My Story
Hi there!
My name is Marie-Suzanne van den Brink. I was born in the US but have lived my whole life in the beautiful country of The Netherlands. Growing up, I was an active child and couldn’t sit still for more than two seconds. Visual arts, therefore, weren’t something I was interested in. I’d get impatient trying to color in coloring books. However, I did play the piano for a bit and loved to sing.
Throughout my years at university, the arts disappeared completely for a while. I studied Psychology at the University of Groningen and have a Master’s degree in Health Sciences from VU University Amsterdam. I was interested in people and wanted to learn more about what makes them tick, what makes them sick, and how I could help them get better. This led to an unexpected, but wonderful job at the City of Amsterdam, where I’m currently still working as a qualitative researcher in the domain of “Traffic and Public Spaces.”
It was in my late twenties, after an unfortunate life event, that I picked up a pencil again. I had a hard time getting out of my own head, so a friend suggested I try drawing. This turned out to be the best distraction I could’ve ever imagined. All the outside noise and inner rumination would disappear as soon as my pencil touched the paper. I’d get into a zen-like state and all I had to think about was the next stroke, and the next, and so on. I’ve never stopped drawing since.
I view myself as a beginner artist still; I’m learning as I go. But it fills me with so much joy to see my art change and grow year by year. I’m simultaneously over-the-moon excited and sweat-in-my-crack nervous to now have my own website where I can share my art with you.
Thank you for visiting! I hope you found what you’re looking for. Feel free to shoot me a message by mail, or on Instagram (the latter grants a faster response).
