ALINA NIEDERMARK
A childhood marked by inexhaustible creativity
with magical tendencies
I was born in Moers, Germany, in 1993. As a child, I loved playing with friends, being outside, being wild, but at the same time I always had a very quiet, withdrawn nature. As soon as I could read, I immersed myself in books and fantasy worlds. From an early age, I sought expression through writing, drawing and painting.
At a young age, lying on the floor and surrounded by creative chaos, I crafted endlessly thick books, wrote countless stories in them, created worlds and characters and illustrated all of this with paintings and drawings. I stuck unthinkable things on these pages: leaves and flowers - fresh from the garden -, glitter, stickers, sand, stones, fabrics and figures, colored liquids sealed in foil, bird food. As you can see, I was already a mixed media artist back then. I painted as much as I could, I believed in elves and fairies and magic and the reality of dreams, in a parallel existence of all these worlds. I loved beauty, the contrast between darkness and light and color, I loved everything that seemed enchanted to me. I remember sitting on a swing with my eyes closed, turning my face towards the sun, watching the iridescent color patterns that appeared behind my closed eyelids in admiration. I think that all of this - my limitless creativity, my way of thinking and living - arose from the desire to somehow capture my very rich, deep inner self and make it tangible both for myself and for others.
Art and reflection:
Identity-empowering years of study
As my life progressed, my fascination with the complex was reflected in part by my growing interest in the unconscious and in gaining intensive access to it. I noticed my strong empathy skills and also experienced that the more authentically anchored I was with myself and my environment, the more in tune I was with my intuition. Later, I understood that I was highly sensitive.
After graduating from high school, I was able to combine my interest in art and psychology in my studies at the Alanus University of Art and Society in Alfter near Bonn. There I found a place for myself where I felt incredibly comfortable and was surrounded by many great, like-minded people. I not only dealt with art theory, pedagogy and psychology, but above all learned to deal with myself and the world in intensive artistic processes. Within five wonderful years, which I will always remember fondly, I completed my bachelor's degree in 'art-education-therapy' and my master's degree in art therapy.
Over the years, I have expanded my skills and knowledge of a wide range of techniques and materials through online courses and extensive studio practice. Creativity and intensive artistic processes are an integral part of my life and my identity. I see the expansion of my portfolio as constantly growing, certainly throughout my life, and my artistic voice as dynamically evolving and growing - just like the self.
My current path: professional orientation
I want to share this insight into my world, my manifestation of beauty and meaning, my values and my view of things. My work as a freelance artist includes selling my originals and personalized commissioned works. I also want to encourage others to be creatively active and therefore offer individual lessons and VHS-courses for groups, whereby I consider the combination of enjoyment of the process and the skillful handling of materials and techniques to be fundamental.
I am grateful that I never lost my connection to creativity in my youth and young adulthood, but was able to continue to strengthen it and to follow this path and find this direction for myself. I wish that children would have the opportunity and resources to preserve these aspects of unfiltered creativity and to be able to carry them over into adulthood much more often.
This is what I want to process and convey with my art: deep (self-)reflection paired with the raw magic and beauty that can be found in everyday life, while at the same time creating a portal to dream into distant worlds.
Inspired to get creative yourself?
My one-on-one lessons are aimed at everyone aged 15 and up in Bonn and the surrounding area - no previous experience or talent is necessary!
