MICAELLA CERVINSCAIA

ARTIST BIO

I am a mixed-media artist and art historian (Master of Arts). In my work, I explore the interplay between material, color, and poetry. I combine wood, acrylic, gold leaf, and 3D elements into tactile compositions—an invitation to experience emotion and the forces of nature through the senses. My own poems flow directly into my practice, creating narratives that connect personal reflection with universal themes.

I was born in Chișinău, Moldova, but have lived in Germany since the age of fourteen. Today, I make my home in Morsbach in the Oberberg district, where I live with my husband, our two children, and our animals. Being a mother is a central part of my identity and profoundly shapes my artistic perspective.

My path is deeply rooted in my heritage: my grandmother was the artistic director of the state puppet theater “Licurici” in Chișinău, and my mother worked as a theater critic. My grandfather was a winemaker—an expert in sensory perception who tested and blended wines; his nose determined the nuances. That analytical eye and sensitivity to fine details continue to influence me today.

After studying art history and German studies in Cologne (M.A.), I worked for many years in museums, leading guided tours and workshops. Yet it was not until the age of thirty-seven, after the painful loss of my mother, that I found the courage to embrace my own artistic voice. Since then, my works have been exhibited both regionally and internationally, including in the exhibition „Art Without Borders“ in China and in a solo show in Waldbröl. Since 2024, I have been working in my own studio, where, starting in 2026, I increasingly offer experimental workshops for adults.


ARTIST STATEMENT

My work grows out of personal experience and emotional processes. I am interested in what remains after change — after loss, after closeness, after moments that have shifted something inside us. Rather than depicting events, my works focus on states of being: moments of holding on, letting go, and transformation.

I work with materials that carry their own weight and resistance. Wood stores time and memory. Structure condenses emotion and creates tension. Pigments and color allow intuition to lead, while gold leaf marks fragile thresholds between vulnerability and strength. Material is never neutral; it participates in the meaning of the work.

Poetry is an integral part of my practice. Text and image emerge alongside each other, not to explain but to deepen perception. Together, they open spaces where emotions can exist without being fixed or resolved.

In works such as Spuren / Traces, I reflect on proximity and distance and on the traces people leave behind when they are no longer present. Der Himmel / Sky addresses grief, inner dialogue, and the search for grounding in absence.

In The Power of the Elements, earth, water, fire, and air appear as lived conditions — breathing, resisting, drifting, and choosing — reflecting the necessity of movement, awareness, and presence. Other works engage with elemental forces as emotional conditions — intertwined, unstable, and in constant motion.

My art does not seek answers. It invites slowing down, sensing, and allowing complexity. The works remain open — as life does.