Artist Creates Kintsugi-Inspired Eggshell Art

Artist Creates Kintsugi-Inspired Eggshell Art Elisa Sheehan from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., creates fine art inspired by the Japanese tradition of kintsugi. However, instead of mending broken pottery, she’s chosen to work with eggshells. Kintsugi, which translates to “join with gold,” involves repairing broken pottery with lacquer made from tree sap and then filling in the cracks with liquid gold and other precious metals. “I’ve always loved kintsugi,” Sheehan explains on her website. “It calls us to celebrate age, history and the scars that life and time make on everything. I embrace this as a way to think about ourselves, others and our relationships as we age. It honors inevitable imperfections and represents the duality of fragility and strength, beauty and brokenness.” Every artist has their own prep process, and Sheehan is no different. “I focus on making sure the shells are very clean by rinsing them under hot water and using my hands,” she says. “I then just let them dry completely before painting in them. I use various coatings, inside and out, to preserve them long-term.”  Only then can the art begin. “Each eggshell is painted individually,” Sheehan says. “I apply gold metal leaf to represent the repairs typically made to pottery by kintsugi artists.” She then arranges each shell fragment in a frame or shadow box, using museum-quality, nearly invisible low-glare glass. Sheehan sells both her original artworks and fine art prints made from them. “All my prints are limited edition,” she says. “They’re created from extremely high-quality photographs of my original work. The detail is exquisite, and the paper is luxuriously thick. We use archival ink, and each piece is hand-signed and numbered.” Only 20 prints are available for each piece. “They’re extremely limited runs; once a print is sold out, it’s retired and never printed again. This ensures the integrity and value of the pieces for a great investment.” Sheehan hopes her kintsugi-inspired eggshell installations encourage viewers to reflect on the relationship between fragility and strength. “My art is an invitation to consider the fluent language of nature, the beauty in the broken, and the symphony of color and shape gifted to us by the world itself,” she says. “I create custom work for the joy seekers of the world and the spaces that aim to uplift.” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Elisa Sheehan, Saratoga Springs, New York, (ph 518-788-8818; art@elisasheehan.com; www.elisasheehan.com).

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