It was a great pleasure to give portrait workshops in Noémi Beyer’s art classes to process my book ALA SMA TORI – Keti Koti Verbeeld. I worked with children in two groups, 5A and 5B (grade 3) of the Oscar Carré School in Amsterdam.
Shortly before, I had given a similar workshop at the Nola Hatterman Art Academy in Paramaribo, Suriname. Those were art students, age 13-25. These were with young children, age 8/9. This time the workshop had been divided into two one-hour lessons.

In the first lesson the children practiced the techniques with small toys. First they made line drawings, then they looked closely to see what the darkest parts were. They painted thosee with watercolor, leaving the light parts white. Next week all children received a color print of a photo of someone (else) from the class, plus a blank sheet of paper. Again, first draw with a fineliner, then paint with watercolor. The portraits turned out beautiful, very different, exactly what I hoped for! For each group I made a poster of their portraits. The titles of the posters were written in Sranantongo, because there were children of Surinamese descent in these classes. Another time, such a title could of course also be written in Papiamento!
Noémi and I are enthusiastic and will soon present this plan to De Rode Loper op School, for art lessons to children regarding … Keti Koti Junior 2024.