Sometimes, art starts in the most unexpected places. For Kate Van Vliet, it began at home during the pandemic, surrounded by newborn twins and a pile of eggshells. Her neighbors had started dropping off fresh eggs from their backyard flock as a kind gesture, and at first, it was just a simple exchange. But day after day, the colorful shells started stacking up on her kitchen counter—soft blues, pale browns, creamy whites—and something about them caught her eye.
With life feeling like a never-ending loop of diapers, feedings, and exhaustion, Van Vliet saw the shells as little time capsules. Every one marked a day survived, another moment passed in the strange haze of early motherhood during lockdown. That’s when the idea for Fault Lines was born.
Reassembling the delicate fragments, Kate turned those leftover pieces of daily life into something quietly powerful. “Becoming a mother was like entering this world of ritualistic madness,” she explains. “Each day felt like the last, and yet, each one was different in some small way. These eggshells became my way of cataloging it all.”
The Fault Lines series doesn’t just showcase her artistic vision—it tells a story of resilience, repetition, and finding beauty in the everyday. In a time when many felt disconnected, Van Vliet grounded herself in the fragments of routine. What started as pandemic motherhood became a meditation on time, identity, and the delicate balance between chaos and calm.
With Fault Lines, Kate Van Vliet offers a reminder: even in the most repetitive days, there’s something worth noticing. Something fragile, familiar, and quietly beautiful.
Visit the artist’s website and Instagram to see more of her work.