The Artist in His Shell. Acrylic Paint.

The Artist in His Shell. Acrylic Paint.

Willard Reader

Portsmouth, OH 

www.kenygalleries.com                

Education

Attended Carnegie–Mellon University

Solo Exhibitions

1981   City People, Southern Ohio Museum & Cultural Center
1993   Structures, Southern Ohio Museum & Cultural Center
1993   Structures II-VII, Southern Ohio Museum & Cultural                          Center

Group Exhibitions

2000–2013  Southern Ohio Museum & Cultural Center

Selected Collections

Southern Ohio Museum & Cultural Center

Artist Statement

Paint on an Ostrich egg—a first for me! What to do? Landscape? – No. Abstract? No. Should be my usual Realism. Maybe treat the Egg as an Egg . . . Hmm.

I have an image flash through my mind from Jurassic Park. Tiny T-Rex dinosaurs popping out of eggs. Bizarre! Maybe a person peering through a crack in the Egg would work.

Wait! What if that person was me?  A selfie in an egg. Later, I thought of the title – “The Artist in His Shell”. Fits me all right.

My usual opaque medium acrylic works perfectly on egg shell.

I was afraid to touch the delicate shell with anything but a brush so I had to paint a grid on the surface to transfer an accurate drawing of my face. I never removed the Egg from the box where it was cushioned by bubble wrap. I taped a ruler across the opening to rest my hand on. A tricky technical process.

This project was certainly a change from my usual small-town landscape work.

May all the Eggs survive intact!