Eggs in Envelopes

The Story

   Two years ago, the homeless 15-year-old girl and her 5-month-old daughter arrived at our door seeking shelter.  This is the story of these 2 children and these two years.  In this collage series, told in metaphor, an artist, who has lost the passion in his work, one day, receives, unexpectedly, by mail, tiny eggs in an envelope.  He asks himself how they could have arrived undamaged.  How could anyone treat something so small and precious with such disregard?  How could something so delicate, so vulnerable, possess so much potential and, against seemingly overwhelming odds, become life so beautiful and knowing?

   The eggs become the object of meditation, the source of spiritual experience in which he finds his muse once more.

The Artifacts

   When it came time to depict this story of hope and happenstance, I decided to use collage as my medium, because it allowed me to use insignificant objects to present an experience of profound significance.

   For many years, I have used trompe l’oeil oil paintings to create the illusion of reality and now I am using collage to create the same effect.  All of the envelopes, stamps, letters, journals, rulers, eggs, and etchings were fabricated to appear as authentic artifacts.

Michael Douglas Jones