egg/art: mosaics
What started as a way of recycling broken shells has turned into a new medium: mosaics. I had known about the Japanese technique of eggshell lacquered surfaces, but realized that the bleaching required to soften the shells would destroy the images on the shells that would be applied to the board. Instead I decided to simply use a strong, viscous epoxy that would allow the broken shell to be applied quickly and hold fast indefinitely. While the creation of many of the original eggs involved close adherence to articulated design motifs or other formal conventions of figure, landscape or topography, the application of these broken shells onto the boards is often intuitive and seemingly haphazard. I allow the breaking shell to dictate how the image manifests on the board.
To flatten an eggshell onto a board covered with epoxy is to watch an image get pulled apart in unforeseen ways and distorted beyond recognition. Mashing together several eggs of different designs creates a whole new reality. Images that once swirled around the spherical space of an eggshell are now stretched flat and juxtaposed almost rudely against elements from another egg. Other times, one whole shell is flattened onto one board, allowing for a two-dimensional representation of what was previously spherical.
To flatten an eggshell onto a board covered with epoxy is to watch an image get pulled apart in unforeseen ways and distorted beyond recognition. Mashing together several eggs of different designs creates a whole new reality. Images that once swirled around the spherical space of an eggshell are now stretched flat and juxtaposed almost rudely against elements from another egg. Other times, one whole shell is flattened onto one board, allowing for a two-dimensional representation of what was previously spherical.
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