eggs

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Design Illustration

A Set of Notecards Celebrates Pysanka, the Ukrainian Tradition of Egg Decorating

All images © Present & Correct

The team at Present & Correct recently released a set of six Riso-printed notecards in homage to the Ukrainian art of pysanka. A springtime staple, the annual activity involves decorating eggs with folk motifs utilizing a wax-resist method—read more about the technique previously on Colossal. Each blank card showcases four different designs in pastel tones above a phrase reading “Peace and Hope” in Ukrainian, a message steeped in the tradition itself. The packs are available now in the Present & Correct shop, and all proceeds will be donated to Voices of Children, which is aiding those dealing with the trauma of the ongoing war.

Design Food Photography

Everyday Objects Are Organized into Perfect Geometric Shapes in Kristen Meyer’s Flat Lays

All images © Kristen Meyer, shared with permission

Kristen Meyer (previously) pinpoints the unique crossroads of organization and art in her meticulous flat lays. Influenced by interior decorating, prop styling, and floristry, the New Haven-based designer constructs precise geometric shapes and network-esque compositions from humble materials like eggshell shards, office supplies, candy, and disassembled bouquets. At once streamlined in material and rich in depth and texture, the dazzling works use implied outlines and negative space to construct interesting categorizations within squares and perfectly round circles.

Each work is a product of collaboration with Meyer’s husband Colin, who shoots all of the final images. You can explore an archive of her work on Instagram, and browse prints in her shop.

Art Craft

Delicate Cross-Cut Pods Encase Seeds and Other Fruitful Forms in Porcelain

All images © Sally Kent and photographer Matthew Stanton, shared with permission

Melbourne-based artist Sally Kent visualizes the fleeting processes found in nature in her fragile porcelain pods. Cross-cut to reveal an inner seed, flower, or other fruitful organisms, the ceramic works compare the inner life-producing forms that are teeming with color and texture with their stark, smooth shells.

Each piece, which ranges from just a few inches to about a foot, is composed of individual patterns, whether through minuscule orbs or with thin strips of ceramic hung from the outer edges. This use of repetition is a form of embodiment, Kent says, because it evokes the cycles that produce and sustain all life, no matter the species or age. “Each pod begins with an egg form—an archetypal symbol of the cycle of life, death, and renewal, but it also acts as a shell to delineate and protect, albeit fragile, the seen (physical body) and the unseen (the spiritual and emotional world),” she shares.

If you’re in Sydney, you can see Kent’s Protection series, which includes human hands and busts embellished with mythological details, during the first weekend of August at House of Chu. Until then, dive into her process and see more of her hand-built works on Instagram.

Art Craft Illustration

Whimsical Illustrations and Motifs Dyed with a Traditional Wax-Resist Method Cover Caroline Södergren’s Eggshells

All images © Caroline Södergren, shared with permission

Formally trained in glassblowing, Stockholm-based artist Caroline Södergren transfers her experience working with a delicate, fragile material to an ornately illustrated collection of eggshells. She adapts the traditional Ukrainian craft called pysanka, a wax-resist method that involves drawing a design on a clean, empty chicken, turkey, goose, or ostrich egg with hot beeswax. The shell is then dipped in multiple baths of dye and the seal washed away with oil to reveal the colorful, layered design—you can watch the entire process in the video below.

The technique often is combined with folk art, although Södergren illustrates her own botanical motifs, beetles, and mythical creatures that stray from traditional designs. “You have to think before you start a pattern as the different color layers must come in the right order,” she says. “If you make a mistake with the wax, it is not possible to change, and a written line is where it is. A constant challenge that makes it so fun to work with!”

Konsthantverkets Vänner, an organization dedicated to supporting Swedish arts and crafts, just awarded Södergren a scholarship for her batik designs. Browse available eggs in her shop, and find a larger collection on Instagram. (via Lustik)

Food Photography

A Literal Translation Lends a Daring Edge to the First Meal of the Day

Although breakfast is commonly consumed in a rush out the door, or slurped hurriedly before one dashes to catch the bus, the early morning meal’s straightforward composition of actions is often not considered. Madrid-based photographer Tessa Dóniga created the series Break/Fast after becoming intrigued by the deconstructed word’s literal translation to Spanish. Smashed cereal, a sliced bean can, and a quickly melting stick of butter all serve as subjects of the surreal photographic series, which highlight the different ways breakfast can be “broken.”

The project was first realized in collaboration with independent journal Polpettas and serves as a metaphor for how Dóniga views the world as a bilingual speaker. “The fact that I’m bilingual makes me wonder more,” she told gestalten. “When I try to translate some words into one language from another, I question myself. My challenge was to set in one image both terms in a visual composition that would be recognizable to the viewer.”

Like all of Dóniga’s uniquely styled series, Break/Fast was creating from scratch with editing in postproduction for some of her more high-flying effects such as hovering bacon or scattered eggshells. You can see more of her food styling photography on her studio’s website and on Instagram.

Art

Hand-Dyed Crocheted Thread Carefully Covers Eggs, Seeds, and Tree Trunks

Esther Traugot connects to the natural world by collecting and covering seed pods, eggs, severed tree trunks, and other natural objects in tightly-wrapped textile “skins.” She uses hand-dyed gold threads to crochet around these objects in order to temporarily mend what has previously been broken or abandoned. Through her work Traugot straddles the line of nurture and control, investigating her dual role as a member and observer of the natural landscape.

“The meticulous act of crocheting mimics the instinct to nurture and protect what is viable, what is becoming precious,” she explains in an artist statement. “As in gilding, these false ‘skins’ imbue the objects with an assumed desirability or value; the wrapping becomes an act of veneration. Although futile in its attempt at archiving and preservation, it suggests optimism.”

Traugot is interested in “contemporary naturalism,” or artwork that cares for the environment in our current global ecological state, and also views her work in conversation with Land and Environmental Art and Feminism. She received her BFA from the University of California Berkeley in 2005 and her MFA from Mills College in 2009. Traugot is represented by Chandra Cerrito Contemporary Gallery in Oakland, California, and currently lives and works in Sebastopol, CA. You can view more of her gold threaded objects on her website.