Leiden, August 1, 2008
Inquiry into the phenomenon of surfaces / 10
Leiden, July 28, 2008
I am - still - working on a conceptual series in which I examine the phenomenon of surfaces.
Part of the series will be sequential, showing one surface in different seasons and time of the day. Another part is more associative - showing different surfaces with the same patterns, colours or ideas.
It will take some time to finish this series - especially the sequential part. Consider this series as a random indication of a work in progress.
Herring warehouse
Vlaardingen, August 30, 2008
When Vlaardingen stopped being a fishing town, the warehouses at the Wilhelmina harbour got new destinies. Some were left to rot, some housed restaurants, a snooker center and so on, some were used for small industries and transhipment. Most of the old warehouses looked dark and dirty - and that is how I remember them. Some are restored and got their bright colours back - and that is how I saw this one last August.
From my series on childhood memories at Stoop's streetbook
Ditch view
Vlaardingen, August 6, 2008
The Park Road ditch. All green in summer and sometimes all white in winter.
When the ditch was frozen we liked to try if the ice could already carry us. It was always the same group of boys and one girl. Hand in hand we ran over the creaking ice. Again and again. Slowly it broke down into floes. It was quite exiciting to jump from floe to floe. You had to choose the right floe, you had to be quick, or you would get drenched.
I once ended up between the floes. I ran home to keep warm and hoped I could sneak in. Some hope! My eldest sister, my mother were ready to receeive me.
Later I heard that a patient of my father - he was a family doctor - had seen my actions and had informed my mother about it.
From my series on childhood memories at Stoop's streetbook
Playground tree
Vlaardingen, September 18, 2008
Halfway this street - called Pine tree street - I discovered that my school had disappeared. The only reminder is this huge tree leaning over wooden fence. It stood at the end of the playground, next to the bike shed, opposite of the back entrance of the school and the class room of the sixth formers.
The school was demolished in 1995.
From my series on childhood memories at Stoop's streetbook
The dike
Vlaardingen, August 6, 2008
The dike, that split Vlaardingen into two parts - or better said, two parts became one - was oppsite the primary school. From the lane were we played during the intermissions, while the teachers were walking up and down, we could have had a view like on the photo - you have to think away the white appartment block; at that moment there were low temporary houses that stood there for decades.
In winter the dike was quite attractive. When the first snow arrived - and those where the days that the winters were whiter than they are now - we took out our luges and down we went, just stopping in time to prevent us landing into the still unfrozen ditch.
In my last year at highschool my best schoolfriend Frida and I checked every evening if we had done our homework well - we were very determinded to pass our final examination that summer. One evening at 8 pm she came to my home, the other I went to hers over the dike. At about 10 we always walked each other home until the dike.
One evening we discoverd it had been snowing. It was Frida´s turn to walk me to the dike. We entered a wonderful moonlit white world and got excited like little children. We ran, fell, threw snowballs and when arriving at the dike I couldn´t resist to use my plastified folder with history lessons as a luge. Down I went; struggled up and down Frida went - again and again. In the end the snow had washed all history away.
On my blog
Stoop's Streetbook I am posting a series on my childhood memories. I won't repeat the series here. I show you a small selection.
Memory spots /2
Vlaardingen, August 6, 2008
Train station of Vlaardingen-Oost
I can't remember these fresh blue and white tiles on the wall. No idea what covered the walls at the time I was a frequent visitor of this station. When I was about eight or nine years old I daily went to the station during rush hour. I was fanatically collecting sugar bags and asked everybody if they had one for me. Allthough most people were quite generous, I was happy when I got home with some ten sugar bags - I wasn't the only little beggar around.
On my blog Stoop's Streetbook I am posting a series on my childhood memories. I won't repeat the series here. I show you a small selection.
Memory spots
Vlaardingen, August6, 2008
I was born and raised in Vlaardingen - a small town in the shadow of Rotterdam. I left 36 years ago and never went back, except for a short visit to see a friend. That was 30 years ago on a cold day in Febuary.
I didn't like there - there wasn't going on very much, might even call it boring, everybody knew everybody, lots of gossip and so on - so I pushed Vlaardingen to the edges of my memory. From time to time however it popped to the foreground. It could be a smell, something seen on television or read in the papers, a photo that triggered the memories of my youth in Vlaardingen.
An old schoolphoto seen on the internet brought back many memories and I decided to go back to the places where I walked and played in my youth. I will show you those places in a series as slow as life was then and as dim and hazy as memories tend to be.
On my blog Stoop's Streetbook I am posting a series on my childhood memories. It starts with this photo. I won't repeat the series here, but will select some photos to show you here.
Eros
Blankenberge, October 1, 2008
Back in town after a succesful exhibition in Blankenberge. We had about 450 visitors and heard moving and nostalgic stories from beach cabin owners.
All the pictures at the exhibition and recent work are brought together in a book, called 'Te kust en te keur. Strandcabientjes van de Panne tot Zeebrugge' - By the sea and in plenty – beach cabins between De Panne and Zeebrugge. You'll find the book in Blurb's Bookstore and can order it there if you are interested.
Te kust en te keur Strandcabientjes van De Panne tot Zeebrugge, by Yvette Depaepe en Susanne Stoop. Book Preview
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