Multimedia environmental artist Sibylle Szaggars Redford was born in Germany, and she has shown her work throughout Europe, Monaco, Peru, Singapore, Japan, Suriname, and the US. Her art is devoted to the natural world. Her artistic endeavors also mirror her spiritual awareness. Sibylle strives to raise awareness of environmental degradation and the actions that cause it. The majority of her artwork is influenced by the natural world, historical societies like the Hopi, as well as the high deserts of Morocco and New Mexico. ‘Rainfall,’ one of Sibylle’s most well-known pieces, demonstrated her deep appreciation of the natural world. Later, she turned her painting series into a theatrical play called “The Way of the Rain.”
Birth of Sibylle Szaggars
Hamburg, Germany was the place of Sibylle’s birth on April 14, 1957. She showed a strong interest in drawing and sketching when she was little. Frequent travels with her family to destinations like Malaysia, Europe, and Morocco fostered Sibylle’s artistic development. Sibylle made great use of her travel experiences in her artwork later in her career.
Profession of Sibylle Szaggars
After relocating from Germany to London in the early 1980s, Sibylle started her profession. In the lower east end of London, she rented a functioning warehouse, which she quickly converted into her first painting studio. Sibylle cohabitated with fellow artists who provided support for her artistic endeavors. Later on, she began organizing group shows in Germany and England. At the ‘Gallerie im Theatre Operrettenhaus’ in Hamburg, Sibylle arranged her first group show in 1989.
In the late 1980s, Sibylle relocated to the US. She gained a great deal of knowledge about Native American spirituality and culture there. Her subsequent series of paintings reflected the lessons she had learned.
Sibylle relocated to Utah in the early 1990s, setting up shop as a painter in the mountain town of Sundance. She arranged her first solo show in Salt Lake City in 1991. When Sibylle visited Morocco in 2000, she went to several historic towns and villages. The quiet beauty of the Draa Valley touched her. She employed her knowledge to create a collection of oil paintings and images that prominently featured Morocco’s culture and heritage. The paintings were shown shortly after the terrible events of 9/11 in San Francisco.
Sibylle worked on a new series of oil paintings of vases and flowers from 2002 to 2003. She started working on huge canvases with abstract watercolors around 2004. In her own words, these pieces are “non-figurative inventions that carry no symbolic burden.” She worked on a series of expansive paintings named “Shape of Color” with renowned cellist Nina Kotova. The series was shown in Singapore thereafter and at the 2008 ‘International Classical Music Festival’ in Cortona, Italy.
Sibylle started experimenting with rain and watercolors in the summer of 2010. She gave the show the name “Rainfall.” Sibylle created her paintings using real rainfall. She used to hang her abstract watercolor paintings outside and let the rain damage them, waiting for the monsoon to arrive in the high desert of New Mexico. Through her film “Rain Painting,” Sibylle demonstrated her distinctive painting technique. David Thor Jonsson, an Icelandic musician, composed the movie’s soundtrack. First displayed in the Principality of Monaco and France in 2011, a piece from her ‘Rainfall’ collection. The exhibition’s goal was to earn money for Princess Caroline of Hanover’s foundations. Sibylle continued to be fascinated with rainfall and wrote the stage play “The Way of the Rain.” Her homage to the Earth and its universal components was the play. She drew inspiration for the initial stage background for this performance from her ‘Rainfall’ series, which represented water cascading from the sky. (2013) ‘The Way of the Rain’ made its premiere at Albuquerque, New Mexico’s ‘Highland Theater’.
In order to reimagine “The Way of the Rain,” Sibylle worked with choreographer Desmond Richardson, sound designer Ron Saint Germain, lighting designer Steve Cohen, video artist Floyd Thomas McBee, and American musicians Will Calhoun, Dave Eggar, and Chuck Palmer in 2014. Robert Redford, Sibylle’s current spouse, narrated the story. ‘National Young Arts Foundation’ in Miami, Florida hosted this site-specific rendition of the original performance.
One of the official selections of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival was “The Way of the Rain.” The “Complex Performing Arts Center” in Salt Lake City hosted the performance.
Sibylle founded “The Way of the Rain, Inc.” as her nonprofit organization in November 2015. The organization works to encourage the growth of up-and-coming artists and raises public awareness in favor of Earth protection.
Sibylle received funding for the “US Embassy” in Paramaribo, Suriname, under the “Art in Embassies Program” of the US State Department in 2016. In a similar vein, ten of her masterpieces were chosen to be on permanent exhibit in the embassy. Sibylle’s artwork is currently on display in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the “Niman Fine Art” and the “Ernesto Mayans Gallery.”
Personal & Family Life
Robert Redford, an American actor and businessman, is Sibylle’s husband. It was during the 1996 “Sundance Film Festival” when they first crossed paths. After dating for 12 years, they announced their engagement to one another on May 22, 2008, in the German magazine “Bunte.” In July 2009, Sibylle and Robert tied the knot at the “Louis C. Jacob Hotel.”
Previously, restaurateur Carl-Heinz Szaggars was Sibylle’s husband. In 1980, their five-year marriage came to an end. Sibylle then spent ten years as the wife of musical and theatrical producer Friedrich Kurz.
From Robert’s first marriage to Lola Van Wagenen, Sibylle has three stepchildren: Shauna Jean, David James, and Amy Hart Redford. Scott was a different child of Robert and Lola that passed away from SIDS.
Net worth of Sibylle Szaggars
The estimated net worth of Sibylle Szaggars is about $1 million.