My interdisciplinary practice is rooted at the intersection of tradition, craft, and the rituals of working life. Through textiles, everyday materials, interactive sculpture, video, interviews, and performance, I investigate sustainability, material culture, and cultural heritage in a world shaped by mass production.
Grounded in research, experimentation, and the learning of traditional skills, my work centers labor-intensive processes, lived experience, and dialogue as ways of understanding how objects carry memory, knowledge, and human connection. Participatory elements, acts of gifting, and audience interaction are integral to each project, extending the work beyond the gallery through storytelling, exchange, and shared experience.
Each installation becomes a site for reflection where personal and collective histories are reimagined through embodied practice and material transformation. By honoring traditional knowledge alongside contemporary experience, I create spaces for mutual discovery, connection, and ongoing conversation.
Brigitta Varadi is a Hungarian-born, Carpatho-Rusyn and Transylvanian heritage, self-taught artist, based in the Hudson Valley, New York, since 2018; lived and worked in Ireland (2001–2017).
Varadi is a 2021 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in the Interdisciplinary category, a 2026 NYSCA/NYS Rural and Traditional Arts Fellow, a grantee of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Arts Council of Ireland, the Leitrim and the Roscommon County Councils, and Culture Ireland. Brigitta was recognized in 2007 by President Mary Mc Alesse for her contribution to the arts in Ireland.
She has received residencies and fellowships at MacDowell (2023 & 2027), the Civitella Ranieri Foundation (2022), the Museum of Arts and Design (2019), the Marble House Project (2017), the Leitrim Sculpture Center (2015), the NARS Foundation (2014), and the LOCIS-European Cultural Program (2014), among others.
Varadi has had solo exhibitions at Al Held Foundation, commissioned by the River Valley Arts Collective, Civitella Ranieri, Burlington City Arts Center, Westbeth Gallery, Budapest Gallery, Leitrim Sculpture Center, and others. Selected group exhibitions include: Katonah Museum, Spartanburg Art Museum, Equity Gallery, Marfa Open, Hunt Museum, National Design and Craft Gallery, and Culturel Irlandais, and many others.
Her work can be found in public collections, including a site-specific government commission administered by the Office of Public Works for the Department of Education and Science in Athlone, Ireland; a public art commission by Sligo County Council; and a public art commission by Roscommon County Council, Ireland.
Brigitta Váradi is a social practice artist working with county councils, the Prison Education Service, and EU Peace III projects in Ireland. Alongside her independent practice, she develops commissions, exhibitions, and participatory projects with people of all ages and abilities across community settings, schools, prisons, and arts organizations.
She has served as a visiting artist and lecturer at Pratt Institute’s MFA Fine Arts program (VALS, Dock 72, Brooklyn, NY, 2025), Ithaca College (Department of Art, Art History & Architecture, 2023), Fort Hays State University (2021), and National College of Art and Design (2016).
Brigitta Váradi is a current member of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Artists’ Advisory Committee (AAC). She has been the Residency Director of ChaNorth, a nonprofit organization in the Hudson Valley, NY, since 2018, fostering interdisciplinary exchange and community through the arts.