Fundashon Plataforma Kultural is organising an extensive educational art program for hundreds of secondary-school pupils on Bonaire and Curaçao. Schoolteachers can download the educational program from www.hofikultural.com/education. From October 2018 until January 2019 secondary school pupils will learn about visiting artists and their influence on the islands and the Dutch artist Dolf Henkes (1903-1989) in particular. The pupils will make several murals led by professional artists. The project is part of Henkes on Curaçao. An extensive selection of work by Rotterdam artist Dolf Henkes will be on show on Curaçao. Opening on the 22nd of September 2018 by Minister Marilyn Alcalá-Wallé (for press and relations only).
Starting from October 2018 the street artist Vinz.100 from Rotterdam will stay on Bonaire for five weeks. He will stay at BonAIResidence, a new artist in residence facility, close to cultural centre Hòfi Kultural in Antriol. Vinz.100 will start giving workshops at Hòfi Kultural after the regatta holiday. Youngsters from SGB, Forma and Jong Bonaire will take part in the program. After that, Vinz.100 will make several murals together with the youngsters on Bonaire.
On Curaçao there will be three exhibitions of work by Rotterdam artist Dolf Henkes in The Curaçao Museum, Instituto Buena Bista (IBB) and the Curaçao Maritime Museum. For the first time since Henkes visited the island, more than 30 paintings by Dolf Henkes from the Netherlands have been shipped to Curaçao and are on show alongside artworks from Curaçaoan collections and from contemporary artists. Henkes on Curaçao takes place from September 25, 2018 to January 12, 2019.
Teachers from several secondary schools on Curaçao will use the educational program in the classroom and visit the exhibitions with their school pupils. The pupils will get acquainted with the art history of Curaçao, the influence of visiting artists in the Caribbean and contemporary murals. The pupils will discuss different taboos that are expressed in artworks. After that, students of IBB will make murals with school pupils on Curaçao. On September 21, 2018 a symposium with short lectures will take place at IBB, about visiting artists. To register mail to info@institutobuenabista.com. The symposium starts at 2.30 pm.
In late 1945, the Rotterdam artist Dolf Henkes (1903–1989) boarded a ship to Curaçao. Everything about the island would make a deep impression on him after those dark wartime years in the Netherlands — the colours, the light, everyday life. He took the island’s archetypal features and themes and fashioned them into his own distinctive, modern idiom. Curaçao conquered his heart and had a lasting influence on his work. He in turn left clear traces of his visit on the island, including two large-scale murals, in the chapel of the Sint Elisabeth Hospital and at Hato Airport.
The educational program on Curaçao and Bonaire was made possible with the (financial) support of Fonds 21, Henkes Foundation and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.
Henkes on Curaçao was organised by the Henkes Foundation and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands in partnership with the Curaçao Museum, Instituto Buena Bista (IBB), the Curaçao Maritime Museum and Fundashon Plataforma Kultural (for the educational element). The project was made possible thanks to funding from the Mondrian Fund and the sponsorship of the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne and Powerhouse Company, along with the support of Museum Boijmans van Beuningen.