Egg Artist Displays Unusual Collection

One Easter bunny that’s everything it’s cracked up to be can be found this weekend at the Thousand Oaks Library, where it and other unusual creations made of eggs are on display.

For the second time in 15 years, egg artist Betty Staben of Camarillo is placing part of her award-winning collection on exhibit, this time at the Thousand Oaks Library until the end of April.

“This is an Easter thing,” Staben said. “It seems like at Easter everyone thinks of eggs.”

Ostrich eggs filled with colorful carousels and horses, eggs containing mechanical butterflies, eggs with electrical lights and eggs that play “America the Beautiful” are just some of Staben’s more than 55 creations on display.

“I have over 300 in my collection,” said Staben, who likes to consider her unusual work “as an art form, not as a craft.”

Staben, who works primarily with ostrich and goose eggs because of their size, said she sometimes utilizes high-speed drills, fungus and even wallpaper. “It’s an art where you can use any technique you’ve ever learned,” Staben said.

For example, the Easter bunny on display at the library is made of goose, dove, chicken, and other eggs, and plays “Here Comes Peter Cottontail.” A replica of the Santa Barbara Mission uses an ostrich egg as well as greeting cards and a pewter figure.

But these intricately crafted artworks are not for sale. Staben said she only gives her creations away to friends and relatives.