Frozen in time, we are transported to the 1950's, a simpler time, when imagination was unobscured by reality to explore dreams and visions. The extraordinary Easter Egg Museum of Schoharie, NY is presented photographically by award-winning photographer and NASA retired rocket scientist, Dr. Joseph Heyman. This is a unique study of the creative folk-art legacy of Mildred Vrooman. In addition, her remarkable life is captured in historical research and preserved documents. Her talent is similar to Grandma Moses - simple depictions of themes - wonderfully brought to the faces of eggs. The eggs are sometimes part of a tableau, dressed elegantly as fashion stars, or as clowns in a circus, or disciples at the Last Supper. This is a unique world treasure!
The Easter Egg Museum was the life-long work and passion of Miss Mildred Vrooman who died in 2012 at age 103. She along with her friend Elizabeth Warner, were inspired to create an Easter Egg tree by the 1951 Caldecott Award children's book, The Egg Tree, by Katherine Milhouse. The exhibit began with painted and dyed eggs displayed on a few trees outdoors and it continued to expand until it moved indoors to the Mary Beatrice Cushing Memorial Library in 1964.
By 2001, Mildred Vrooman, already a nonagenarian, decided to build a museum on her property for the egg exhibit. She spent a lifetime creating this unique and wondrous collection. While the display began with a few painted eggs it evolved into a wonderland of fanciful vignettes made of eggs. She depicts the Old Stone Fort along with Revolutionary War hero Timothy Murphy. The U.S. presidents up to George W. Bush are each displayed - with heads made of eggs but characteristics that enable easy identification. There is a whole circus with painted eggs including clowns, ticket takers, elephants, and seals. The old lady in the shoe is depicted, along with quite a handful of her children. The scenes include fairy tales, holidays from Easter to Christmas, religious themes including an amazing display of the Last Supper.
Miss Vrooman used small eggs and large eggs, from peahens to ostriches. Each egg was painted and then decorated or clothed. She used lace, beads, shells, fur, yarn, and sequins, anything to embellish her creations. Miss Vrooman was, indeed, a folk artist of egg artery.
The Museum has over 3,000 unique eggs. The eggs are worthy of very careful attention. Each face is distinctive and has wonderful details. No two eggs look exactly alike. In 1995 Miss Vrooman said, "You can't make 'em alike. That wouldn't be right. Each one has to be a separate character."
Miss Vrooman was creative and she had an artistic eye. Some of the eggs look like Faberge jewel boxes. Others have figures illustrating whole stories within carved eggshells. She also made egg paintings created from colored, crushed eggshells. They are mosaics made entirely of eggshells. A large tree created from wooden dowels holds 600 decorated eggs. Some are painted with Indian heads, others with birds, many have Pennsylvania Dutch decorations, and still others look like pysanka.
Since its inception, thousands of people from all over have visited the Schoharie Easter Egg Exhibit. It is a unique treasure and this legacy book provides an opportunity to share the collection with the world community and new generations.
Heyman, Joseph S.: - Dr. Joseph Heyman is a highly successful NASA scientist with 35 US patents and 100s of publications and presentations in his field of aerospace technology. He received the coveted Silver Snoopy Award for contributions returning the Shuttle to flight after the Challenger accident, along with three NASA Medals. He is also the recipient of the Arthur Fleming Award and 4 IR-100 awards for the top technology of the year. He retired from NASA in 2001 as the Chief Technologist for Langley Research Center and started a company that was acquired by Luna Innovations, from which he retired a second time in 2008 as their Chief Scientist. His interest in photography began in high school at Tabor Academy, where he started a photo club. Today he teaches photography at the College of William and Mary's Christopher Wren Association program for continuing education. His photography has been recognized as exceptional with one-man shows in Boston and Williamsburg, a book People of the World Through My Lens, and sales at regional art shows. One of his books, with co-author, Berna Heyman, The Mildred Vrooman Egg Museum, was well received at the 2014 Egg Museum opening.
