Collective 360˚ blind contour drawing Seminar Into the Wild HKU 2025: Top view of several hands drawing on a round sheet of paper on the ground, surrounded by vegetation.
Over the past 20 years, Janneke Berendsen has worked as a art educator in primary education, secondary education, vocational education and higher arts education, where she has served as a teacher, educational developer and project coordinator in collaboration with partners such as Meervaart, TENT and Kunsthal Kade.
Currently she is affiliated as a Lecturer in Drawing at ArtEZ University of the Arts for the Bachelor courses Comic and Animation Design and the Master course Illustration Based Narrative.
A common thread running through her work is the pursuit of (neuro)inclusive and accessible arts education based on an intersectional approach. A brief overview of a number of arts education projects she initiated and developed:
Drawing from observation - ongoing
Drawing has always played a key role in both her own asrtistic practice as career as an art teacher.
She taught storyboard drawing, concept sketching for various media, drawing as a artistic research method and a drawing as mindfulness.
Currently she teaches observational drawing at ArtEZ University of the Arts for the Comic Design, Animation Design and Illustration Based Narrative courses.
Observational drawing is a way to slow down, look more consciously without judgement and (re)find inspiration. It is a embodied practice that allows us to let our hand/body-eye coordination take over from our minds; a very honest and humble way to respond and reconnect with the world around us, with one another, and with ourselves.
Alison Bechdel once said:
"I know that my drawing hand has a kind of intelligence that my mind doesn't."
Comic Design students of ArtEZ drawing outdoors, 2025
Neurodiversity Art Lab - 2025
In this seminar neurodivergent students from eleven different courses at HKU University of the Arts did artistic research to reveal the ways in which neuronormativity within Higher Arts Education influences their creative processes.
The artistic research included creating a Mini-zine as an ode to their unique bodymind, redesigning teaching-/creating spaces, imagining the academy as a camouflage-free zone, and autonomous works that stretch our thinking about neuronormativity, which resulted in moving, revealing and humorous outcomes.
The research shows that students experience various aspects of neuronormativity influencing their creative process. These relate to lesson design, the physical learning and creating environment and social norms.
These insights have been translated into neuroaffirmative pedagogical strategies that can contribute to unlearning neuronormativity and underlying power structures in order to promote a neuroinclusive learning and creating environment.
Guest lecture of fashion designer Myrthe van der Tier during NAL 2025
Decolonizing Games - 2025
Decolonizing Games is a seminar for students of HKU University of the Arts. In this seminar, students explored how colonial ideologies persist in contemporary games and how they can challenge colonial ideologies and power structures through the (re)design of a game or interactive work.
Part of the seminar was a city walk past traces of slavery in Utrecht’s historic centre, led by cultural historian Nancy Jouwe.
Students examined existing games in terms of narrative, (under)representation, stereotyping, and common game mechanics (explore, extract and extinct). They also colleccted games that offer a decolonial narrative and user experience and engaged in dialogue with one another about positionality and cultural appropriation.
The students designed various concepts for games and interactive works that encourage reflection, awareness and recognition and appreciation of indigenous knowledge.
Citywalk ‘Traces of Slavery’, led by cultural historian Nancy Jouwe as part of Seminar Decolonizing Games 2025
Dance me your story - 2023
‘Dance me your story’ is an interdisciplinary arts education project for pupils in the final years of secondary school. During this project, pupils meet creators from various disciplines (dance, fashion, music and film) as part of their arts and culture lessons. After school, they are given the opportunity to work with these creators to make a short dance film in which the young creators themselves take the lead. In this way, young people can get to know the arts sector in an accessible way and explore whether they would like to pursue further education in this field after secondary school.
Dance me your story 1.0 was a collaboration with secondary school Lumion Amsterdam, theatre Meervaart, foundation Jonge Makers and Amsterdam West Beach Film Festival.
The project was developed by Janneke Berendsen and dancer/educator Layzmina Emerencia, who further developed the project for pupils on Aruba under the name ‘Baila bo (hi)storia’.
Making of Short Dance Film 'Amaryllis' 2023