Today we’d like to introduce you to Alessandra Maria.

Alessandra, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, and went to school at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York. After college, I worked as a waitress for a couple of years, paying my dues while working in my off time on my artwork. Eventually, I got my first couple of shows, and worked my way up to selling my work through galleries full time.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I think like everyone experiences, there have been plenty of bumps along the way. I’ve been dropped from galleries for lackluster sales, dealt with dips in the market, worked through issues with cash flow or what have you. There have certainly been long nights speaking with my spouse or looking over my spreadsheets, wondering how I’m going to keep going. Yet, somehow I’ve managed to keep going as an artist full time for 10 years. Like everything in life – something so precious inevitably brings hardship to protect and maintain.

Often, my reaction to challenges with money and art is to try to make my work even better, to keep pushing it to it’s height.. And inevitably when I have an artistic breakthrough, I start selling-out work again. And then there is a period of abundance, in which I’ve had to train myself to save and live below my means.

And in this way, I’ve been able to steadily improve over a decade, learning to ride the tides and try not to get too worried when things are difficult. If I can make my work better, the business side will always get better too.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In a lot of ways, I’m just a kid that’s grown up. Technically of course, we’re all like that… But what I mean specifically is that when I was a child, I would come home from school every day and I would create worlds in my head. Worlds filled with fairies, witches, or queens, with elaborate stories and mythologies. Drawing was my means of manifesting those worlds, of bringing solidity to them.

And in many ways, what I do today is the same, but with the benefit of 30 years of training. I love to dream and create my own mythologies. I still can’t believe I get to do it for a living, and that people are willing to part with their own hard-earned treasure to own my drawings.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I’m actually a rather cheerful person naturally. At shows when I’ve met people who follow my work, I’ve had frequent comments on how I’m “so nice”. I don’t think it’s because I’m nicer than the average person per se, but rather because something about my work makes it seem like I might be quite moody, or overly serious.

To be fair, I would assume the same most likely just looking at my work. It’s all very dark, and it often can have a bit of an edge.

Contact Info:

• Website: alessandramaria.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/alessandradraws
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alessandramariaart
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlessandraMariaArt
• Other: alessandramaria.com/opt-in