topic, sans the Swedish delegation, was student-centered learning, something of course every school in America is claiming to be on top of. No surprise when 2 of my 3 present colleagues insisted their schools followed the same model as ICT (a model program) and they had none of the problems encountered and shared by myself and my one open and honest colleague. Yeah, right. But I won’t bore you with these arguments. I was bored enough already without repeating them. Suffice to summarize that condescension and claims of interactivity (conveniently regarding subject matter suited for such activity, like science lab classes, no less) were countered by specific examples of our classroom efforts in engaged learning on a daily basis with subject matter that does NOT immediately lend itself to interactivity – for example, art appreciation.
Why the annoyance on my part? That would mostly be due to the aforementioned condescension. It’s a pity when elder, more experienced colleagues are so insecure as to feel the need to interrupt you at any opportunity and question your ability as a youthful instructor to assess the situation at your very own school. This is the same lady who felt the need to correct my usage of miles to describe the 150 mile distance from Chicago to the Quad Cities…by telling everyone “Melissa, you mean 170 kilometers.” Sure I do. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.
So, anyway…the later half of the day was spent at another location of the ROC, where the 4th level social work students gave a presentation about the projects they had been working on this year with Tilburg youth. It was outstanding and they were adorable. They were very interested in what school is like in the US, and whether the diversity they hear about was real or a fairytale. It was a terrific conversation. The 4th level students were a lot more diverse than the 2nd level students we had been meeting, who were mostly ethnically Dutch and aside from fashion design, hair dressing and nursing (which no one seemed to find particularly important at the ROC – no admins or PR we talked to knew much if anything about it), 99.9% male. The 4th level students on the other hand were about 50% Moroccan and Antillean, and 50% female.
After our afternoon session, I had some time so I walked around Tilburg a bit. I added some pictures below that I took along the way. It was really warm and beautiful out. I intended to go to the park (Wilhelmina park) and stretch out and do some sketching, but I ended up walking quite a lot, and Maria called me while I was purchasing a “Coca Cola light” in a little cafe.
Later, around 6pm, Maria & I went to Karwei and Praxis – big box home improvement stores – to look for tile colors to use in the table. We found a really great medium blue tiles.
Day 2 – “civic integration” May 20, 2008
Posted by stonecyffer in Holland, Nederlands, art, ceramics, photography, women artists.Tags: art, ceramic, Dutch, education, Holland, immigration, mosaic, Nederlands, photography, women artists
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Today the Swedish and American delegations of our international exchange met once again with Ronald from the ROC M-B. Maria dropped me off in dowtown Tilburg, where we were to all meet at the Lindebonn Hotel, the place where the Swedes are staying. They are all in the area of social work, and deal with refugees who want asylum in Sweden. Today was really to learn about not only refugees but also other immigrants who come to the Nederlands.
We all walked to the municipal center and met with 2 people in charge of “civic integration” (inburgering). We learned about the rigorous process, which involves learning about Dutch culture and also acquiring the Dutch language. We had a nice open discussion about immigration issues. Although I have to say of course none of the Americans are experts in immigration, which was problematic at times. For example, when discussing the Dutch inburgering courses that were offered at the ROC, the Dutch social workers wanted to know if we had such classes in our country. The fellow from California spoke up immediately and said in essence, “no, that’s not allowed. Illegal immigrants and non-citizens are not allowed to take courses at our schools”. Which may (or may not) be true for California, but was DEFINITELY INCORRECT for the rest of the Americans in their experience.
Later in the day Maria and I went shopping in Tilburg, where they have quite a few funky/cool second hand shops, trinket shops, galleries, and a mall. I bought some incense holders & incense at WereldWinkel (“World shop”).
Here’s a photo of my section of the mosaic table with the flowers I made. We’re going to do more with it Friday. Maria bought a great little ceramic frog from the wereld winkel that will go perfect with our colors. We’ll add him on Friday:
Mondag Mondag May 19, 2008
Posted by stonecyffer in Holland, Nederlands, Quad Cities, art, college, decoration, fashion, photography, travel.Tags: art, community college, education, fashion, Nederlands, photography, Quad Cities, travel
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Today was my first day on campus at ROC Midden-Brabant in Tilburg, Nederlands. We had a meeting between the American teachers and our Swedish counterparts. They call us the “American delegation” (so funny).
The American teachers are all from community colleges, while the Swedish visitors are mostly social workers who work with refugees in Sweden. Ronald, the international coordinator at ROC M-B, gave us a great presentation that explained all aspects of the ROC system very thoroughly. We discussed the differences especially between the American and Dutch experiences in the vocational school systems. As countries with recent histories of dealing with immigration issues, the Dutch and Swedish folks were more interested in that aspect. Of course, as one of my American colleagues pointed out, we ‘Muricans are all immigrants, so we think about assimilation differently (or should anyway).
I used some Euros, of which I was very proud, especially in getting koffie from the machine (automat).
Tomorrow we see Tilburg’s town hall and castle of Willem II; should be very interesting.
Tonight after dinner I am going to be the “expert” at the ESL class across town in Rijen.
Some pictures from my first day at ROC M-B:
Landed in the Nederlands May 18, 2008
Posted by stonecyffer in Holland, Nederlands, Quad Cities, churches, farms, photography, travel.Tags: churches, farms, Holland, Nederlands, photography, Quad Cities, travel
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Well, here I am in the morning (it’s 9:47 am here) after my trip to the Netherlands. I had never been abroad before, so the 12 hour travel time was a bit of a shock to my system. My hosts are so welcoming and have been taking care of me. In fact, Wiel (Maria’s significant other) just brought me a cup of coffee – I probably don’t seem quite awake now, although I’m feeling closer to normal.
I landed at Schiphol at around 11am NL time and found that although it’s very big, the airport was easy to navigate and it went very quickily. I only waited a few minutes for my luggage, and only had to show my passport once to a young man in a uniform who stamped it and sent me on my way.
Maria greeted me in the arrivals area and bought me a Starbucks before we took off in her Puegeout. It was raining but it was still beautiful – everything very lush and green. The cars were adorable – some I recognized, but many tiny ones that I didn’t (Opel, citroen, etc). It was fun to try and read the signs on the way to her home in Rijen.
We passed by the nearest mid-sized towns, Breda and Tilburg, which is where her school, ROC, is located. That’s where I’m going tomorrow. I have 2 presentations to give – one about the format of the American school system, and another fun one for her students about the different kinds of theatre schools and majors in the US.
We had dinner last night around 5pm (very early for them) which was delicious – tarly (barley) and a mixture of tofu, carrots, sunflower seeds, red pepper, with teriyaki sauce. Also a delicious salad with chopped vegetables and a bit of feta cheese and salami pieces.
I tried to stay up until they left to see a theatre production for 8:15, but I couldn’t keep my head up any longer and said good night at around 7pm. I woke up a couple of times, but managed to fall back asleep and stay asleep until 7:30. Considering I hadn’t slept in over 24 hours I don’t think that’s too bad. It puts me on a normal schedule anyway.
Breakfast this morning of bread, cheese, tomatoes, and bran cereal (a typical hearty Dutch breakfast) and very good coffee from their Senseo machine (we have those in the US but the coffee pods are much better here). I spent a little time trying to read the paper and looking through a few books on Florence that Wiel lent to me. I went out to their adorable garden in the back and met the dog Jantje (little Jan – funny name since he is a big Belgian shepherd), who was very sweet.
We’re going on a bike ride later this afternoon. They made up a bicycle for me with a short seat. 
I haven’t ridden any significant amount since around 2 years ago, so this ought to be interesting.
I can’t describe just how beautiful their little house is. Maria has decorated it with very bright colors on the interior, and many lovely Buddhist and Christian artifacts are about. They have very artistic taste. I love my little room. It has nice windows that open out over the garden, a mosquito net so I can leave the window open at night, and a pretty patterned Indian bedspread that reminds me of home (Maria remembered I had one on my bed back in Illinois).
That’s it for now. I took a few pictures on a walk yesterday before I passed out.
Feathered friends from my new painting April 30, 2008
Posted by stonecyffer in Quad Cities, art, birds, feminism, painting, photography, women artists.Tags: art, birds, feminism, painting, Quad Cities, Venus Envy, women
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A preview of birdies that appear in my new piece at the Venus Envy art exhibit. The opening is on Saturday, May 3 from 6-11 at Bucktown Center for the Arts, Davenport, IA. Should be a great party.
Pictures from the Voodoo Museum in New Orleans April 7, 2008
Posted by stonecyffer in New Orleans, art, religion, voodoo.Tags: art, museum, New Orleans, photography, religion, voodoo
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Here are some pictures from the Historic Voodoo Museum in New Orleans. I hadn’t been to New Orleans since 1998, so my memory may be playing tricks…but I would have sworn that the museum was a lot larger before. Maybe they closed off part of it after Katrina. Certainly the remaining parts were pretty dirty but didn’t appear to be water damaged.
I have a thing for the aesthetics of a voodoo altar, which might partially explain my love for Edouard Duval-Carrie’s work, and it just might explain the slight similarity in our painting styles.
Pictures from New Orleans April 7, 2008
Posted by stonecyffer in New Orleans, art, photography.Tags: art, New Orleans, photography, pictures
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Wow, it’s been a while! I have been such a bizzy girl! I have been doing a lot of ceramics, but preparing for the last few presentations has been taking its toll on an already hectic schedule. Of course, blogging gets kicked by the wayside.
Anyway, I thought I would share some of my photos from a recent trip to New Orleans for a convention.
See more and full-size at my flikr page
More pictures of finished pottery March 17, 2008
Posted by stonecyffer in Quad Cities, art, ceramics, coil, decoration, glazing, impressing, photography, pottery, slab, throwing.1 comment so far
A few unusual pieces for you that came out of a glaze firing last week:
Slab construction napkin holder, glazed in Rust to Yellow with Blue Hare’s Fur splatter
“Mow chow now” bowl – wheel thrown with incised decoration. Glazed in Yellow Ochre with Specks on body, Rust to Yellow on lip and inside
The kidney-shaped coil piece that ended up looking like a torso. Glazed in Yellow Ochre with Specks. It is still not finished. It needs dowels with glazed ceramic toppers
Venus Envy Quad Cities March 10, 2008
Posted by stonecyffer in Quad Cities, Venus Envy, art, feminism, feminist art, illinois art, painting, women, women artists, women's history month.Tags: art, painting, Quad Cities, Venus Envy, women
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I received an acceptance note today for Venus Envy Quad Cities 2008. They accepted two of my pieces – one drawing that is finished, one painting that is in the works. I am really glad to be included again this year (3rd year in a row). Also – the students who participated in the Women’s History Month art project were accepted as well, so our plates will be on display too.
Ida B. Wells plate March 7, 2008
Posted by stonecyffer in Quad Cities, art, color, feminism, feminist art, painting, women, women's history month.Tags: art, feminism, feminist art, painting, Quad Cities, women, women's history month
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I ended up pretty happy with the plate I painted for our women’s history month tribute to The Dinner Party. Here are two pictures – one with my piece, and one with all six together in a display case on campus.
