If anything the vikings were artists. They had an eye for beautiful handcrafted things. When I am not creating I enjoy reenacting a time period that was closer to nature and in the modern age it is rare to slow down, sit down around a campfire and make something. This is what I need as an artist and it's what inspires me along with my love for horses. This page is dedicated to projects I am exploring when I manage to slow down time.
artist statement
My name is Signe. I create illustrations and artworks where myth, history, and folklore intertwine. I am the visual storyteller of the unseen and the half-forgotten.
My work shows a quiet, suspended moment: inviting the viewer to linger, to find their own story, and to let their imagination wander wild and free.
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Again and again I return to the land and stories of Northern Europe for inspiration. Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon folklore is my foundation, the building blocks for my work. These stark and untamed regions hold a profound and wild ancient magic. That duality—stillness and intensity existing side by side—runs through everything I create.
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My visual language is found in moments of transition, where nothing is fixed or fully defined. I am most drawn to the liminal spaces like twilight and dusk where light and dark, life and death, human and nature dissolve into one another. Horses move through this realm as my guides and companions, they know how to navigate life by being in the moment.
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Whether I’m illustrating picture books or developing my own body of work, I seek to create images that leave space for interpretation, for storytelling, for the viewer to step inside and explore.
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Signe of Horses | Signe-Sanne Oortgijsen
Illustrator, viking, and horse lover
EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS
upcoming
2026
markets
MEI:
6
Burum
24 & 25
Paard & Erfgoed
Frederiksoord
JUNI:
6 & 7
Zomerfolk
Stadspark Groningen​
14
Kunstmarkt Fraeylemaborg
Slochteren
27 & 28
Fable & Fantasy
Emmen
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2026
exhibitions
previous activities
2026
2025
Frodi and the Forgotten Yule Lad
illustrations for this book produced by IamGlytja
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exhibiting an overview of my work in a stunning old barn.
Wobma Zathe, Anjum, the Netherlands
de "Brieven van Tante Thee"doos
published through crowfunding via Voordekunst.nl​
2024
The Dutch Equine Art Fair |
international equine art exhibition
Hollandsche Manege Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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Van Muze tot Meesterwerk |
international equine art exhibition
De Paardenkamp Soest, the Netherlands
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Kunstwinkel Ogenblik |
local artstore
Leeuwarden, the Netherlands
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2023
Love at First Sight |
exhibition at FEI World Championships by Horse Museum
Rome, Italy
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Nobel |
international equine art exhibition
De Paardenkamp Soest, the Netherlands
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First Dutch Equine Art Fair |
international art exhibition
Hollandsche Manege Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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