During the last weeks I was a guest teacher at Het BuurtAtelier in Amsterdam, where artists Mette Steincke and Ursula Woerner teach art to children on a weekly basis. I had been invited because of my portrait art, especially the portraits I made for my book ALA SMA TORI – Keti Koti Verbeeld.

In a workshop series of three lessons, the children and I looked at painted portraits by artists like Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo. Each portrait showed a person that was depicted with something of special meaning, like a book, a palette with brushes, flowers, a monkey, …
The children all had brought something special that day, something that was of great value to them, like in the portraits we had been looking at. I made a photographed portrait of each of the children, holding their special object.
During the second class I showed my own work: small sketches and original portraits with pen and watercolor from my book ‘ALA SMA TORI – Keti Koti Verbeeld’. They practiced ‘my’ technique, drawing and painting all kinds of small toys I had brought with me, on beautiful paper from old watercolor blocks.
Then, in the third lesson, each child drew and painted their own portrait, based on the photo I had made of them.
The children were enthusiastic, motivated and worked very attentively.

Here’s a video of all the children’s portraits, starting with the poster I made.
The exhibition ‘Back to the Future’ in the OBA at Javaplein can be seen until February 7, 2025. Most beautiful in real life, so if you are in the neighbourhood, go see it!
Address ánd opening times can be found via this link: OBA, Javaplein