De ‘witte olifant’

At the ‘‘Witte Olifant’’ (= ‘White Elephant’) in Almere, mentally disabled people are able to receive an art education. Two artists are teaching: Mieke van Dijk en Mariël Bisschops. The following text was in a newspaper about it:
“Many mentally disabled are only being kept busy, instead of stimulated or encouraged. Because of this, they aren't able to grow in their own development. We give them the space to unfold their talents. With the ‘witte olifant’ there is being worked with educational programmes and different disciplines. There is not just the regular painting or drawing, but also the working with precious stones, photographing, shooting films and working with wood. Basically, everyone can start with this schooling, motivation is most important with this.”

Art on your own way
The piece of art below this text is one of the paintings of Margriet Maduro. She made this one with supervision of Mieke van Dijk. This painting is called “Friends”. Margriet already has made some paintings at ‘Atteljee’ before this one. There are also some picture postcards made from her paintings.

In the brochure of the ‘witte olifant’ it says:
”The work of mentally disabled artists gets more and more attention throughout Europe. Unfortunately, the handicap seems to come in the first place, rather than the art itself. People talk about art, made by mentally disabled people, as if it is a style of its own. The ‘witte olifant’ considers these artists as individuals who, just like ‘normal’ artists, create art in their own way.”
The address of the ‘witte olifant’ is:
Kerkgracht 30
1354 AM Almere
the Netherlands