IG: @mari.drafi

Violinist, serving as the deputy leader of the second violins at the National Symphonic Orchestra of the Polish Radio in Katowice (NOSPR). Abstract and intuitive painter. The starting point for her paintings is color (often arising from the timbre of sound, harmonies, and music) and movement.

Her artistic path began at the Public Music School of the First Degree named after Janina Garść in Lubliniec. During this period she discovered her passion for the arts. She continued her study at the Public Music School of the First and Second Degree named after Fryderyk Chopin in Opole. She is a recurrent winner of violin competitions in Poland (e.g. 3rd place at the VII Nation-Wide Forum of Young Instrumentalists in Rybnik, 2011), as well as international competitions. She’s an active chamber musician and soloist (performed, among others, at the Polaco de Musica Festival in Guayaquil, Ecuador). She graduated from the I.J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań in the violin class of Professor Marcin Baranowski, as well as from the Poznań University of Technology in the Faculty of Management.

She approaches life with enthusiasm and curiosity. Both of those she develops by numerous travels and exploring diversity – of thought, perspective, scientific fields, culture. For four years now, she completes her musical expression with painting. Her paintings were auctioned for aid to Ukraine in Wrocław in 2022 and were presented during the High Art Festival in Bytom in 2022 and 2023. In the fall of 2023, her first solo exhibition of paintings took place at the Gallery of the Cultural Center in Lubliniec.

Ingrid Saalfeld, Colors float – shapes appear – the imagination lives

Born in Gelsenkirchen-Buer in 1955. She moved to Dorsten in 1982. Since 2001 she has been working with watercolor in the atelier of Slavica van der Schors. In the years from 2012 to 2020 she studied at IBKK Centre for Art and Design and in 2020 she earned a diploma from Prof. Ph. D. Qi Yang. Her works have been exhibited frequently in German galleries. 

Brigitte Stüwe, NATUR_NAH

Born in 1963 in Bielefeld. In 1982 she graduated High School with a specialty in Landscape Gardening. She studied in Essen and Bonn. In Cologne she was working for an advertising agency. Since 1996 she has been an independent artist and designer in Dorsten. Since 2018 she’s been a member of the Art Council of the Gelsenkirchen Association. She has been an author of solo exhibitions and a collaborator of group exhibitions.

Slavica van der Schors

Slavica was born in 1949 in Serbia. She discovered painting in her youth. She studied painting in Luxemburg from Prof. Calteux, who later became Minister of Culture. For over 20 years, she has been teaching the techniques of watercolor, oil painting and acrylic painting in adult education centers in Wesel, Dorsten, Günne and Marl. She concentrates on people in her work. In the past 30 years she took part in many solo and group exhibitions in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Luxemburg, France, England, Serbia and Romania.

Tanja Nowak, from the cycle Figurativ – Woman on chair

Born in Gelsenkirchen in 1974. She studied painting and graphics at IBKK Bochum. She took masterclasses from Prof. Piotr Sonnewend. In 2016 she earned a diploma in painting and graphics. She’s a member of the board of the Art Association VirtuellVisuell e.V as well as the International Artists Association e.V. BIK. She manages the place of artistic meetings for youth and children T.O.T. Lembecka. Tanja bases her work on old photographs from family albums, in want of giving a new meaning to what is forgotten.

Doris Gerhard, Kule

Born in Düren in 1952. Her artistic path led through studying textile design and working with materials, then painting and finally photography, in which she earned a diploma in 2014. Working in education and her experiences in the field of painting form her current view of art. For over 20 years she has been displaying her works at solo and group exhibitions.

Alex Fichtner, Survival in a tent: The Khero family in the Sheikhan Camp

Born in 1979 in Hersten. He was raised in the Ruhr region. He studied fine art and photography at FAdBK in Essen. He graduated with the title of Master of Arts from Prof. Stephen Paul Schneider. He studied journalism at FH Gelsenkirchen. He works for the press, for organizations and as an independent photographer, journalist and artist.

Claudia Schnitzler, To not remember

Born in Mettmann in 1970. She studied geography and sculpture in Bonn. She’s a member of the board of the Art Association VirtuellVisuell e.V. In her objects and installations she uses everyday materials, coming from the idea that even the most unnoticed mass product should be appreciated because it’s a result of creativity and Earth’s precious resources.

Frank Hesse, Spatial object-based play of light | Cosmic laboratories

Born in Essen in 1955. He studied architecture at TH in Dortmund and at Architekturführung mit Klaus Reymann in Krefeld. Professionally, he designs residential and commercial buildings, as well as hospitals. Since 2001 he has run his architectural design studio. He’s a certified therapist, and since 2021 a General Manager of Dorstener Kunstverein e. V.

I like Charlie Watts from The Rolling Stones, even if he is not the crème de la crème of the world’s drummers. He is rather the background for Mick Jagger and the other Stones. For me, though, he is the essence of the band. The essence which has always attracted me. I try to use that essence in whatever I do. 

Charlie Watts plays with no ornaments. He is just the consistent and steady engine that pulls the band forward. I liked playing in that style: with no quirkiness but with a lot of essence; with the rhythm and power. With age, I have become fond of cooking in that manner. Without unnecessary ornaments, such as an excess of herbs or exotic ingredients. The essence matters the most. My photography is the same. It may be stripped of novelties and extreme effects, but it is full of essence. 

Chris Niedenthal was born on October 21, 1950 in London, as the younger of Helena Niedenthal (née Łyżwańska) and Jan Niedenthal’s two children. His mother, a stenographer for the Polish Telegraphic Agency in Warsaw, emigrated with the Polish government following the German invasion in September 1939. His father, a Vilnius prosecutor, left Poland after Soviet troops invaded the country on September 17, 1939. The couple eventually met and married in Great Britain. 

In 1972, Chris Niedenthal graduated from a photography course at the London College of Printing and worked for the London-based Features International agency for half a year.

He first visited Poland in 1963 with his parents and sister. Two years later, he came back on his own, and returned practically every summer thereafter. In 1971, Niedenthal took up a job guiding tours around Poland. In May 1973, he was invited to Poland by the Polish Interpress Agency.  

Niedenthal was a freelancer from 1974 to 1978, reporting for the German weekly Stern and monthly Geo and the Swedish daily Expressen. He cooperated with Newsweek from 1978. In 1985 he became a Time photojournalist. 

Reportage photography, presenting both historical events and everyday life of the 1980s, brought him most fame. He documented John Paul II’s first pastoral visit to Poland, the rise of “Solidarity”, the first days of martial law, the fall of communism, and the democratic transformations in Eastern Europe in 1989.  

In 1986 he won a World Press Photo award for a portrait of János Kádár, the Hungarian communist leader. The photo then appeared on the cover of Time magazine. Niedenthal was also the author of a socially conscious photographic project revolving around the issue of “invisible” children with intellectual disabilities (including the exhibition Taboo. The Portraits of the Unportrayed). Together with Tadeusz Rolke he created the exhibition Sąsiadka (Neighbour) addressing the difficult relations between Poles and Jews.  

After 2015 Niedenthal came back to photojournalism. In a sense this profession is a mission. As I have covered so much history throughout the years, I think that I cannot stop now. I have to document the condition we are in at the moment. Earlier I did it for notable world magazines, now I do it for myself.  

Fifteen catalogues with Chris Niedenthal’s photographs and an autobiography have been published so far. 

After a forty-year break he returned to playing drums. Five years ago, along with Andrzej Narożański and Andrzej Wernohe, he formed the blues band Sir Hardly Nobody. They have recorded one album: Drywood Blues.