Magdalena (“Magwie”) runs a street art workshop as part of our creative retreats in Berlin. They’re a huge inspiration to us, and we can’t wait to see how they inspire you too.
Mag is an artist of astonishing visual variety, with a truly impressive array of cool characterful work, from external and internal murals, to paintings and sculptures, to illustration, character design and graphic recording, and even stonemasonry.
It’s not every day you meet somebody who used to carve gravestones for a living. They have earned a master’s degree in stone sculpting (Meisterbrief im Steinbildhauerhandwerk), “just to be sure I had something in case drawing didn’t work out.”
Paste-ups and murals: Mag the street artist
We’re incredibly excited to have Mag along to host a street art workshop as part of our Berlin creative retreat. When it comes to street art, Mag has a lot of experience with (legally) painting walls, and paste-ups. Paste-ups themselves are illegal to put up, but they do not damage walls or need expensive paint removal (like with spray paint).
Their attitude is to be present as much as possible. Slow down, feel the “now” and celebrate the little details that life has to offer… and maybe even add another one on top.
Networks and collaborations: Mag and Berlin
“Berlin was perfect to start what I did. I was old enough to come here and not get lost. I started to volunteer as an Illustrator and meanwhile jumped right into the street art scene. During that time, I met Christoph Kellner, a real Graphic Recording old-schooler, that brought me into Graphic Recording business and then I had enough time and money to develop all my styles in a constant ping pong between analogue and digital projects.”
A peek into Mag’s creative process
Character design is one of the things that Mag has done since they were seven. There are characters you’ll see in some of Mag’s past artworks called Orble.
Orble was ‘born’ from drawing their childhood companion cat one night with their brother, at a party with their eyes closed, on little sheets of paper: “I had this one character in mind but doing it with closed eyes created such wonky dudes that we burst out into laughter. That’s why they look so funny and quite out there. This is a good example on how to shut up your brain and let the style begin to flourish”
“Improving my art is a natural process. I am a style – inventor, so I could never just do the same kind of thing over and over. I need a variety of styles to express a variety of things.”
You can find Magdalena’s work hidden throughout the nooks and crannies of Berlin, as well as here, here (hi, Orble!), on their visual artist website and their graphic recording and illustration website.
