Name, branch of knowledge, subject
Marleen van Arendonk. Experience: secondary education art teacher (textiles, handcrafts and art history). Currently I teach professional didactics within the Fine Art & Design Teacher Training programme.
What inspires you?
Non-Western art and design are a huge source of inspiration for me. The mix that happens or can happen between different cultures in a big city is something that offers so many opportunities as well as challenges. For example, a mix of the narrative and the conceptual, or combining traditional artisanship with innovation.
What is your USP as a tutor?
I was a student at a time when artisanship and craft played an important role in creating images, which means that I can show students how to learn using their hands, and that in turn is something that they can also apply in their future profession as educators. My experience in secondary education and my enthusiasm for teaching are also something that I pass on to my students. My educational network is also their network.
My dream is that my students will be able to inspire their pupils in the urban environment to visually express their dreams and passions
What is your dream/goal as a tutor?
My goal as an educator is to teach future educators to always keep in mind the particular needs and qualities of their own pupils or students. My dream is that my students will be able to inspire their pupils in the urban environment to visually express their dreams and passions. It would be wonderful if we could reduce the division between ‘school art’ and what pupils make at home.
Name one item on your bucket list.
My greatest dream would be to set up some kind of creative mid-level professional education institute, in collaboration with the Instituto Buena Bista (IBB) in Curacao, which is where I come from and to go back to live there again. I would love to teach the ‘island children’ to discover resources for themselves and for the island, which they can be proud of. The IBB is already doing a lot in this regard.
Name a true pioneer.
Brent Wilson and Jan Masschelein are people who inspire me by thinking about what education can be; that learning is not something that happens only in school, but everywhere and with everyone; and that it’s important as a tutor to seek out inspiring and meaningful environments.
