ELISA SHEEHAN
Medium: Eggshells
A “happy accident” transformed Elisa Sheehan’s life as an artist. A resident of rural Washington County, Sheehan spends most early mornings painting as a way to ground herself before the day begins. One morning, she peered at her compost pile, peppered with eggshells, and asked herself: What if I used eggshells as my canvas?
The eggshells’ bowl-like shape gave Sheehan more to think about. “They’re like a broken vase,” says the artist, whose work is inspired by kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by filling its cracks with lacquer dusted with powdery metallics.
Nowadays, Sheehan creates larger installments—yes, with eggshells—that nod to the ancient practice through gold detailing. elisasheehan.com
JILL DUFFY
Medium: Natural Pigments
When Jill Duffy moved to Chatham, she came across an illustrator who used ink made from walnuts. And the rest was history.
“Moving to the Hudson Valley dramatically changed the trajectory of my artwork and passion,” says the artist. Duffy began experimenting with natural pigments, using resources from her own land and recipes that date back to a time before synthetic paints were mass produced. Now, her abstract works are made using pigments found or grown on her farm—think reds from 200-year-old bricks, verdigris from copper, blue-black from oak galls, and indigo from, well, indigo plants.
“We’re all craving natural connection,” she says. “The work comes from walking and tending to the farm.” farmandfieldny.com
MARTHA STARKE
Medium: Botanicals
Martha Starke’s artwork is the true definition of whimsy. At Petal People Press, fiddlehead ferns become seahorses, leaves transform into love birds, and flower petals are reborn as anything from roosters to rainbows.
“Nature is calming,” says the artist, who first started pressing flowers on handmade paper and now sells greeting cards with her designs at Northshire Bookstore and Four Seasons Natural Foods in Saratoga. “I spend a lot of time hiking in the Adirondacks, but there’s nature everywhere.” petalpeoplepress.com
KELSEY SKAINE
Medium: Oysters
Kelsey Skaine, who, funny enough, doesn’t like oysters, was out with friends at Henry Street Taproom’s $1 oyster night when she had a thought: How many shells do restaurants throw out every night?
Her passion for sustainability led her back home with a handful of empty oyster shells, and Motha Shucka was born. Skaine now paints little images on the insides of the shells, drawing inspiration from her hometown.
“I grew up in Saratoga, surrounded by its influences,” she says. And so, if you’re looking for a jockey silk or espresso martini painted on the inside of a mollusk, she’s your girl.
See Skaine’s work at Sunset at Saratoga, the new restaurant in the Saratoga County Airport, or on Instagram.
@motha_shucka
DIANE KAYLOR
Medium: Paper
Whereas Starke uses flowers to print whimsical designs on paper, Diane Kaylor uses paper to create authentic-looking flowers.
The collage artist’s journey began at the Parsons School of Design, but took off in Charlton, where she learned new artistic methods from basket weavers and folk artists. From there, her work took on a sculptural element. Kaylor now uses modeling paste and paper mache to bring her pieces off the canvas, creating 3-D works you wouldn’t believe are made of paper.
“All the images are places I’ve seen,” she says of the landscapes she creates. “Most of them are located here.” spafineartgallery.com/diane-kaylor
