24 Sep 2026
15:30 - 18:30
Secret Arts Teachers: Masterclass Programme
From 11 to 27 September 2026, Framer Framed presents Secret Arts Teachers, a group presentation in which the classroom enters the exhibition space. The exhibition is the result of an international project by the Art Education research group at the Amsterdam University of the Arts, in which art teachers use their teaching practice as an artistic workspace. On 24 September, artist-teacher Henry Ward gives a masterclass, and workshops are led by three different Secret Arts Teachers.
Programme
15.30 Arrival and welcome
16.00 Masterclass Henry Ward including Q&A
17.00 Break
17.10 Workshops by Secret Arts Teachers
17.45 Drinks
Sign up hier.
Workshops
Gentle Strength, by Gina Sanches
Art teacher Gina Sanches often works with textiles with her pupils. As well as the school uniform (on display at the exhibition), she creates cuddly, everyday objects with her pupils. Whilst their hands are busy with needle and thread, valuable conversations about topics both big and small arise in her lessons. How do you cope with the constant stream of threats in the world, whilst you yourself long for safety and security? In this workshop, we use textiles to soften the harshness around us. Together, we’ll make cuddly hand gestures.
What will YOU stand for? by Manuela Jalimsing
In the art project ‘What do YOU stand for?’, pupils of art teacher Manuela Jalimsing explore various forms and expressions of protest. From stickers to graffiti: the pupils’ colourful voices reveal what they stand for. In this workshop, you’ll take on the role of creator, thinker and doer, ultimately finding the courage to protest. By developing your own visual language or form of expression, the creative process gives you an ever-changing personal perspective. The result is a collection of visible and hidden statements: sometimes direct, sometimes subtle, but always honest. Because protest doesn’t have to be loud to be meaningful.
Frustration Creation, by Thijmen Burgerhout
What would happen if you could literally smash your problems to pieces? As part of the ‘Problem Piñatas’ project, Year 7 pupils taught by art teacher Thijmen Burgerhout created a piñata symbolising a problem from their daily lives. Afterwards, the pupils smashed their piñatas to pieces. In doing so, they symbolically let go of the problem and found themselves literally surrounded by a collection of advice and support. In this workshop, you can experience on a smaller scale what it’s like to transform a personal obstacle into something creative. You’ll work with your own frustration, which will then be creatively destroyed. What’s it like to watch your frustration crumble before your very eyes?
About Secret Arts Teachers
From 11 to 27 September 2026, Framer Framed presents Secret Arts Teachers, a group presentation in which the classroom enters the exhibition space. The exhibition is the result of an international project by the Art Education research group at the Amsterdam University of the Arts, in which art teachers use their teaching practice as an artistic workspace.
In Secret Arts Teachers, art teachers work on the basis of a single shared question: what does art look like when you create it at the heart of the classroom, together with students? The project is based on the concept of the Teacher as Conceptual Artist, in which the distinction between teaching and making art is blurred. Teachers share their own artistic practice with the students and treat the classroom as a temporary art collective. The students are co-creators and the learning process itself is part of the work. On display in the exhibition are the surprising outcomes of these experiments, ranging from playful assignments to activist interventions and forms of (deliberate) failure.
Secret Arts Teachers was initiated by the Art Education research group organised by the Amsterdam University of the Arts (AHK) and brought together twenty art teachers from primary and secondary schools across the Netherlands. During various meetings in Amsterdam, they exchanged experiences, developed new teaching methods and took part in inspirational sessions led by artists and theatre makers. This gave rise to new educational assignments that allow room for uncertainty, play and failure, ranging from activist actions to the forgery of a masterpiece.
Guided by guest curator Kevin van Braak the exhibition explores the question of how art and education relate to one another when they are not approached as separate spheres, but as something that, in practice, constantly intersects and evolves.
Info & Credits
This event is in Dutch. Admission is free, pay what you can.
Secret Arts Teachers has been curated by the Art Education Research Group at the Amsterdam University of the Arts (AHK), Framer Framed and Kevin van Braak, and is made possible in part by the ELJA Foundation and the Cultuurfonds.
Framer Framed is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; Amsterdam Fund for the Arts; Municipality of Amsterdam; and VriendenLoterij Fonds.
Location
Framer Framed
Oranje-Vrijstaatkade 71
1093KS, Amsterdam
Amsterdam Oost / Community & Learning / Social Practice / Workshop /
Exhibitions
