By Tanya Steele
Local artists of all kinds have been invited to step forward to paint emu eggs for an exhibition in April this year.
The aptly named Meggnificent Emu Eggxhibition approaches for the Sherbrooke Gallery in Sherbrooke and offers the chance for artists to try something a little different.
Volunteer Gallery Manager Glenda Ven Trojen said the gallery now was given the eggs as a donation at the end of 2023.
“I was offered a few of the eggs and I took them into the gallery and it went from there,” she said.
The volunteers proceeded from there to come up with an idea of decorating them as a fundraiser for the gallery.
The eggs came from the stockpile of an emu farm that has since shut down and has provided a challenge for local artists in the hills.
Decorating emu eggs is not a new concept, and has great cultural and historical context for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Indigenous artists today still decorate the eggs with carvings, depicting important animals, people, traditions and scenes from the past or present.
The exhibition, now in its second year is open to all ages and mediums so the hope is that people get creative and enter.
The emu eggs provide a challenge for the artist to see what they can come up with, as the eggs provide a dark surface and rounded.
“They vary a little in size and colour, I made faces out of mine,” Ms van Tojen said.
The local volunteer and artist participated last year and for her entry used recycled materials like feathers and gum nuts along with clay to fashion faces onto the emu eggs.
Entrants also have to provide a stand for their eggs and Ms van Trojen said they will have to get their thinking caps on.
“I like recycling, mine were balanced on candlestick stands – quirky they were,” she said.
“I tend to do things a bit differently, I didn’t paint mine.”
Last year other creatives painted a range of things like penguins and floral designs and Ms van Trojen said some were worried the eggs would be too hard to use.
““The eggshells themselves are very strong,” she said.
Ms van Trojen said the gallery is always appreciative of donated art materials and the eggs are one of the more novel donations, providing a unique challenge for the artists of the hills.
“It’s great that we can use the eggs,” she said.
Entries close on Saturday 22 March and delivery of the eggs is by 4 April .
The exhibit will open at the gallery on Saturday 12 April at 2pm.
The egg-cellent entries will then remain on display until May 4.
For more information, please contact the Sherbrooke Gallery, Sherbrooke Art Society at 62 Monbulk Road, Belgrave on (03) 9754 4264.
