Written By Megin Potter
Photo by Megan Mumford
The Emergence of the Almighty Egg
Through a glistening symphony of color and shape, artist Elisa Sheehan brings forth the beauty that remains once life is broken open.
Born through the chance discovery that eggshells make eager canvases, Elisa Sheehan’s one-of-a-kind ethereal fine art and site-specific installations embrace the naturally imperfect life.
Building on her successful career in graphic design, Massachusetts native Elisa Sheehan moved to Saratoga and formed Lis Design in 2004. Now, in addition to creating large-scale abstract botanical paintings, for nearly a decade Elisa has also been working with eggshells and eggshell-shaped pottery.
By hand-painting, sealing, and encasing thousands of chicken, emu, and ostrich eggshells in low-glare, UV resistant, museum-quality glass boxes, each fossilized surface sings with life. These are pieces that invite attentiveness.
“I’m just scratching the surface. I feel like I’m just beginning,” said Elisa. “Each one I turn over and look at; I find there is something new to expand upon.”
Breaking the Mold
After being inspired by the Eastern philosophy of Kintsugi, Elisa started using 24K gold leaf to highlight and celebrate the eggshells’ scars (rather than trying to conceal them). Working with real shells gave birth to creating eggshell installations with ultra-thin layers of clay through a molding technique called “slip-casting.”
Finding the water-based method inconsistent and laborious, last fall, Elisa began making fired porcelain treasures from the studio of her rural, circa 1840, “Easton Pond” home. Elisa lets each shell’s unique lines guide her hand, and the goat hair paintbrushes held within, that her children, now 16 and 14, made with hair from their two goats; Barley and Beanie.
Working with color swatches and fabric samples to create commissioned pieces and residential installations that waft across 30ft expanses, Elisa’s elegant eggshells have also sparked conversations in gallery exhibitions and graced the halls of Saratoga Hospital’s emergency department. This spring, her work was splashed across the pages of Art for Everyone, a vibrant new book by gallery-owner Liz Lidgett that encourages art collectors from all echelons to indulge in the passion.
Inviting Acceptance
Each season brings new life to Elisa’s studio. In the fall, she harvests the magic and beauty of warm, mellow, and richly jeweled tones that hint at the secrets of the egg’s ancient wisdom.
In the winters, she immerses herself in the cold, crisp pearly white light (and warms up by jumping on the studio’s trampoline - an exhilarating routine that gets her creativity flowing on frozen winter mornings).
With the spring, comes soft, watery hues and the welcome promise of renewal as the earth awakens, heralding new beginnings. Radiant colors emerge amid the summer’s dappled sunlight, bursting forth from her brush as Elise cranks up the high-energy beats.
In every season, Elisa knows some shells inevitably may break, which is why she paints twice as many as she anticipates needing for each piece. “It’s all part of the process. It’s ok to move on. You just have to be flexible and let it go,” she said.
For more, follow @elisasheehanart on Instagram and visit elisasheehan.com
