Appreciation Proclamation from Vermillion SD

The City Council of Vermillion South Dakota mailed an official Proclamation of Appreciation thanking me for the carved ostrich egg shell I gave to the city to commemorate their sesquicentennial celebration. What a great thing they did. I will proudly display this document. Thank you Mayor Christopherson and the City of Vermillion.

New Eggs Carved While Daughter was Visiting

While my younger daughter was visiting this past week she chose to try her hand at carving an emu egg shell. This is her first effort. Also of note, I showed her which burs to use and she went from there on her own. She used a broken egg to practice on before attempting this project. The design is her own, The goose egg is also her work.

Another link to See Vermillion Carved Egg Shell

I found a place where I can, in a round about way, link photos to the article that Was printed in the Vermillion Plain Talk News Paper. There were no photos uploaded with the printed article so I thought I would help those who were not able to see the photos of the egg.

The link is in the Title of this link.

Carved Egg Gift Makes Vermillion Plain Talk Newspaper

I just read the article that came out in the Vermillion South Dakota News Paper (Plain Talk) They did a great job covering the carved eggshell I gave the city for their sesquicentennial celebration recently Click on the title of this post to follow a link to the Plain Talk to read what was written.

Thank you, David for your efforts.

Carved Egg Noteworthy in Yankton SD Paper

The Press & Dakotan newspaper ran numerous articles about the sesquicentennial festivities in Vermillion SD. In the article entitled Vermillion at 150: It's Time to Party the editors were kind enough to write about my presentation. If you click on the link attached to the title you will be directed to the article.

Thank you again Mayor Christopherson, Cleo Erickson and the City of Vermillion for allowing me to participate in your celebration.

Goose egg carved in Relief

Here is my first attempt at carving a relief image on a goose egg shell. Obviously the images done in this fashion will be a very shallow relief. This is an African Violet plant very much stylized to take advantage of my love for piercing the shell.

A close-up is below to allow the relief to be seen a little easier.

View to an egg continued

In no particular order, because no single portion is more important than another, I will describe why each image was chosen. To begin this description I will explain why the lattice is used to connect the circled images and also why the acanthus leaves grace the bottom of the design.

The emu egg I carved last year which went to the Forbes Art Gallery in New York City was a lattice and acanthus design done in the style of Faberge eggs. This was the first piece I carved which was chosen for public display. I integrated that same idea as my personal contribution to the overall design.

This first image is to commemorate the first residents of this region. A stylized Native American motif using the state animal which is the coyote. I feel all peoples had influence on what Vermillion is today and I want to acknowledge the diversity of our country to which South Dakota owes allegiance.

Second is a representation of the university which functions in Vermillion. This is the only university in South Dakota to offer a degree in Fine Art. Also, the offer degrees in medicine and law which no other South Dakota school offers. My affinity is of course to the arts.

This building is the first city hall. I wanted to record history in this work as it is important to the festivities this gift is meant to celebrate. During this 150th year of the city a new city hall was dedicated. Since the people have this new building in their lives every day I chose to put the historical city hall in the design to bring both the old and the new together.

This last image is of the state flower which is the Pasque. This is here simply because I wanted another image to represent the state that wasn't Mount Rushmore. That image has been done to death. I also like the way flowers look when carved in relief on the ostrich egg shells.

Preview to an Egg

Here it is, or at least part of it. The sesquicentennial celebration egg for Vermillion South Dakota. This is the top view of the egg. This should be self explanatory. The remaining views I will describe as I post them. The people of Vermillion have been wonderful and very welcoming. I am thrilled to have been part of the festivities.

Carved Ostrich Egg arrives in Vermillion SD

First stop the Austin Whittemore House. An historic site where my contact is working. The are many antique items contained in the house. From here I am off to the newly built and recently dedicated city hall to meet the mayor. I will present the egg during one of the tours that will be held today.

Egg to go to Vermillion, South Dakota on 6 August

Tomorrow I leave to participate in the festivities to celebrate Vermillion's 150th anniversary. I will be presenting a carved ostrich egg to the city on the 6th. I feel very privileged to be able to participate in such an important occasion. Photos will follow after the presentation.