[B4] Goose Egg Art (Surgery Make-up: Week of Oct 31)

Utah artist Brian Baity makes his masterpieces from a quite unexpected material.  He uses ostrich eggs, rhea eggs, emu eggs, goose eggs, and gourds.  This specific piece is carved from a goose egg.

The process of creating this type of sculpture takes a lot of patience and an artist must be very careful.  A small hole is first made in the end of the egg and the yolk is sucked out.  Dental tools are used to gently carve away layers of shell.  Generally goose eggs are carved all the way through, but many eggs, such as ostrich eggs, which have differently colored layers, are only carved partially through to expose different values in the shell.


This egg in particular is very interesting because of the crisp lines and geometric shapes intertwining throughout.  Though perfect geometry generally indicates stability, this piece is quite the opposite.  The feeling of stability given off by the design contrasts with the fragility of the material itself.  Contrasting with the perfect, geometric design again is the round, smoothness of the piece as a whole.  


This piece really appeals to myself in particular because I enjoy artwork that utilizes unusual materials, mediums, or methods.  This piece employs all three.  Not only is it eccentric in those ways, but it also is completely natural and organic, a quality most art cannot claim.


Brian Baity's website may be found here.