Hermanus Spelbos

"Vive la imagination"

Painter Hermanus Spelbos (1955 - 2017) was co-founder of Poetic Realism. His paintings bear witness to a small world, where a silent longing for a bygone time can be felt. In doing so, the painter seeks the child in the human being, as if in this way he wishes to provide the comforting feeling of paradise.

"Painter to be"

This personal view of things gives inspiration to the work and there is also a fragile, naïve, still poetry to be discovered. The viewer looks along with some melancholic recognition to a past of dreams, illusions and fantasies.

Billy Joe - The Gascon Redneck

Not your average boineros, but somehow, I quite enjoyed watching this music video - it makes for a refreshing difference with all the traditional Basque and Béarnais folk music.

The song is named appropriately 'Béret Basque' and, interesting detail, all berets shown carry the stylized L logo of Laulhère on the side.

I failed to find much information on "rappeur" Billy Joe, apart from that he also goes by the title of The Gascon Redneck.

Ecology, tradition and sustainability feature high in his lyrics and vivid observers of the video will recognize a lot of Basque and Pyrenean symbolism.

Thank you, Frans

Concrete Beret

Dutch company ‘Goed Gevonden’ have concrete ornaments, Madonnas and decorations poured into concrete.

This is a 15 kg wall decoration of a lady with a beret.

Walter Jacques (Jac) Maris

Walter Jacques (Jac) Maris received his sculpture training from 1914 with the sculptor Achilles Moortgat in Cleves (Germany), where the Maris family then lived. 

In 1917 the family moved to Nijmegen (Netherlands) and Jac. attended the art academy in Düsseldorf. He also visited Belgium and England. 

Maris created works in wood, ceramics and natural stone. He made countless religious works thanks to his many contacts in the Catholic environment. After the war, as a former resistance fighter, he was commissioned for various war memorials in Oosterbeek, Nijmegen, Heumen, Tiel and Gennep. 

Anne Woudwijk

Anne Woudwijk (1952) is a Dutch sculptor.

Much of Woudwijk's work is closely linked to the province of Friesland. For example, his statue of 'Grote Pier' stands in the center of Kimswerd. 

In 1993 a statue of a whale was placed on the pier of Holwerd. After a ferry collided with it in dense fog , the 50-tonne statue was badly damaged. The statue has since been restored and relocated on the pier of Holwerd near the landing stage for the boat to Ameland. 

His daughter Roelie Woudwijk (Drachten 1979) is also a visual artist.

Beret in Wood

Sculpture of a smoking boy with a beret - Wood - Mid 20th century. Italy.

 

Jos van Ham

Many years ago, Jos van Ham started sculpting as an autodidact and has worked under the guidance of professional sculptors. Now he spends many hours on his passion, in different types of stone abstract as figurative.

The stone and Jos together determine the shape of the statue. He prefers hard stone, which gives him the space and time to translate his feelings and emotion into the stone. A stone can amaze him, confront him and lead to a beautiful result. During his work he loses time and space and is one with the stone. Each stone is again a great challenge.

Jan Willem Havermans

Jan Willem Havermans (1892 –1964) was a Dutch sculptor, graphic artist, painter, and draftsman.

Havermans was a pupil of Jan Harm Weijns and was a member of the artists' association De Brug and the Dutch Circle of Sculptors (NKVB). Havermans, Paul Citroen and Charles Roelofsz founded the Nieuwe Kunstschool in 1933, a free school and the first private academy in the Netherlands. The innovative school existed from 1933 to 1941. Paul Guermonprez (photography), Jan Havermans (sculpture and drawing), Hajo Rose (graphic design) and Paul Citroen (free drawing and painting) taught there.

Gauchos in Black&White

 

Gaucho Portraits

 

Anento

Anento is a municipality located in the Campo de Daroca comarca, province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain.

According to the 2004 census, the municipality has a population of 198 inhabitants.

Carlos Ferreruela-Agudo 1876-1941

The small town is seen as one of the most beautiful in Spain.

Anento Juan-Ferreruela-Traid-y-Pilar-Ferreruela-Orce

On the municipality's website, I found some interesting beret related material.

Covid Campaign: So that when you come back, we'll see each other. Stay home

1May - Labour Day

 

Banco de Alimentos en la Operación Buena Gente

A Radio Sevilla report and interview with Antonio, a volunteer at the Banco de Alimentos en la Operación Buena Gente (the Foodbank of Seville, in 2017).

Chasseurs Alpins in Terror Aftermath

On the evening of 14 July 2016, a 19-tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and the injury of 458 others.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, saying Lahouaiej-Bouhlel answered its "calls to target citizens of coalition nations that fight the Islamic State". On 15 July, François Molins, the prosecutor for the Public Ministry, which is overseeing the investigation, said the attack bore the hallmarks of jihadist terrorism.

Chasseurs Alpins were tasked to patrol the streets of Nice.

Milthon Duarte

From an early age, Guatamala born Milthon Duarte felt a curiosity for art and science. Drawing and painting were the starting point before investigating other techniques and languages ​​such as: wood engraving, sculpture, graphic design, scenography, muralism and audiovisual creations, among others.

Within his career he has also participated in different individual and group exhibitions in Central America and Europe.

Milthon Duarte is currently developing artistic projects and teaches drawing and painting classes in his own workshop located in the centre of Pamplona.     

Freedom Fighters

Pakistan routinely is ranked among the most dangerous countries for women. Much of the nation is extremely conservative, with women often subjected to violence at the hands of men. Repercussions are minimal, and more than half of Pakistani women who experience violence say nothing out of shame and fear. Freedom Fighters follows three brave women who are speaking out against inequality and pushing for equal rights in their country.

The short film interweaves the stories of Tabassum Adnan, Saima Sharif and Syeda Ghulam Fatima. Sharif is the only woman in her village to have joined the police force. In the wake of the death of her brother, who also was a police officer, she joins the Elite Force, an antiterrorism unit that assists the police. Fatima works to eradicate bonded labor and child labor, especially within the brick kiln industry. She has helped to free an estimated 80,000 people from slavery.