Living By Making

Mia-Nelle Drøschler
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Visual Arts
  • Updated Weekly

Living by Making is a personal essay podcast about building a life through art. Artist and writer Mia-Nelle Drøschler reflects on creativity, work, money, recovery, nature and the search for a meaningful life. Through intimate essays and conversations from her studio in the Danish countryside, she explores what it means to keep making—even when the path is uncertain. Instagram: @mianelle_studio Web: www.mianelle.dk/living-by-making

  1. 2d ago

    Inherited Stories About Money

    For years, I believed my fear around money came from being an artist. But what if the story began much earlier? In this episode, I reflect on ambition, art, class, family, and the beliefs we inherit without choosing them. Moving between my studio, memories of my parents, and the Danish countryside where I now live, I explore how my father's relationship with work and money quietly became my own—and what it might mean to finally let it go. This is an essay about creativity, inheritance, and the possibility of finding a different way to live. Living by Making is a podcast about building a life through art—not as a fantasy, but as a lived, ongoing practice. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mianelle_studio/ Web: https://www.mianelle.dk/

  2. Jun 28

    The Artist Who Looked Away

    For eleven years, six months and twenty days, I have counted time differently. In this episode I reflect on addiction, ambition, shame and the strange contradictions of building an artistic life. From AA meetings in Denmark to an artist residency in Berlin, from quietly observing a famous writer in my favourite café to confronting my own fear of being seen, this is an essay about longing—for recognition, belonging, and the courage to show up as oneself. Along the way, I explore how perfectionism, social anxiety and the fantasy of becoming "someone" can keep us hidden, even while we desperately want to be found. Part memoir, part meditation on art and recovery, this episode asks whether success begins not with trying harder—but with trying softer. Web: www.mianelle.dk Instagram: mianelle_studio

  3. Jun 11

    Congratulations! My big solo show in 2018 and I wanted to get drunk.

    In 2018, I was given the opportunity to create a monumental wall painting as part of a solo exhibition in a large gallery built around an empty swimming pool. For two days, I painted obsessively — covering more than eighty square metres of wall with flowers, animals, and colour. The exhibition became one of the biggest artistic opportunities of my career. Yet, alone in a borrowed apartment the night before the opening, another story unfolded. More than a year sober, I suddenly found myself on my way to buy a bottle of wine. A story about making art, staying sober, and learning that every day counts. Receive letters with draiwings by signing up here: www.mianelle.dk and follow me on my Instagram: mianelle_studio

  4. May 28

    The Vertical Lines - From Local Market to Museum Show

    In this episode of Living by Making, I share the story of spending four days alone at a local market in Denmark, trying to sell my art from a small tent between crystal sellers, ceramic vulvas, and a tanning salon. What begins as a practical attempt to earn money slowly turns into a reflection on class, visibility, the art world, survival, and what it feels like to create while living with a nervous system in constant alarm. This episode moves between humour, exhaustion, social anxiety, art, and the strange reality of trying to build a life through making. It is also an episode about the body — and the small sensory rituals that sometimes help us stay present when everything inside us wants to flee. From local market to museum show. Instagram: mianelle_studio Web: www.mianelle.dk  Email: studio@mianelle.dk

  5. May 4

    How I Ended Up Working with Murderers

    I share fragments from my life:
living on almost nothing,
standing in a supermarket unable to choose,
and working for years inside a prison with men convicted of severe crimes — where something unexpected began to unfold. This is an episode about vulnerability, dignity, and the invisible structures shaping an artist’s life. And maybe also a question:
What is art worth — and to whom? — You are not alone. I see you. 🌿 Website: www.mianelle.dk
 🌿 Instagram: mianelle_studio
 🌿 Support my PodCast and work: patreon/mianelle

  6. Apr 28

    Who Gets to Belong in the Art World?

    This week, I received a working grant from the Danish Arts Foundation — after fifteen years of rejection. In this episode, I reflect on what it means to finally be “recognised” as an artist. On the idea of the elite — and the quiet feeling of still being outside of it. On the realities of working conditions in the art world, money, and the body under pressure. This is a personal essay about value, survival, and the moment something shifts — not in the system, but inside. Instagram : @mianelle_studio  Web: www.mianelle.dk

  7. Apr 13

    Will the Past Catch Up With Me Soon

    This episode moves between past and present, between memory and the act of making. It is about drawing, painting, and trying to hold on to something that keeps slipping away. About childhood, repetition, and the body remembering before the mind does. A reflection on what it means to make something good— and what it costs to keep trying. Follow my instagram: @mianelle_studio or visit my website www.mianelle.dk

  8. Apr 7

    What is the role of the artist today?

    A poetic reflection on the role of the artist in a capitalist world. Between money, meaning, and a night walk in the forest, I explore what it means to create—and belong—today. Website: www.mianelle.dk  Instgram: mianelle_studio

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About

Living by Making is a personal essay podcast about building a life through art. Artist and writer Mia-Nelle Drøschler reflects on creativity, work, money, recovery, nature and the search for a meaningful life. Through intimate essays and conversations from her studio in the Danish countryside, she explores what it means to keep making—even when the path is uncertain. Instagram: @mianelle_studio Web: www.mianelle.dk/living-by-making

Information

  • Creator
    Mia-Nelle Drøschler
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Mia-Nelle Drøschler. All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Living By Making

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