Sculptor, painter, teacher. Nelleke Allersma was born on a farm in North Groningen and in the 1960s she moved to the West of the Netherlands. There she settled on a houseboat in a fishing village on the IJsselmeer, close to Amsterdam. She studied at the Rietveld Academy. She taught at various institutes and exhibited at home and abroad and after 20 years she returned to the city of Groningen.

She notes that today, even in Groningen, the art world is still mainly a man's world and that as a woman you have to work three times as hard on it.

Despite moving back to Groningen, she remained active in the West of the Netherlands. She remained a member of her lively entrepreneurial artists' association there. A few times a year she crosses the IJsselmeer dikes to participate in the joint exhibitions and activities with her club.