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Hello! My name is Anna Maria Drutzel.

I am a multi-disciplinary artist and I currently
live and work just outside Melbourne, Australia.

Somewhere between the Dark Forest and the Modern City.

I am currently writing and illustrating a children’s book ‘Raised by the Wolves’
and re-designing a related range of toys and clothes, with a focus on sustainability.

Here’s a little bit about me and my art making…

Many years ago I studied Visual Arts which encompassed
drawing, painting, print-making, photography, sculpture and film.

I then studied Costume Making, trained with a Milliner, and
spent some time working in both fields. So I am both a visual artist
and a maker.  I have also worked as a performance artist.

I liken my art making to a kind of storytelling;
a field diary of my explorations and interests. 

I am fascinated by the beauty of nature and the construction of the man-made world.

I hold nostalgia for a more romantic time, harbour distant
dreams of Utopia and would say that- Art is my Religion.

I try to live a fairly holistic lifestyle.

I strive to ‘tread gently’ on this precious earth.
I enjoying growing my own food and preserving that harvest.
I’d rather buy second hand… there’s enough waste!

Themes of sustainability and eco-preservation can
be also seen weaving their way through my art.

I am an avid collector. Of old things. Beautiful things. Strange and curious things.

I love the work of Ernst Haeckel and Albertus Seba and artists like Rosalie Gascoigne, Joseph Cornell and Henry Darger, among many, many others. I love Dada, Surrealism, Bauhaus design and the wave of contemporary illustration and collage that’s flooding the web right now.  I love ‘Primitive’ Art, Tribal and Folk Art, Naiive and Outsider Art.

I am inspired by ceramics and textiles, costumery, photography, assemblage, performance art, avant-garde toys, puppets, dolls and the art of children.

  I am a mother and, as a mother, I always endeavour to try and
see the world through the eyes of my child, and discover who he is.

This notion can be seen weaving it’s way through my art of recent years.

I spend a lot of time trying to find the perfect balance
between being a mother and making my art.

And I spend a lot of time thinking about
‘the common thread’

♥AMD♥