by Josée Thissen-Rojer

“If you really think about it, an artist is always active, creating or thinking about their art.”

Even at a respectable age, visual artist Brigitte Wawoe (Germany, 1939) is still active daily with her art and exhibitions. Brigitte is a sculptor, first and foremost, and creates pieces out of stone, bronze, and recycled material. Additionally, she paints with oil paints. In her paintings, she sometimes uses little pieces of all types of materials. Both in Curaçao and The Netherlands Brigitte Wawoe is a successful, well-known and respected artist.

On August 24th of this year (2019) she will turn 80 years old, and Curaçao Art is seizing the opportunity to talk to her about her life and artistic career. We meet up at Landhuis Bloemhof on the last day of her exhibition ‘Magisch oord’ (Magical place) which took place from March 23rd to April 20th, 2019.

In May 2019 Brigitte will travel back to The Netherlands, where she has 3 more exhibitions planned for this year. In the past, Brigitte exhibited her work in Gallery Eighty-Six here in Curaçao. After this gallery closed its doors, Brigitte chose the gallery at Landhuis Bloemhof, and here she has been faithfully holding exhibitions every 3 years from 2003.

Her favorite material is stone, especially stone from Curaçao’s Tafelberg. Brigitte spends roughly 3 months a year on the island, to work in her studio at Sta. Barbara, where she enjoys working with stone from the Tafelberg, and metal machine parts. For 27 years now she’s been collecting parts from all sorts of industrial machines, which she welds together to create new forms. She makes her own designs and then asks a welder to help her with the tougher work.

All her bronze pieces are made in the Netherlands. Brigitte loves bronze, which is a venerable, long-lasting, and elegant material. Working in bronze follows a tradition that has existed for thousands of years. That’s why this is important to her.

Brigitte was raised in a family of 6 children in Germany. Her father was an architect and had his own business. Brigitte was his favorite and was always allowed to spend time at her father’s office. She remembers being there when she was just five years old, and her little hands creating a clay cat. Creativity was always in her veins and after finishing school she went on to study at an Art Academy in Germany. 

In Germany in the sixties, she meets the love of her life, a “yu di Kòrsou”, through a mutual friend studying at the University of Delft in The Netherlands. They marry in Curaçao in 1967 and reside here till 1978 when her husband’s work sends them to England. Brigitte’s first exhibition took place in Curaçao in the 1960s. During this time, she discovers the Curaçao stone, and that it has qualities of alabaster. She’s the first sculptor to start using the local stone for her pieces.

Recurring themes in her work are animals, the cross, and the female body. In mostly all of Brigitte’s exhibitions, we find animals such as elephants, dolphins, horses, and owls. In 2013 she names her solo exhibition in Landhuis Bloemhof ‘Le Carnaval des Animaux (Carnival of the animals), referring to the musical work by French composer Camille Saint Saëns (1835 – 1921). The female body also remains a fascination and keeps coming back in her work. The cross is a symbol of her Catholic religion. Brigitte is a religious person and visits the church regularly. She considers her artistic talent a gift from God, and she treats it with respect. Additionally, she feels that religion is inherent to life because it teaches you that love is at the core of everything. Brigitte refers to a letter from the prophet Paul in the bible, where he talks about religion, hope, and love, indicating that love is the greatest of these (Cor. 13:13). “Love”, Brigitte affirms, “is the foundation of my art and my life”.

Brigitte affirms her philosophy of love in the history of her own life because the love for her fiancé is the reason for her residing in Venezuela from 1964 to 1967 and teaching art at a prestigious German school in Caracas, Colegio Humboldt (1894-2018). She does this to prove to her fiancé and to herself, that as a European she is well able to live in such a different world and culture. She moves to Curaçao afterward, gets married, and the marriage is blessed with 2 children. During our interview, any time she mentions her husband, Gilbert, she does so affectionately. Her family is the most important thing to her, “but”, Brigitte adds with a serious expression, “immediately followed by my artistic work”.

Besides her work as a sculptor, Brigitte paints too. She explains that as a sculptor she misses color, as her stones don’t have much color and in sculpting the focus is primarily on forms. To bring more color to her life she starts painting. In the morning she works on her sculptures, but in the afternoon, she switches to painting on paper or canvas. 

One of her most beautiful experiences took place in the Tafelberg. During a stay in Curaçao, employees at the Mijnmaatschappij give her a tip to come by and see something special. In the Tafelberg she encounters a huge cave, like a cathedral, hidden in the mountain. A silence falls over our conversation, as she is at a loss for words to explain the beauty of the experience, the atmosphere, and the colors she saw in the cave. Brigitte manages to rescue some precious crystals, but the next day the mining work continues, and the phenomenon is blasted.

Brigitte has known the art world in Curaçao for a very long time and feels it is very much alive and multifaceted. There are fantastic artists nowadays, who create art at a high level. She remembers that in the past there wasn’t as much activity in this area. This has changed over time; visual arts have grown and become more varied with modern painting, ceramics, and other disciplines. She meets many great visual artists in Curaçao nowadays.

Brigitte is always active and if she’s not working in her studio, she’s still always busy with the artistic process. “If you really think about it, an artist is never free.” Brigitte, for instance, writes down her dreams to be able to use them in her work at a later stage. 

There is a message in her works. She wants her sculptures to touch her public’s emotions. That’s most important, because art is more than something beautiful, it is something internal that you feel inside. She knows that in Curaçao, more than in other countries, people are sensitive to artistic expression, and she receives much appreciation for her art.

The message she wants to give us is to let art come into our lives and inspire us to become creative ourselves. “Creativity gives you a great level of satisfaction in all areas of life”, Brigitte concludes. 

Brigitte Wawoe is one of our great artists and her career began in the 1960’s in Curacao. This was during a period when contemporary art was first emerging on the island, and later started developing. After moving abroad, Brigitte still always returned to the island regularly to work and hold exhibitions. Because of this, she is part of the art history of Curaçao and has been influential to other artists. Nowadays there are more artists working with stones from Tafelberg.

Click here to visit the artist page of Brigitte Wawoe.

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