Art Saint Louis Gallery
1223 Pine Street, Saint Louis, MO 63103
Margaret’s Salon Saint Petersburg, Russia demonstration panel received Honorable Mention in this juried exhibit.
This painting represents an Italian decorative painting form – grotesque. It is also a portrait of the artist as Baba Yaga. The painting tells the significance of the mythical witch – Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga is a fearsome witch from Slavic folklore dating back to 1755. She lives in a house on chicken legs, and rides through the woods in a mortar & pestle along with a silver birch broom to sweep away all traces of her whereabouts. She has a nose so big, that when she sleeps and snores, her nose hits the ceiling of her hut. When she travels about and before she appears, wild winds howl, trees creak and groan and a host of shrieking ghosts accompany her. Baba Yaga rules over the elements of the earth and her three servants – The White Horseman (dawn), The Red Horseman (full sun of day) and the Black Horseman (night). She can be kind. Baba Yaga is also known as the Earth Mother and is the guardian spirit of the fountain of the Waters of Life and Death. And she can be mean. She eats bad young children, plays tricks on many and basically wreaks havoc on the Slavic countryside.
The exhibit opened August 5 and runs through September 7, 2017.
Art Saint Louis is located at 1223 Pine Street, Saint Louis, MO 63103
www.artstlouis.org