Art

Inspired by | Light

| Marsha.

Inspired by: a monthly challenge by Riikka Kovasin and Marsha Valk

Hi there! It’s January, it’s the 10th… It’s time for the first Inspired by of 2016!

Inspired by is a monthly challenge. My friend Riikka and I decide on a theme (and that theme can be anything from a film, a book, a painting, to an item, colour scheme or material) and then we create something with that theme or thing in mind.

When we were discussing themes a while back, we both agreed that January’s theme had to be ‘easy’. So no books or films, but something ‘light’, like… Well we really didn’t know! We decided to think about it for a couple of days.

I don’t remember how many days it took, but one day as I was planning a light-bulb went on in my head. I was going to write ‘Inspired by: something light’. And then I thought… hmmm… LIGHT! So ‘light’ it is!

I took my time coming up with my take on it though. I was thinking lamp, or something lightweight or maybe something about winter darkness/light.

But I also happened to have video-making on my mind… Creative video-making, but not necessarily the craft kind, if you know what I mean.

I would love to explore and learn more, so I’ve recently signed myself up for a course. And you know that the French word for light is lumière, right?! As in the Lumière brothers, the first film makers in history!

So in my mind it became plausible to make a video for this Inspired by. The course hasn’t started yet, but I have already started to record some footage for when I need it.

Last Thursday we visited Antwerpen and whilst we were driving into the city, I saw this poster that said ‘Anselm Kiefer’. I couldn’t read the rest, so I googled it: there was a free exhibition of one of his works in the former Raamtheater. So we decided to go see it!

We had no idea where or what the former Raamtheater was, so that was an unexpected bonus. That’s why I love following my curiosity: you just never know what gem you might find!

Please remember that I didn’t record the footage with publication in mind. You will see that I don’t seem to have a steady hand and that the quality is poor. But hey… I have to start somewhere!

https://youtu.be/HT3V3zmofWY

I can’t wait to see what Riikka has come up with! Be sure to visit her at Paperiliitin!

140313 Groningen

| Marsha.

140313_MarshaValk

Last week I took the train to Groningen to see Birgit and to visit the Groninger Museum.

We spent hours and hours and hours chatting and exploring the museum, drinking at a terrace and browsing a couple of shops without even noticing how much time had actually passed. This day went by way to fast!

I didn’t take a lot of photos in the museum, but I truly enjoyed the Jaime Hayon exhibition. Especially the combo of the finished art and then seeing the rough sketches and ideas in his art journals!

I also loved the Marilyn Manson presentation. In first instance you see beautiful watercolour and mixed media pieces. The colours alone are stunning! And then when you take a closer look, the subjects are just what you would expect: bizarre and discomforting.

Only downside was that the glass reflections (from both the museum lights and the windows) on the art were annoying. And I would have loved to see more of his art… this presentation was tiny!

Anyway: this was another fun and inspiring day! Thank you Birgit!!!

(Do not) Touch

| Marsha.

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We walked part of the ArtZuid sculpture route this morning.

It’s quite amazing, all these works of art on display in the middle of a beautiful Amsterdam neighbourhood.

You can get so close you can (almost) touch them. And I totally would have, if it weren’t for all the signs that tell you to NOT touch the sculptures.

The August Break 2013

Last week in pictures

| Marsha.

Inspired by Els, who is engaged in the Photo-A-Day-project, I thought it would be fun to share some of the things I’ve done Monday to Friday.

On Monday I worked. Sorry… no pictures. And then on Tuesday I worked from home on an article that called for a few ‘Dutch’ shots (which I took with my DSLR: Hello… long time no see!).

On Wednesday I ran some errands, bought the new Flow Magazine and tried out a recipe for vegetable stock from this blogwriter that I’ve been following for a while now. The blog is all about healthy eating and I learn a lot from reading it. I volunteered to try out recipes from Heleen‘s new book and in return she sent me two of them. The recipe testing also meant we had to visit IKEA in order to buy a pan that was big enough for the second recipe…

Thursday was a particularly good day. The weather was really nice and Springlike. I took the train to Utrecht for a little bit of shopping. I grabbed some Starbucks before I boarded the train home again. I didn’t bother to tell the girl behind the counter how my name is spelled… It was a very pleasant surprise to see she got it right! While on the train I received a What’s App message from Harold with a picture of his fresh new haircut. Once at home, I pulled the new issue of Scrap365 out of my mailbox!

The last photo refers to my new iPhone addiction: Draw Something… We’ve been having a lot of fun with that all week!

On Friday we went to Antwerp. It was a little foggy at first, but the sun came through in the afternoon and we spent a lovely afternoon with Klari at the Museum aan de Stroom (MAS):

I took a lot of Instagram photos that day… MAS is a great museum and there were textures and shapes and colors everywhere!

ARTZUID

| Marsha.

Het idee was om vandaag op brillenjacht te gaan… Maar daarmee waren mijn broer en ik al snel klaar. Het werd een (mobiele) fotowandeling langs al het verbazingwekkende, geks en moois dat ARTZUID ons te bieden had. Nog tot 28 augustus te zien op de Apollo- en Minervalaan in Amsterdam!

Gekeken en beleefd

| Marsha.

Afgelopen dinsdag ben ik met mijn moeder naar de expositie Matisse tot Malevich geweest in de Hermitage Amsterdam. We hadden kaarten voor zo’n NS-arrangement, met een lezing vooraf. Hoewel ik moeite had met een uur lang stil zitten, was het wel een interessante lezing. Ik heb de tentoonstelling ook met andere ogen gezien dan ik had gedaan zonder de info die ik tijdens de lezing heb opgedaan!

Harold en ik hebben in Berlijn (waar we begin vorige week waren)* twee pogingen ondernomen om een overzichtstentoonstelling van Frida Kahlo te zien. Helaas stond er beide keren een enorme rij voor het Martin-Gropius-Bau. De eerste keer stond er een meisje van de organisatie buiten drankjes te verkopen, die zei dat het vanaf dat punt nog 2,5 uur zou duren voor je bij de tentoonstelling zou zijn. Omdat we dat een beetje zonde van onze tijd in Berlijn vonden, hebben we de dag erna nog een poging gedaan aan het einde van de middag:

De rij was dit keer beduidend minder lang, maar het was warm… en we hadden die dag al een heel stuk gefietst… en we wisten dat de rij binnen nog een eindje door zou gaan… dus we hadden nog steeds niet veel zin om de rij te trotseren.

In hetzelfde gebouw was nog een andere expositie: Olafur Eliasson: Innen Stadt Außen. We hadden geen idee wat het was, maar we waren er toch en voor die expositie stond geen rij…

En het was leuk! Ik kan het niet eens precies omschrijven wat we hebben gezien. We hebben het meer beleefd. Spiegels en licht, water, fascinerende constructies, kleur, een kamer vol mist… Op de website van het museum staan foto’s of kijk op Olafur Eliasson!

* We waren op vakantie: een paar dagen Berlijn, daarna een paar dagen Sauerland en tot slot een paar dagen Essen (Ruhrgebied).

A1

| Marsha.

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Harold had er toevallig iets over vernomen en… laten we ons nou net op het moment suprême op de A1 bevinden!

Eerlijk gezegd waren we niet echt onder de indruk van het resultaat, maar het idee was leuk gevonden: A Floating Highway.