Kati Zsigóné (Józsefné Zsigó,óné born Julianna) (born 16 June 1953 in Kecskemét) is a Hungarian fine artist, egg painting artist. In 2009 in Dubai, she was chosen among the top five egg painting artists in the world, and the best one on the European continent.
Life
Her father was a farmer and basket weaver. Julianna (who got her nickname ’Kati’ from her father) saw her parents divorce at her age of three, caused by the coarseness and alcoholism of her father. Her mother raised her as her only child in poverty. Kati had to work from the age of 14, because the low wage her mother received for being a cleaning lady in the local catholic high school wasn't enough to sustain themselves.
She married József Zsigó on 7 May 1977, their daughter, Katalin was born 9 July 1978, while their granddaughter, Panna was born 3 January 2013.
Artistry
Her artistry unfolded because of the support of her husband, until today he is her most important supporter and inspiration. The start of her career was the birth of their daughter, when she wanted to hire painter ladies to decorate the room of her daughter; her husband persuaded her to paint the room herself. Because of this, she started to practice drawing and painting on a higher level. Among the eight forms of artistry she practices today, the first one was wall-painting. After that, she got involved in tile-painting, furniture painting, creation of oil paintings (which depict horses, Hungarian native animals, landscapes and icons), rosette ceilings, painting and scratching of dishes, and the embroidery of clothes, table cloths and vests. She also practices a form of art called ’’riseliőzés’’.
The final form of art she learned was glass painting (including icons) - her first major work in this field was the decoration of the cabinets at her own exhibition. But the branch of art she is fond of the most is egg painting. She decided to involve herself in this art after she got to enjoy the motives (including flowers) and colors of wall painting. Since then, she is spreader and teacher of Hungarian folk art.
She makes nearly 300 types of egg decorations using over 20 different techniques.
She has painted, scratched, engraved, waxed, lacy, applique, washed, carved, etched, tapestry eggs, eggs with horseshoes etc. She often uses combined techniques on her eggs as well.
She mainly uses eggs of hens, geese, ducks, ostriches, emus, greater rheas and parrots.
Among her most notable creations, we find eggs that are a meter or even 2 meters tall, eggs decorated with silver and gold, and she also captured Leonardo’s famous painting The Last Supper. Her own, self-drawn collection of motifs include nearly 3500 different egg- and other motifs of folk art.
She has an own collections of over 3500 motifs, including egg painting and traditional motifs.
The Egg of the Hungarian Nation
The Egg of the Hungarian Nation (hungarian: ’’A Magyar nemzet Tojása’’) is a special egg Zsigóné made in 2018, for the 980th anniversary of the death of Stephen I. The base was the egg of an ostrich. She utilized 11 different techniques on it (including painting, waxing, scratching, carving, batik, dotting, horseshoeing etc.) creating 79 patterns, including Hungarian motifs (halas lace, Matyó- and Kalocsai lace etc.). The motifs, images and signals depicted on the egg commemorate different important moments and symbols of Hungarian history, including the Hungarian crown jewels, the turul, the Conquest of the Carpathian Basin, the Blood oath, or the Treaty of Trianon, as well as the Assumption of Mary and 16 golden horseshoes.
The work on this egg lasted for over a year, including four months for placing the motifs.
The Talking Egg
Another special egg created by zsigóné is the Talking Egg (Hungarian: A Beszélő Tojás). This egg uses traditional waxed technique, and depicts 348 classic, traditional Hungarian motifs, which are separated by 13000 dots, symbolizing seeds.
The base of this piece of art was a 49x44 cm ostrich egg, the process took seven months and was finished in 2019. For easier understanding, Zsigóné also made a 30-page illustrated guidebook, which includes explanations of the symbols found on the egg.