From budgerigars to bouquets: painter Christine Sulzbacher (59) conjures up small works of art on eggs.
On March 18, she invites you to the Easter market in Wörth.
Wörth
– Just in time for the 35th anniversary of her premiere as an exhibiting artist, the Wörth painter Christine Sulzbacher (59) is holding her eighth Easter market in the Wörth parish home on Saturday, March 18, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Easter decorations exhibited there are not only lovingly designed one-offs, but also show a cross-section of the phases of their artistic work.
She first showed her own works in public on March 18, 1988 in the Ortererschule at an exhibition for local artists.
"I didn't know what was happening to me," recalls the then 24-year-old pediatric nurse with a smile, "that's why I packed everything that somehow suited Easter".
Her oeuvre, which was still manageable at the time, found space in two boxes: chickens – her favorite motif – in all variations, plus all kinds of chicks and, of course, eggs.
At that time only chicken eggs, painted, glued, disguised.
There were about 30, all to hang up.
The appreciation of her art by others motivated her to take a more conscious look at her artistic ambitions, which had long since become an indispensable balance to her everyday work in the hospital.
When artists are not exhibiting themselves, they visit artist markets to get inspiration from others.
This is what happened in 2003, when Sulzbacher discovered ribbon or crank eggs at a market and desperately wanted to know how to pull a painted ribbon out of an egg and crank it back in.
“Of course the artist didn't tell me that.
Then I just experimented until it worked.”
Now there are some goose and swan eggs that have details of the main motif - such as Noah's Ark or a wedding couple - on an extendable ribbon.
This then shows in filigree detail all the animals that are on the way to the ark, or the individual rooms of the future dwelling of the bride and groom.
For her 2005 Easter market, she had the idea of modeling fantasy figures, which she combined with painted eggs.
They now poke out of open-topped eggs and poke fun at anyone who doesn't immediately see the deeper humor in these creations.
Around 2009, Sulzbacher dealt with African motifs and found that these also cut a very good figure on eggs.
In 2015, the artist quickly placed her eggs on decorated wooden sticks so that flower pots and boxes could also be decorated with Easter motifs.
She now works with eggs from a wide variety of sources: starting with the tiny eggs of the budgerigar, which are particularly suitable for very delicate work, she also designs eggs from hazel, bantam and domestic fowl, quail, pigeon, duck, goose and swan and makes them herself don't stop at the impressive products of large ratites such as emu, nandu or ostrich (16 centimeters long, with an impressive 42 centimeters in circumference).
Where does she get the eggs from?
"It's actually not that easy.
In the meantime, however, I have my contacts," she says, emphatically mysterious.
The pandemic may have brought exhibitions to a standstill, but it also provided time and leisure for new creations to emerge.
For example, as a further development of the stick eggs, flower elves designed with felt, whose colorful hat creations already anticipate the eagerly awaited summer.
Clarissa Höschel