About the Artist Gary LeMaster

You know, one of the most irritating things I see on other websites is
where the "about me" section is written in the third person as if a
famous reviewer or biographer had written it, rather than the owner of
the website. Something like, "Mr. LeMaster is an accomplished artist
and is recognized as... blah, blah, blah." You've all seen them. Well,
I've found that being straightforward is usually the best course, so if you
want to know anything about me, that's what you're going to get.
That's actually me you see in the photo to the left. It's recent, not one of
those glamour shots from 15 years ago that people use on their sites to
look good. If you run your mouse over that photo, you'll see another
photo of me in New Zealand at about the time I really became interested
in art. As you can see, I've been producing art in one form or another
for quite a long time. My father, a farm boy from Illinois, fibbed about

I had a scholarship in music to attend the University of Iowa, but turned it down to pursue a teaching degree at the University of
Northern Iowa in other disciplines such as history and English. Nope, not art. I'm color-blind and although I continued to
produce poetry and short stories, my visual art was limited to pencil, charcoal and pen and ink, which I practiced every day. I
never took any art courses besides art appreciation because I didn't think I was good enough. Somehow, I ended up with a
teaching degree in Spanish and was offered a fellowship to be the first student in the new Master's Program. The Viet Nam War
influenced almost every decision young people made in those days and I opted to stay in school. I began by taking 25
undergraduate Spanish students to Colombia to study and I both studied and taught there. When we returned, I finished my
Master's degree and was promptly offered a sizable fellowship to study for my PhD at the University of Iowa, which I could

hardly turn down. So, for 5 more years I studied languages (we had to have a working
knowledge of six different languages), civilization, history, linguistics, etc. As luck would
have it, I'd taken more courses than I actually needed, but still had fellowship money left.

As you might guess, I hustled myself over to the Art Department to enroll in some
beginning art courses, full of excitement and dreams. When I tried to enroll, they refused,
saying that I was a grad student and, thus, couldn't take undergraduate classes. The only
possibility would be to take graduate classes in art, but I'd have to first be accepted and
admitted; and for that to happen I would have to present a portfolio of my work to the
graduate faculty and they would judge me either worthy of them or not. With my lack of
confidence, I'll never know why I put together some of my work and stood before that
stern-looking semi-circle of pompous, frowning faces. They asked me to leave the room
and it seemed an eternity before I was called back into the room. In fact, I'd almost fled
in the meantime. When I went before them again, I was greeted with smiles, handshakes
and congratulations on being admitted. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I
ended up knocking myself over with beer, I believe. That was long before I'd quit drinking.
So, I began taking graduate art courses and wished every day that I'd had enough
confidence to have been an undergraduate art major to begin with, but life takes some
strange paths at times. In any event, I thoroughly enjoyed every class I took. I've since
won numerous awards for my artwork, especially for book covers and for my pencil and

Pencil Sketch

pen and ink work. Never for eggs, though. I've never entered my eggs in any contest whatsoever. Perhaps I will... someday.

I very quickly became disillusioned with teaching at the college level. Don't get me wrong, I
loved the teaching and I loved interacting with the students to our mutual benefit; but every
faculty meeting concerned how we could squeeze more money out of the Board of Regents, or
who did the best presentation at the last conference, who knew what the playwright Lope de
Vega was really trying to say and since he wrote 1,500 plays while Shakespeare only wrote 26
during the same period of time, Shakespeare is more famous. Whenever I brought up the
students, the value of what we were giving them or even the quality of our teaching, the room
would go silent and I'd get "the look" from everyone there. I had previously put many
professors up on pedestals, but the pedestals were falling and I decided to leave. I was
working in Administration at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics when the Art
Director caught wind of what I was doing with eggshells and asked me to do a one-man
show. It was unveiled on my birthday that Fall and I had a blast standing behind everyone
listening to what they had to say, until TV crews and newspapers had my face everywhere
and I could no longer travel incognito. I sure sold a ton of eggs and every Easter some editor
or producer would remember me and it would start all over again.
When my first website went up ten years ago, I began getting from 100 to 150 calls, letters or
email messages every day from people who wanted to know how to carve eggs. I intended to
write a beginner's book, but all of the kids were still at home and had things we were involved

with every night and weekend. At the time I was working as a corporate recruiter and national sales trainer on the side and I just
couldn't stay motivated on writing the book, but deadlines are good for me so I started The Eggshell Sculptor so I could answer
100 questions once, rather than one question 100 times a day. Since that time, I've slowly built a small business providing other
people with supplies, an instructional magazine, classes, and - soon - training videos. And although I'm far from being the best
carver in the world, I'm still probably the best known carver because of how I support this unique art so passionately.

So there you have the not-so-quick synopsis... if anyone is crazy enough to want more details, by all means call or email me at
your convenience. Thanks for listening... er... reading! ~GL

Gary LeMaster ◦ 415 Terrace Road ◦ Iowa City ◦ IA ◦ 52245
Ph. (319) 338-2094
Fax (319) 339-9133
Email eggzotica@mchsi.com

~About The Artist~
Gary LeMaster

his age in order to serve in WWII, where he met my mother when he was stationed in New Zealand. She
was a sophisticated young lady who practiced ballet and Scottish Highland dancing and was collecting
quite a few medals and trophies for her efforts. Opposites attract, they say, and the story of them getting
together after the war is a touching one. Ask me about it sometime. The point is that I grew up learning
how to use tools, do woodworking (to my father's specs) and also listening to classical music and gaining
even more of an appreciation of the fine arts.

"Circumlocution" - Pen and Ink