A Journey Across Continents and Creativity: The Life and Vision of Magdalena Westman

n this deeply personal conversation, Magdalena Westman traces the arc of her life from her early years in a pastor’s family in Czechoslovakia to her transformative experiences in South Africa—where the seeds of her art therapy practice first began to take root.

Growing up in a home filled with intellect, faith, and compassion, Magdalena’s childhood was shaped by both inspiration and challenge. Her family’s moral integrity during the years of political repression left a lasting imprint, instilling in her a sensitivity to human struggle and resilience. Those formative experiences would later find their way into her work, not through words, but through color, texture, and the spontaneous movement of the hand across paper.

Our conversation moves gently between memory and meaning—how a sense of “being different” as a child became a source of empathy, and how the creative act became, for Magdalena, a path to freedom and healing. In South Africa, amidst new landscapes and cultural encounters, she began to sense art’s potential to bridge inner and outer worlds—a realization that led her to study and eventually teach art therapy after returning to the Czech Republic.

Today, Magdalena is known for her intuitive approach to creativity—inviting people to reconnect with their childlike curiosity through mark-making, reflection, and presence. Her workshops and writings reveal how even the simplest doodle can become a doorway to emotional understanding and self-discovery.

This interview offers a rare glimpse into a life shaped by courage, creativity, and compassion—and into an artistic philosophy that reminds us that healing often begins with a single, spontaneous line.