Lee Boyle

Since I was old enough to hold a pencil and an egg, I have drawn and joined in my family's annual tradition of dying hard-boiled Easter eggs, later learning to "write" messages of love through the traditional language of pysanky. As a full-time paralegal practising in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, I have not had the benefit of any formal art training, but I have spent my spare time over the years refining and experimenting with non-egging mediums and techniques to try to achieve the vision I held in my mind's eye, striving to capture the realism and spirit of my fine feathered and furry friends.
In March 1998, a group of us of various artistic backgrounds, now known affectionately as"the Fowl Eggers", came together for the purpose of sharing our ideas and experimenting and teaching the techniques we've gleaned from our own experiences as might be applied to the art of eggery.

In eggery, I have been able to merge all my artistic interests and prior experiences into one medium. In eggery, I have been able to merge all my artistic interests and prior experiences into one medium. All my designs are one-of-a-kind originals created freehand on real eggshells, using a number of photographs or objects as references. Nature is my primary source of inspiration. I particularly love the challenge of taking a "deformed" egg (such as the pheasant egg from which I created the Frankenstein Monster's head in "Frankenstein Lives!", and the rhea egg from which I created the hole in an iceberg with a seal popping up out of the water to greet a polar bear cub in "Polar Ice Pals") and creating something special that enhances its uniqueness. My eggart encompasses a variety of styles, including pysanky, vinegar-etching, scratch art, painted (acrylics), coloured pencils, artist's pastels, enameled (Faberge) and marbleized, hinged, diorama, polymer clay/fimo and other sculpted creations, lattice, and deep relief carving, most of which follow a theme inspired by nature's animals, birds, or flowers, or by my faith as a Catholic. When I am in the process of creating, whether it be on paper or on an egg, I lose myself and relax in the painstaking process of building up the realistic detail. I spend time researching my subject before starting a design, and try to capture the spirit or personality of my subject in its natural habitat. I put just as much effort into choosing or creating the right stand to display my finished egg. Each commissioned piece comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Since 1997, I have entered and won numerous awards for my eggart in the Calgary Stampede's Creative Living exhibition, including awards in non-egging classes, in the 2000 Emuszine's Extravagant Emu Egg Contest, and in the 2000 Eggers World Christmas Egg Ornament Contest. I have experimented with a vinegar-etched dot technique on emu eggs, and have taught and published articles on that and other techniques I've mastered in sundry American and Australian magazines. God gives each of us distinctive gifts and talents, and the challenge to discover, develop, and share them. I've come to realize that my art is an expression of my joy and wonder in being a part of God's creation, and is my way of sharing the smile in my heart with others.

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