Written by Alice, UVI, A Level Fine Art student.
Over the Michaelmas exeat, Mrs Lamont, Mrs Mortimer and Miss Bloor took 22 Art and Photography students to Amsterdam for five days to immerse ourselves fully in the art and culture of this beautiful city.
With students from three year groups on the trip, it was so lovely to mix and have so much fun together in such a creative environment – where inspiration came from both the art and each other!
After an early start on Thursday, we travelled by plane, then train, then ferry to reach our Amsterdam hostel. It was a crystal-clear day, and everyone was getting more and more excited by the minute! We enjoyed exploring a huge complex of workshops before sitting down for supper in the very original setting of a skate park – the place had a wonderful atmosphere and the food was delicious!
On Friday, we headed out in the drizzly weather to go to a huge warehouse full of artists’ Studios. We all tried our best to learn phrases in Dutch, though only managed ‘Halo’, ‘Dankur’, ‘Ben je enthousiast voor vandaag?’ (‘are you excited for today?), and ‘ja bent euforie,’ (‘I am euphoric!’) – rather a bizarre mix! We spent some time wandering around the vast warehouse absorbing the incredible architecture and graffiti, and observing artists at work – it was so cool to see how each artist designed and decorated their cube so differently!
Our afternoon location was a street art and graffiti museum called Straat. It was awesome! From Keith Haring to Banksy, street art has made the headlines in recent history, and its impact on art, fashion, design, advertising and culture is stronger than ever – though it is illegal! Straat aims to share the passion for this radical art movement with the public by allowing street artists to work within the law and by showcasing some of the biggest names and upcoming talent from around the world. Their current exhibition displays over 180 artworks created on-site by 170 artists – a mind-blowing visual experience. After a guided tour, we were each given a spray can to experiment with, and then we split into two groups to create collaborative pieces – my group made an underwater scene with Sponge Bob, his house, a giant jellyfish and turtle. It was a brilliant day!
On Saturday, our creative juices were well and truly flowing and we made the short walk to the Eye Museum which exhibits photography and film from over the years. We particularly enjoyed the interactive displays – making our own flipbook, experiencing the magic of green screen, and seeing the evolution of movie posters. It was so cool to feel like we were a part of the art. In the afternoon we went on an incredible boat tour of the city (with pizza too!) before heading to Europe’s largest Flea Market where we had a great time picking up many fun and quirky pieces – with lots of fun to follow when we tried everything on back at the hostel later.
On Sunday, a quick tram ride took us to the Museum Quarter where we went to The Stedelijk Museum to view its world-famous works and new discoveries in modern and contemporary art and design. There were light displays, a whole section dedicated to the fusion between fine art and textiles, and so many beautiful paintings. We all did some sketching and really enjoyed the huge variety of inspirational pieces.
A walk in the lovely September sun took us to the Vondelpark which had huge installations, beautiful scenery, great people-watching and a gorgeous circular Art Deco café where we got some lunch. Our next destination was the independent Moco Museum which houses a wide range of inspiring modern, contemporary, and street art. The collection includes work by Banksy, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Yayoi Kusama, Andy Warhol, and even Robbie Williams! With more sketching under our belts, and tired feet, we made our way back to our hostel for supper and an early night before our last day.
On Monday, we headed straight to the famous Rijks Museum – the national museum of the Netherlands, which tells the story of over 800 years of Dutch history, from 1200 to now. The Museum shows some of the most revered Dutch masters’ works from Vermeer to Rembrandt and beyond. It provided us all with so much inspiration and we could not have ended our trip with a better experience. Soon we were on our way back to the airport, with lashings of Tony’s Chocoloney in hand and brains fizzing with new ideas for our GCSE and A Level courses.
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