Today was a good day. Jason and I got up, and out, before the day was over. Practicing our new-found skills in international bus-riding, we took a bus the few kilometers it takes to get from here to there. First store: Thrift Store. Feeling flush with crisp new Euros, we went in to find... the Hungarians. I don't know how to explain my shock, and it took awhile to find someone who could explain the circumstances, as my Dutch is ne goot. Apparently, the last time the Hungarians came they bought all the clothes. This time it was the entirety of the small goods, which included the housewares, kitchenwares, glasswares, and knick-knacks, including several I had put back the other day (for safe keeping). Merciful heaven interveened, however and spared the one thing I most wanted, the blue ceramic bottle which had been placed decoratively in a cabinet in a different section of the store...
What followed was a comical tale of two Americans in a small Dutch town, buying cheese (with nettles) trying something that looked like sausage, buying a power converter or two and having a lovely tea.
When we returned Monique was being interviewed by someone from the Ministry for Health and Welfare. Apparently the Dutch government cares alot about its citizens because it seemed like the guy would never leave. He must have been completely devoted to his work, because he didn't acknowledge Jason or me at all, not even by making eye contact. Maybe he was just shy, or intimidated by the fact that we weren't from his country and therefore unsurveyable. I eventually fell asleep while waiting for Monique to finish up with him, which was a disaster because predictably I woke at midnight and couldn't sleep again until 6 am.
4.17.2008
This just in (from the MepplerCourant)
book grant foundation Barbara
Thursday 17 April 09.18
NIJEVEEN - at the reformed church in Nijeveen is Saturday from 10.00 till 15.00 book -, plates - and video market of foundation Barbara. This foundation raises money for maintenances of the barn church.
This way‘n 10,000 books, 2500 lp‘s, singles, video links and a limited number of dvd‘s are offered against symbolic prijsjes. Barbara are an independent foundation which tries income for the maintenance of the beautiful barn church from 1477 and associated youth bldg. obtain because that stipulate the rural face of Nijeveen.
The coordinator of the market is Meindert of steel dunes. ‘We have been for a year busy with collecting books, plates and video‘s. by the gradual input we everything sort have been possible well, so that the visitors can zoeken aimed. This is now the third year that we such an market organises. The offer becomes always larger and third Saturday in April a term,‘thus Meindert becomes.
For the liefhebbers of word, music and picture is find there much. For the pleasing holiday period are possible visitors for a small amount a choice make from read -, study -, hobby -, child - and other books still a lot of. For old lp‘s and video‘s more and more interest exists thanks to digital techniques. During the search exists the possibility just as of blowing and a consumption to consume.
(translation courtesy AltaVista's BabelFish)
Thursday 17 April 09.18
NIJEVEEN - at the reformed church in Nijeveen is Saturday from 10.00 till 15.00 book -, plates - and video market of foundation Barbara. This foundation raises money for maintenances of the barn church.
This way‘n 10,000 books, 2500 lp‘s, singles, video links and a limited number of dvd‘s are offered against symbolic prijsjes. Barbara are an independent foundation which tries income for the maintenance of the beautiful barn church from 1477 and associated youth bldg. obtain because that stipulate the rural face of Nijeveen.
The coordinator of the market is Meindert of steel dunes. ‘We have been for a year busy with collecting books, plates and video‘s. by the gradual input we everything sort have been possible well, so that the visitors can zoeken aimed. This is now the third year that we such an market organises. The offer becomes always larger and third Saturday in April a term,‘thus Meindert becomes.
For the liefhebbers of word, music and picture is find there much. For the pleasing holiday period are possible visitors for a small amount a choice make from read -, study -, hobby -, child - and other books still a lot of. For old lp‘s and video‘s more and more interest exists thanks to digital techniques. During the search exists the possibility just as of blowing and a consumption to consume.
(translation courtesy AltaVista's BabelFish)
4.16.2008
Moellen Dag
Despite the fact that I (we) slept until 5pm, and thereby missed getting to the Thrift Store, and, well, just about everything else, today will go on record as the coolest day in Holland so far. Today will forever be known as "Mill Day" ("Moellen Dag").
While it is a well known fact that Holland is well known for its windmills (among other things), what is less often discussed is the fact that they have windmills for a reason. Two reasons, to be specific in this case. Reason A is because there is plenty of wind here, this being a flat country that everyone likes to bike around in. Reason number B is because they use the mill - get this - to mill stuff! Flour in fact. As in stone ground flour, from grain, pulverized between two stones powered by those cute blades that give windmills their instantly recognizable character. I realize this may not be much of a revelation to some of you, but those of you who suffered through my blog about baking bread at Elsewhere will already have a sense of the delight I felt at being face to face with a real live flour grinding operation. If only there were a stove big enough to bake bread in here...
Kolderveen is not so much a town as a road with houses/farms along it. Those of you from New England will appreciate this. Anyway, this road is a spur off of Nijerveen, also a small but lovely outcropping of dwellings which among other things that I am not aware of boasts it's very own mill. On the way back from a grocery run in Meppel, we saw the blades of the mill turning, which means the mill is open and grinding flour. I can't begin to tell you everything, and pictures won't do it justice, but I'll try a small recap of what I learned about this moellen. It got its start as a young mill in Germany 200 years ago +/- . In 1976 this mill was brought to Nijerveen to replace the old mill, and reconditioned. Everything is made of wood, including the gearing for the stones, which need a regular application of beeswax as a lubricant. This is the only mill in Holland that has a cap that can rotate 360 degrees to catch wind from any direction, and the four blades have louvers that can be opened or closed to regulate speed. The stones (I forgot to ask where they come from) have to be re-grooved once a year, which involves lifting them and filing out grooves by hand, using a template. There are two stones, because by law human and animal feed have to be kept separate. The thatch roof is tied in with nylon, because in case of fire, the nylon will melt quickly and the whole of the covering will fall off. It takes 3 years of study in different types of mills before you get your certification. There is a tiny speaker system for playing heavy metal because the mice don't like it and it keeps them away. There is a sign at the top of the treacherous stairs that says "If you can read this you are facing the wrong way". Since I don't understand Dutch I must have been ok. [For more (and possibly more accurate albeit in Dutch) information you can visit the mill's website at www.molen-sterrenberg.nl]
While it is a well known fact that Holland is well known for its windmills (among other things), what is less often discussed is the fact that they have windmills for a reason. Two reasons, to be specific in this case. Reason A is because there is plenty of wind here, this being a flat country that everyone likes to bike around in. Reason number B is because they use the mill - get this - to mill stuff! Flour in fact. As in stone ground flour, from grain, pulverized between two stones powered by those cute blades that give windmills their instantly recognizable character. I realize this may not be much of a revelation to some of you, but those of you who suffered through my blog about baking bread at Elsewhere will already have a sense of the delight I felt at being face to face with a real live flour grinding operation. If only there were a stove big enough to bake bread in here...
Kolderveen is not so much a town as a road with houses/farms along it. Those of you from New England will appreciate this. Anyway, this road is a spur off of Nijerveen, also a small but lovely outcropping of dwellings which among other things that I am not aware of boasts it's very own mill. On the way back from a grocery run in Meppel, we saw the blades of the mill turning, which means the mill is open and grinding flour. I can't begin to tell you everything, and pictures won't do it justice, but I'll try a small recap of what I learned about this moellen. It got its start as a young mill in Germany 200 years ago +/- . In 1976 this mill was brought to Nijerveen to replace the old mill, and reconditioned. Everything is made of wood, including the gearing for the stones, which need a regular application of beeswax as a lubricant. This is the only mill in Holland that has a cap that can rotate 360 degrees to catch wind from any direction, and the four blades have louvers that can be opened or closed to regulate speed. The stones (I forgot to ask where they come from) have to be re-grooved once a year, which involves lifting them and filing out grooves by hand, using a template. There are two stones, because by law human and animal feed have to be kept separate. The thatch roof is tied in with nylon, because in case of fire, the nylon will melt quickly and the whole of the covering will fall off. It takes 3 years of study in different types of mills before you get your certification. There is a tiny speaker system for playing heavy metal because the mice don't like it and it keeps them away. There is a sign at the top of the treacherous stairs that says "If you can read this you are facing the wrong way". Since I don't understand Dutch I must have been ok. [For more (and possibly more accurate albeit in Dutch) information you can visit the mill's website at www.molen-sterrenberg.nl]
4.15.2008
Kass Hall
Kass, in Dutch refers to a dairy product we in the Engels speaking world refer to as Cheese. Cheese Hall could be an interchangeable term for the place where much of our creative activity and public presentations will take place - the Kass Hall. Without giving too much away, here is a photo of the aforementioned:
and an interior view:
and an interior view:
Speciaal sauce
Today started well enough, although the point at which "today" actually began is a bit hard to define. Some small bit after that undefined point saw me not being hassled by German Customs (perhaps it was my breath); losing money in an airport exchange ($20 = 8 Eu?); and taking a train to the Netherlands. The inevitable conclusion of my journey did involve fries ("frites speciaal") with mayonaise and "curry sauce".
Wanting to waste no time I get a brief tour of the local hardware store and a ten minute run at the local thrift store.
Since I only had 2 Euro (what was left from my unfortunate bargaining skills at the airport and an on-board tea on the train I didn't realize wasn't complementary), I put everything back on the shelves vowing to come back tomorrow bright and early. After a fabulous meal cooked by Monique (an excellent puttanesca), Jason and I settled into a nice, lingering bout of jetlag, which several days (and many drinks) later would prove to be extremely stubborn.
I vaguely recall a discussion that involves tentative ideas I have for working here. The giant Pinata, and the photographs of the Black Holes both promise to be more complicated endeavors than they might have appeared at first blush. The brief tour of the local hardware store deepened my suspicions in this regard. While the makings for the Pinata (paper mache, chicken wire) are readily available, the justification might be a bigger stretch and while everybody loves a good Black Hole now and then, I don't know enough about European electrical code (or Astrophysics) to make my own without assistance and the Italian Astronomer hasn't called Monique back yet.
Meanwhile, that blue ceramic gin bottle I put back on the shelf keeps calling my name.
Wanting to waste no time I get a brief tour of the local hardware store and a ten minute run at the local thrift store.
Since I only had 2 Euro (what was left from my unfortunate bargaining skills at the airport and an on-board tea on the train I didn't realize wasn't complementary), I put everything back on the shelves vowing to come back tomorrow bright and early. After a fabulous meal cooked by Monique (an excellent puttanesca), Jason and I settled into a nice, lingering bout of jetlag, which several days (and many drinks) later would prove to be extremely stubborn.
I vaguely recall a discussion that involves tentative ideas I have for working here. The giant Pinata, and the photographs of the Black Holes both promise to be more complicated endeavors than they might have appeared at first blush. The brief tour of the local hardware store deepened my suspicions in this regard. While the makings for the Pinata (paper mache, chicken wire) are readily available, the justification might be a bigger stretch and while everybody loves a good Black Hole now and then, I don't know enough about European electrical code (or Astrophysics) to make my own without assistance and the Italian Astronomer hasn't called Monique back yet.
Meanwhile, that blue ceramic gin bottle I put back on the shelf keeps calling my name.
4.14.2008
Verboten tuben
Not much happened, unless you consider the staying up all night in order to catch a flight to Dusseldorf at 6am. Oh, and the fact that I had to throw out my toothpaste at the airport, because the tube said it contained more than 3 ounces of the nefarious stuff. That I had used some didn't factor in to the equation. The nice man let me squeeze the rest into a Ziplock bag and throw away the offending tube, thereby completely invalidating any reason for the prohibition in the first place but convincing me that at least there is some sanity still left somewhere.
4.13.2008
New Riddles and Constellations 4
(scroll down for English)
NEW RIDDLES & CONSTELLATIONS 4
Op zaterdag 26 april en zondag 4 mei vindt een bijzonder programma
plaats met kunst, muziek, lezingen en optredens in de Kaashal van de
voormalige zuivelfabriek in Kolderveen. Op uitnodiging van Stichting
Kik (Kunst in Kolderveen) woont en werkt beeldend kunstenaar Monique
Besten 3 maanden op het terrein van de zuivelfabriek. Zij nodigde
drie Amerikaanse kunstenaars uit om zich te laten inspireren door
Kolderveen en omgeving (Mary Rothlisberger, Jason Ferguson en
Christian French) en daarnaast een aantal speciale gasten voor een
presentatie in de Kaashal.
Op zaterdag 26 april is iedereen vanaf 2 uur welkom in de Kaashal.
Monique Besten roert in grote dampende pannen en nodigt iedereen uit
om van huis een ingrediënt voor de soep mee te nemen: een aardappel
of een ui, een beetje zout, een restje soepvlees, alles is welkom. En
iedereen mag mee-eten! Verder is er muziek door pianist Albert van
Veenendaal (sampler) en Alan Purves (percussie) en een solo optreden
van de Amerikaanse zangeres Jodi Gilbert. Beeldend kunstenaar Mary
Rothlisberger geeft een lezing over haar werk en er is een
presentatie met oude foto’s uit het archief van de Historische
Vereniging Nijeveen. Er is werk te zien van de vier beeldend
kunstenaars.
Op zondag 4 mei twee lezingen door twee beeldend kunstenaars: Jason
Ferguson en Christian French. Vogelgeluidendeskundige Magnus Robb
laat bijzondere vogelopnames horen en Hans Hasebos speelt een solo
concert op de marimba. In de Kaashal is tegelijkertijd een expositie
met het eindresultaat van de werkperiode van de vier beeldend
kunstenaars.
1 t/m 5 mei: expositie in de Kaashal
De toegang is alle dagen gratis. Het programma op 26 april en 4 mei
begint om 14.00 uur maar inloop is de hele middag mogelijk. De
expositie van 1 t/m 5 mei is dagelijks geopend van 13.00 -17.00 uur.
(Wijzigingen of toevoegingen in het programma zijn mogelijk.)
Met dank aan: Stichting Kik, Stichting Mista'peo, Provincie Drenthe,
VSBFonds, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Drenthe
Adres: Kolderveen 28, Nijeveen (volg de schoorsteen!)
Meer info: http//www.moniquebesten.nl en http//www.kik-site.nl

NEW RIDDLES & CONSTELLATIONS 4
Saturday 26 April and Sunday May 4 a special program with art, music,
lectures and performances takes place in the Cheese Hall of the
former dairy factory in Kolderveen. Monique Besten has been invited
by Kik (Art in Kolderveen) to live and work on the premises of the
dairy factory for three months. She has invited three American
artists to get inspired by Kolderveen and the surroundings (Mary
Rothlisberger, Jason Ferguson and Christian French) and another
handful of special guests to give a presentation in the Cheese Hall.
Saturday April 26 everybody is welcome in the Cheese Hall from 14.00
on. Monique Besten stirs in big pans and invites everybody to bring
along an ingrediënt for the soup: a potatoe or an union, some salt or
sellery, some leftover meat, everything is welcome. The soup will be
eaten during the afternoon! Furthermore there’s music by the duo
Albert van Veenendaal (samples) - Alan Purves (percussion) and a solo
performance by the American singer Jodi Gilbert. Visual artist Mary
Rothlisberger gives a talk about her work and there is a presentation
with photos from the archives belonging to the Historical Society in
Nijeveen. The four artists show their working process.
On Sunday May 4 two lectures are given by two visual artists: Jason
Ferguson and Christian French. The birdsong specialist Magnus Robb
plays and talks about his most favorite bird songs and Hans Hasebos
plays a solo concert on the marimba. At the same time there’s an
exhibition presenting the endresult of the working process of the
four visual artists.
May 1-5: exhibition in the Cheese Hall
and possibly more!
The entrance is free. The program on April 26 and May 5 will start
around 14.00 but you can arrive any time in the afternoon. The
exhibition on May 1-5 is open daily: 13.00 - 17.00
(There might be some changes or additions to the program)
Thanks to: Stichting Kik, Stichting Mista'peo, Provincie Drenthe,
VSBFonds, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Drenthe
Address: Kolderveen 28, Nijeveen (follow the chimney!)
More info: http//www.moniquebesten.nl en http//www.kik-site.nl
4.12.2008
Adventures in the Dutch Countryside, or, TransitMan takes a holiday
Being an ongoing account, with various loose threads, of an American Artist's Adventures at a residency in Kolderveen, the Netherlands. The time frame for this narrative stretches from the recent past to the not-so-distant future. Cast includes: CHRISTIAN (American, Artist, Narrator of Dubious Authority); MONIQUE (Dutch, Artist from Amsterdam); JASON (American, Teaches Art at University); MARY (American, MFA candidate); ALBERT (Dutch, Musician and Composer, Monique's Husband); Various local personages as necessary. The setting: a former Dairy Factory which has been converted, part of which functions as an Artist Residency program.
Additional information, references and citations may be accessed by perusal of the following links:
www.kik-site.nl
www.christianfrench.com
www.moniquebesten.nl
www.mrothlisberger.com
www.jasonjferguson.com
www.bureauofpublicrecollection.org
www.elsewhereelsewhere.org
Additional information, references and citations may be accessed by perusal of the following links:
www.kik-site.nl
www.christianfrench.com
www.moniquebesten.nl
www.mrothlisberger.com
www.jasonjferguson.com
www.bureauofpublicrecollection.org
www.elsewhereelsewhere.org
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