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Issue 18

1 December 2012

1

De bijzondere vomrentaal van een bijzondere architect: René van Zuuk

Marian Verdonk conquers the world of clothing as a free spirit

PUNCHING - Sewing without yarn, painting with textile

Punching is a new, innovative way of sewing garments, textiles and

fabrics together. Marian Verdonk: ”It’s like painting with fabric and

wool, without using any water or paint.” At Punch Workshops, each

participant can buy a special punching machine and attend a day work-

shop free of charge.

Marian Verdonk’s

Golden Scissors sym-

bolize the start of her

company.

She received them as

a present when she

purchased ten pun-

ching machines.

Using the scissors,

she “sails” through

textiles and fabrics.

Marian Verdonk (48) is the initiator of

PUNCH! Workshops in Breda, the

Netherlands. She is a scenographer,

visual artist, ceramist and a costume

and textile designer. She set up

PUNCH! Workshops in early 2012.

Marian: “Punching means creating your

own, new, unique piece of material. It’s

not difficult. All you need to do is learn

how to operate the punching machine.

That is a machine without any yarn or

reels, which has five bearded needles.

You can’t end up with your finger under

the needles. The bearded needles mix

the fibres of two pieces of material and

fit them together.”

Marian completed her studies as a

visual artist in monumental design and

painting at the new AKV St Joost

academy in Breda. She then graduated

with a distinction from ABV Fontys in

Tilburg, the Netherlands, within 2 years

(this course normally takes 5 years).

There she specialised in ceramics and

other art forms. Her ceramic work be-

trays her background in textile design.

2

Marian Verdonk has developed her punch

workshops into a cooperative venture that

goes off the trodden paths. When the

workshop is based on one specific theme,

this will lead to very personal results

which together form a coherent whole.

Afterwards, Marian combines the indivi-

dual results into one large tapestry or in-

stallation.

Marian Verdonk is a textile artist, costumier

and expert in materials, which she manipula-

tes creatively and poetically. She went to the

Fashion Design Academy in Eindhoven.

With a lot of enthusiasm she set up PUNCH!

Workshops for groups, individual partici-

pants, people with impairments and compa-

nies in 2012. While looking for new ways of

working with textile, she came across the

punching machine. It was love at first sight.

Punching meant that she could “colour outsi-

de the lines”. That’s what she wanted!

Marian, a qualified art teacher for all levels

of secondary education, has extensive expe-

rience in art and theatre. “My strength lies in

helping people to get over their inhibitions

and encouraging them to discover their own

sense of freedom.”

THE POWER OF PUNCH-WORKSHOPS: CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT AND TEAM BUILDING

With PUNCH! Marian Ver-

donk provides inspiring

workshops for private indi-

viduals and companies in

Breda. She likes an uncon-

ventional approach to

textile.

Marian: “Textile is a great

material and you can do

lots of things with it.

I have treated it in all kinds

of ways: with gas burners,

wrapped in chicken mesh

and submerged in chloride,

and painted with large paint

strokes.”

M

Marian Verdonk: “I want to make life more beautiful with textile.”

Marian Verdonk: ”Punching can yield tremendous results.”

Modern, creative men can also be inspired by punching

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Using your intuition, you can guide the fabrics under

the punching machine and create the most beautiful

colours and pieces.

Fashion for Freedom is a label for individua-

listic designers who want to express the

meaning of freedom.

As a costume designer, Marian Verdonk worked

for Folkloristisch Danstheater and Rotterdamse

Dans Academie, now called Codart. She provided

the costumes and decors for many contemporary

dance, theatre and mime performances. She pro-

duced costumes for well-known choreographers

such as Itzik Gallili,Hilke Diemer, Matthew Haw-

kins, Bianca van Dillen and Henriëtte Brouwers.

She has a good relationship with Brouwers, who is

currently working as a manager, director and pro-

ducer at the Los Angeles Poverty Department.

Brouwers graduated from the Academy for

Expression through Word and Gesture. In Paris

she studied corporeal mime and Theatre of the

Oppressed. Henriëtte Brouwers is still full of

praise about Marian: ”Her costumes were special

because she became fully engrossed in the theme

of each performance. She was inspired by Giaco-

metti’s clay figures, the players’ movements, and

the setting of the mud flat in Terschelling where

the show was performed. She made the costumes

directly onto the players’ bodies, using unconven-

tional materials which she painted by hand. During

that process she imagined what it would be like to

be Giacometti and, like him, she became a sculp-

tor and a painter.”

Fashion for Freedom - Special “freedom skirts”

were made in 1950 to celebrate Liberation Day.

Inspired by this, Marian Verdonk punched a skirt

in 2012 consisting of pieces of fabric that evoke

many memories.

“I inherited the pieces from my mother. As a typi-

cal West Frisian woman, she always kept every-

thing. That’s very oppressive, but at the same

time textile is the basis of my freedom.”

KIVI foundation

The KIVI foundation wants to make experien-

cing art accessible for everyone, irrespective of

whether he or she has any impairments. This is

exactly what Marian Verdonk wants to achieve

with her workshops. She has therefore joined

KIVI. “Initially I was mainly thinking of children

with autism and ADHD. Punching quickly leads

to a special mindset: no more thinking, action

only. Look at what happens, and respond to it.

It’s really special to watch these children con-

centrate hard on what they are doing.”

Meanwhile, the target group has been extended conside-rably. Punching is also suit-able for people with motor impairments, older people, and clients from psychiatric healthcare. “KIVI truly means Art for Everyone!” The Punch Studio is open every Monday evening. People can come along to punch, or to get spe-cialist help with sewing or pimping clothes.

Punching - Painting with Textile

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HOUSES WITH A CLAY SKIN Marian Verdonk is more than a

costume designer, textile artist

and alternative clothing desig-

ner. She is also a visionary,

thinker, builder and spectator,

and she has a poetic outlook.

The visual artist in her wants to

step beyond the shadow of the

existing world. She has earned

her credentials in a broad artis-

tic field. She punches skirts,

aprons, waistcoats, belts, bags

and mobile phone covers, and

soon she will even punch hats.

She has also created sculptu-

res from fabric and clay.

The clay is the “skin” of fragile,

dilapidated buildings.

Braamspunt, Faint traces of human existence

Marian Verdonk graduated from Fontys Hogeschool in 2010 on the basis of three striking works. She researched how drawing as a final subject at secondary school relates to higher art education. Her picture book: ”Braamspunt, Schrale sporen van menselijk bestaan” (Braamspunt - Faint traces of human existence) describes the evolution of eight ceramic model houses discovered at Braamspunt in Suriname. Her report is based on the theme of “the end of the world” and takes its inspiration from poverty at an idyllic location. It is as if she were a tourist, taking a sightseeing daytrip to look at poverty. She feels embarrassed, but is fas-cinated at the same time. She takes photographs of the dilapidated houses from corrugated iron, driftwood and iron sheets, draws them and then builds them from clay. They are the remains of the most basic form of protection.

Contact Details:

PUNCH! Workshops

Marian Verdonk

Breda Business Park

Konijnenberg 61/

Lijndonk 4 -

BREDA

The Netherlands

Tel. 00-31-6-417 15 226

www.punchworkshops.nl

info@punchworkshops.nl

“The Stone Eye”, OEROL, 1990, by the mime group of

Henriëtte Brouwers. Costumes: Marian Verdonk.

During the same course, Marian Verdonk wrote another book, “Beeldend Theater - Op zoek naar bezielde

kunst”, (“Visual theatre - in search of inspired art”), an abundantly illustrated volume on visual theatre. In this

book she discusses striking philosophical themes (“Are you really touched by a painting?”), talks about emo-

tions involved in experiencing art and interviews prominent figures from the world of theatre. She writes passio-

nately about “drama that brings things to life.”