R&F Abroad: The Netherlands by guest blogger Dietlind Vander Schaaf

Dietlind Vander Schaaf, Pyramid, 30” x 30”, encaustic, oil, and 23 karat gold leaf on panel, 2019

In April 2019, I had the extraordinary opportunity to teach a three day workshop at Zijdelings in Tilburg at the invitation of owner Karina van Vught-Baak, who I met the previous year at the International Encaustic Conference. I am Dutch on my father’s side, but had never been to The Netherlands, so I leapt at what proved to be a most rewarding experience.

Zijdelings was founded in 1986. Originally, the focus was centered around hand painting on silk, but courses evolved to include a deeper exploration of surface design through screen printing, batik, dyeing, transfer printing, shibori, felting, fulling, punching, mixed media, quilting, and embroidery, and - over the past several years - encaustic.

I arrived two days prior to my workshop in order to offset jet lag and prep. My mother accompanied me so we could spend time in Amsterdam together and visit the small town in Friesland from which my ancestors emigrated.

Karina’s sunlight-filled studio was charming with beautiful tapestries displayed on the walls and a well-stocked store of materials and supplies in which to browse. The workstations were set up at standing height along two large tables.

My students came from all over - Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, and The Netherlands. Karina provided any translation necessary, and though most everyone spoke English, I enjoyed the sounds of different languages as people chatted with one another. Each day we gathered for lunch (provided by Karina). In the afternoon, there was tea and cake.

Just a block away from Karina’s studio is the TextielMuseum, a world-class center for the preservation of information about the history of textiles, as well as a working laboratory for artists, designers, and architects. My mother and I were stunned by the extraordinary exhibitions and fascinated to watch people at work in the lab.

After my workshop ended, mom and I headed to Amsterdam for five days. We wandered in fragrant flower and tulip gardens, visited the mammouth Rijksmuseum, were delighted by the exquisite Tassenmuseum (a museum entirely devoted to bags) where we enjoyed a fantastic afternoon tea, enjoyed the world-famous apple pie at Winkel 43 (seriously delicious), and took the proverbial tour of the city by canal boat.

The food was lovely. I could easily have stayed longer.

We spent one memorial day visiting the tiny town (pop. 300) of Lollum where I tried to imagine my relatives working and living decades ago. We even had the opportunity to visit Verfmolen de Kat, a windmill originally built in 1781 that was restored and partially rebuilt in 1960 for the production of grinding pigments.

As anyone who has traveled internationally will tell you, the experience lives on inside you long after you return home.

Detail from one of my Road to Lollum series.

When I got back to my studio, I found that meeting people, seeing art, trying new foods, and moving through unknown cities and landscapes had refilled the proverbial well of my creativity. I began to explore colors I had not worked with previously, bringing soft pinks and bright greens into my paintings.

I cannot recommend a workshop at Zijdelings highly enough. In 2020, Karina will be bringing not one, but three extraordinary instructors to her studio to teach encaustic workshops. The talented Joanna Kidney will be there March 5th - 7th for “Abstract, Expand, and Excavate.” From June 18th - 20th, R&F Core Instructor Leslie Giuliani will teach “Encaustic Loves Textiles.” And artist Lia Rothstein will combine her love of encaustic and cold wax in a four day workshop “Sensational Synergy” October 14th - 17th. R&F Handmade Paints will be supporting each of these three workshops with a paint donation.

Go for the workshop, but build a vacation out of your time abroad. See, taste, and take in all that Holland has to offer and I’ll bet you will return to your studio just as inspired as I was.

To learn more or register for workshops at Zijdelings, click here.