We had a wonderful evening last Saturday when Brigitte’s dream to combine Indian/Yogi culture at her public art presentations finally started:
(with hopefully many more to come!)
Grand opening, 17 August 2024, at the *Gallery Eichgraben in Lower Austria: Exhibition ARTFUSION — Contemporary artists Brigitte Saugstad and Wolfgang Denk with dance performance by Aradhana Tomashevskyi accompanied by Edward Saugstad on handpan — Introduction by art historian Carl Aigner, “It is very important that we deepen our life experience by learning to understand various cultures and their collective significance.”
(*original century-old Art Nouveau village hall)
The evening began with the most dramatic summer storm in our village!⚡️⛈️⚡️
Georgio Pilla, Italian art critic ~Austrian artist Brigitte Saugstad~ (Venice, 16 January 2008)
“This artist, this charming signorina, is here to present her ceramic work. These pieces are art in its purest form. She takes nature and transforms it into art. That alone should give you an idea of her intellectual and comprehensive capacity. But she doesnʼt rest there. She also wants to give us the feeling of joy in form, and so these pieces were created, beautiful, sometimes white, sometimes colorful, a little darker a little lighter. And when she concentrates on her favorite sport, she gives us the ice princesses, where the body weight defies gravity. As you can see, the skaters are quite robust, but their whole being, the whole body, their physical form turns to poetry in her hands. They simply float in the air, there is no weight, only music and dance, only pleasure in contact with the frozen earth or lifting up and away from it. These ice dancers, when they are in the air, appear to be flying. It looks like there is no weight holding them down. She was able to feel this and express it in these wonderful works of art. Look at these figures that float towards the sky. It is truly an expression of joy, an expression of happiness, and much more.
Nature is expressed in these beautiful spheres, which are made up of nothing but little field flowers. Look at the wonderful forms that remind me of seashells and the waves, the song the ocean sings. We are looking at pure art; we are in the hands of an artist. Out of a handful of earth, out of a handful of clay, life is created, because these figures are alive. They live in her and, as they are here in front of us, they should also live in us now and in the future. We should feel the joy and the lightness of heart that she has given us today.”
Self-Help 