Our Story — Mia Mai Art

Our daughter, Maria Mai Märk, is a deeply creative soul. We lovingly call her Mia. She was born on March 7, 2019, and grew up in a peaceful village in Thái Bình province, Vietnam.

We wanted to keep her childhood simple, pure, and close to nature. Following our lifestyle, she enjoys walking and running. When Mia was only 22 months old, she could already easily walk 5 kilometers (3.1 miles).

When Mia was just 14 months old, she picked up a marker and began to draw on the white walls of our home.

We did not stop her. Mia was so happy. She could not believe that the lines she made would stay on the wall and still be there the next day.

When we gave her paints, papers, and brushes, it created a giant, cute mess. There were days when her face, hands, legs, and clothes were covered in colorful paint.

But we never worried about the mess.

In January 2022, when Mia was still only 2, The Power of Positivity made a beautiful feature video about her. When her art was first shared, many people were skeptical. Even some kindergarten teachers and child development experts wrote to us, saying it was impossible for a two-year-old to draw like that.

We named this style of art "Mesamis"—a word blending the first letters of our names: Meigo, Sâm, and Mia.

Using her glitter pens, she drew over 1,700 unique characters for the Mesamis collection alone. Before her 3rd birthday, Mia had hand-drawn 534 Mesamis!

Whenever she asked to draw, we were always there to help her prepare her papers, pens, paints, and brushes. Her love for art grew so strong that she would often wake up in the middle of the night—at 2 AM, 3 AM, or 4 AM—just to create art.

One of her favorite things to do is to buy live fish, snails, oysters, and mussels, and carry them to the big pond by the village pagoda to release them there, or into the river to extend their lives.

Because of this, colorful fish often show up in her drawings.

Before Mia turned five, she had already painted and drawn over 7,000 original artworks! We safely keep her physical pieces in large waterproof boxes. We invested in an ultra-high-resolution scanner to digitize her incredible collection.

Friendship is incredibly important to Mia. Wherever our journeys take us, she is always eager to make new friends, play together, and build lasting bonds, while still lovingly keeping in touch with her old friends.

She cares deeply for all living things, and it shows in her work.

Every line she draws and paints is born from sincere joy, wonder, and pure love. We hope her work continues to spread happiness and reminds us all to enjoy life's simple, happy moments.

Before the quiet monasteries, our lives were filled with art and people in the ancient town of Hội An. During this time, we had two very special locations for the Mia Mai Art Gallery.

Every day, hundreds of travelers from all over the world walked through our doors. We also shared her art on canvas prints, T-shirts, caps, mugs, and keychains so guests could carry a piece of her joy home with them.

The island gallery was made entirely of natural wood and leaves. There were two large tents to keep the rain away, painting tables right next to the river, a bamboo garden, and even a treehouse high in the air.

Soon, our "paint in nature" sessions became one of the most popular things to do in Hội An. However, in the spring of 2025, we made a difficult decision. We closed our physical art galleries and painting workshops. Running the spaces every day took too much energy away from our family.

Before we moved to the mountains of Đà Lạt, our family lived for six months inside two Zen Buddhist monasteries in Northern Vietnam. We did not live there as visitors; we lived side by side with the monks and nuns, sharing their daily lives.

This was a time of deep meditation and hard work. Our days began long before the sun came up. Every morning, we woke up between 3:00 and 3:30 AM to sit and meditate with the monks and nuns.

Mia lived this quiet life right beside us—she meditated, worked, and served, but also spent time playing and creating a lot of art. Being in the monastery helped us clear our minds and hearts, and grow closer as a family. We feel very blessed to have monks and nuns as some of our best friends.

Our story today begins high in the mountains of Vietnam. Since December 2025, our family home has been An Nhiên Farm. We live 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) east of the famous town of Đà Lạt. Here, our wooden house sits 1,350 meters (nearly 4,430 feet) above sea level among ancient pine trees and coffee farms.

A small stream runs right through our yard, while the wide La Bá River flows through the valley below. Life here is quiet and deeply connected to nature. For years, it has been our dream to live in the deep mountain forests near the water, and now, that dream is our reality.

This beautiful setting is so inspiring for Mia, who paints and draws here every single day. When evening falls and the mountain air turns cold, we wrap ourselves in warm jackets to look up at the bright, starry sky.