Egg Art In Egg Harbor Wisconsin
By Hazel M. Freeman

It’s that time of year when the coloring, hiding, hunting, and rolling of Easter eggs come to mind. The egg has been a part of religious ceremonies, and celebrations, for thousands of years. The fragile, and amazing egg, in many cultures, represents the idea of rebirth, renewal, and new life. Eggs, as art, are not a new concept, but have a long and colorful history. The Dovetail Gallery/Studio & Egg Art Museum, in the charming and quaint village of Egg Harbor, Wisconsin, is the perfect place to view and enjoy the wonders of the egg.

Giving a decorated egg as a gift is an ancient tradition. The art of decorating eggs is one of the oldest documented art forms. Just about everyone has heard of the famous Faberge’ Imperial Easter eggs. The first of these famous, and exquisitely decorated, eggs was made for Alexander, the Czar of Russia in 1883. Alexander commissioned Peter Carl Faberge’, an artist and goldsmith, to make an Easter gift for his wife, Empress Marie. Faberge’ created an intricate egg within an egg made with platinum, gold and jewels. Needless to say the Czarina loved her beautiful egg. Over the years, Faberge’ was commissioned to design and make, a total of fifty-seven of these magnificent, and very rare eggs.

I was lucky enough to see one of Faberge’s masterpiece Imperial Easter eggs, along with an amazing collection of other eggs, in the perfect location for an egg museum, Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. The Dovetail Gallery/Studio & Egg Art Museum is perched on a bluff overlooking the beautiful Bay, of Green Bay. The Gallery is the showcase for a life long passion held by egg artist Kathleen Mand Beck. According to Beck, she was born with a love of nature, and expresses that love in the many beautiful works of art she creates with eggs as her main medium.

Beck fell in love with the idea that the lovely little village of Egg Harbor must have an egg museum, and gallery. She set to work with her husband Tom in the early 1990’s to make the dream come true. The two restored one of the oldest buildings in Egg Harbor, a historic log cabin, to be the gallery. They opened their gallery in 1994 and have since turned it into a one-of-a-kind, egg art gallery and museum to house her collection of egg art and eggs for exhibit. In addition to her own artistic creations of carved eggshells, and eggshell sculptures, the gallery is home to the works of other talented artists that include silk paintings, glass, jewelry, clay, wood and many other mediums.

In addition to opening her gallery, Beck has realized three other lifelong dreams, to own a Faberge’ Easter Egg, to have an extensive wild bird egg collection for the public to view, and to exhibit a 70 million year old dinosaur egg. All of these amazing things are on display at Beck’s Dovetail Gallery & Studio. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Dovetail Gallery and can see why it’s a favorite stop for those who love to gallery hop around Door County.

To make your eggscape to the lovely little village of Egg Harbor, to find the Dovetail Gallery, is a joyous adventure in itself. You must travel out onto the Door Peninsula, a finger of land that juts out into the Bay of Green Bay and Lake Michigan. The entire peninsula is located in Door County, an area known for its natural beauty, lighthouses, cherry orchards, fish boils, miles and miles of scenic shoreline, state parks, quaint shops, galleries and more.

Egg Harbor itself is celebrating the egg, with a Girlfriends Great Eggscape, May 14th to the 17th, 2009. With a wide variety of activities such as: a wine and cheese reception, karaoke, yoga, bonfire, fashion show, shopping, free trolley, art crawl, live music, seminars and much more. The majority of activities are on Friday night and Saturday. Registration fee ($59.00) includes Sat. luncheon and Sun. brunch, gift bag, raffle tickets, assorted goodies, and Friday night wine and cheese reception. The Landmark Resort is heading up the event and will have lodging discounts available, (around $90.00 a night), as will other lodging establishments in the area. For more information visit www.thelandmarkresort.com or call 920-868-3205.

Look for these other eggciting egg events around the country that celebrate the egg as art:

May, 2009 Central Indiana Egg Art Show & Sale – Marriott East, Indianapolis, IN

June 6 & 7, 2009 Eggs-Ibit International – Double Tree Near Gallaria, Dallas, TX

July 11 & 12, 2009 Washington Decorated Egg Show & Sale – Everett Holiday Inn, Everett, WA

September 26th & 27th, 2009 Eastern Ohio Egg Show & Sale – Metroplex Hotel and Conference Center, Girard, Ohio

October 17th & 18th, 2009 Decorated Egg Art Show & Sale – LaQuinta Inn & Suites, San Antonio, TX

If you can't get to Egg Harbor this Easter, visit the Dovetail website, www.dovetailgallery.com, to see some of the beautiful crafted eggs, and learn more about the history of egg art. For information on Egg Harbor visit www.eggharbordoorcounty.org.