Sarah B. Smith Gallery
Ninni Baeckstrom & Brigitte Turquois Freeman:
Speaking Through Clay and Paint
June 6 - June 29
Opening Reception
June 6, 5:30 - 7:30 pm
Ninni Baeckstrom
Ninni Baeckstrom grew up in Sweden and has been part of the Charlottesville arts community the past 30 years, teaching and exhibiting her sculptures and mosaics. Her public art sculptures, purchased by the City of Charlottesville and the County of Albemarle are installed in the area and her art can be found at institutions and private collections in the US and Europe.
Ninni’s art explores the human experience and organic form. “Seeing a twisted torso or the outline of a mountain ridge inspires me and grows in to a sculpture or a mosaic.”
Over the years she has worked in cement, clay, wood and metal and many of her sculptures are using mixed media. Her art is original, and touches the primordial.
Her current stoneware sculptures incorporate slips, oxides, under-glazes, and glazes. They brim with whimsy and creativity.
Ninni Beckstrom, The Messenger, stoneware
Ninni Baeckstrom, Egyptian Queen, stoneware on ironwood
Brigitte Turquois Freeman
As an artist from rural France, my work draws deeply from the experiences and memories of my youth, capturing the quiet beauty and complex emotions of my upbringing. Through organic and geometric still-lifes and portraits in oil paint, I explore themes of self, grief, and nostalgia. Each brushstroke is an exploration of the passage of time, the intersection of personal history, and the natural world that shaped me.
The fusion of organic forms with geometric elements in my paintings reflects the duality of life in rural France—the harmony between the natural environment and the structured world of human experience. My art is a journey into the heart of memory, a space where personal loss and longing intertwine with the timeless landscapes of my childhood. Through the quiet intimacy of still lifes and the introspective nature of portraiture, I seek to evoke the unspoken emotions that linger in the spaces between the past and the present, creating a visual language that speaks to both personal and universal stories of identity, sorrow, and longing.
Brigitte Turquois Freeman, Un Soupior d' Automne, oil
Brigitte Turqouis Freeman, La Reine des Fleurs, oil