Monday, March 15, 2010

Open Fields Auction Eggs


I am very lucky in many ways, and although this is not related to storytelling, it is related to story. One of my all time favourite childrens' book illustrators, Trina Schart-Hyman, used to be a huge supporter of Open Fields School in Thetford, VT. She is sadly departed from this world, and we lost an unbelievable talent. When, in 1996, the school was donated some goose eggs for the kids to paint, Trina suggested that she distribute them to professional artists and sell them as a fund raiser. They have been doing this every other year since. Last year I photographed some of the eggs and this year I get to photograph all of them. I consider this very lucky as I am able to personally handle, very carefully, original works of art I might otherwise not get to examine so closely.

Why is this story? Well, as you can imagine, many of these eggs are decorated by children book illustrators and many others by professional artists. Some are decorated by story fans and families for fun. Each egg tells a story in its decoration. Some are painted, some are elaborate works of art using multi-media, and all tell a story.

I cannot say any ONE of the goose eggs I have photographed is my absolute favourite, but I LOVE this one, by Barbara D Newton.

So, because I love eggs, because I photographed these highly decorated goose eggs, because I am a photographer and storyteller, I share these works of art with you:

http://www.openfields.org/Eggs2010/anon1.htm

and encourage you to take a look and see the stories they tell.

Peace,
Simon