Artist and equestrian Signe-Sanne Oortgijsen (born December 1974) divides her time between being with horses and creating art and illustrations.
Signe resides in the Northern part of the Netherlands, where she built a little Viking cottage, close to nature and her horse Brisingr. Her passion is storytelling, and her mission is to avoid growing up. She graduated in theatredesign from the College of Art in Utrecht (HKU) in 1997. In 2019 she joined the Equine Art Collective: Paard Verzameld.
"My work is mythical and narrative. It consists of layers, some of which may not even be visible—a feeling captured in an erased pencil stroke. The story in my work is open for interpretation, I`m willing to share mine, but love it when a viewer discovers their story. I hope people look at it as a snapshot, a freeze-frame in a larger story. What happened before and what will happen next is yet to be told."
FLUENT IN HORSESPEAK
"Horses are magical. Period. It is my life mission to communicate with them and find a way where we can co-exist and lift eachother to a higher quality of life."
Signe helps both humans and horses through positive reinforcement and intrinsic motivation to create a partnership that will last a lifetime. She uses the natural talents and character of horses to reach for the goals of their owners. The two horses in her life are Blizz and Brisingr. Blizz is a veteran warhorse and has educated Signe to become the horseperson she is now. Brisingr has taken up the gaunlet to further her education and he will try to fill the hoofprints of his predessesor Blizz as an epic Viking warhorse. In 2023 Blizz passed away at the age of 28.
ARTIST AND STORYTELLER
"A good story has layers, like sushi or cake. Adding accents to stories through concepting, art or costumes props and setdressing is like adding sprinkles or wasabi to the dish. I would call myself an artisan storycrafter."
Signe graduated as a theaterdesigner from Utrecht Collage of Art, though her working life did not always involve the practical side of artistry, her creative way of thinking has always played a role in all her jobs. Currently she works as a concept marketeer for her beloved county Friesland in the Netherlands. She has never stopped creating costumes and illustrations on the side. Mostly sharing these on her instagram where you`ll find an ecletic, though coherent mix of illustrations and photography showing her costumes, home and horses.
RELEASE YOUR INNER VIKING
"I love to find adventure in everything and seek out to do things I find challenging. Mostly those things are following dreams I conjure up as I plod along through life."
Signe started a YouTube channel in 2018 at the prompting of a friend who said her life was interesting enough to share. By now she enjoys the creative process of filming, editing and storytelling. Since the start of this channel she has led a viking army to raid a castle, performed on a open air theatre stage with her horse Blizz, bought a young horse and visited him in the nature reserve during his stallion years and build herself a viking tiny house during a pandemic lockdown. What`s next?