Category Archives for Events in Time

On the Importance of the Egg

ex ovoomnia

Ex ovo omnia. Detail of the frontispiece, probably drawn and etched by Richard Gaywood, from William Harvey, Exercitationes de generatione animalium: Quibus accedunt quaedam de partu: de membranis ac humoribus uteri& de conceptione, London: Octavian Pulleyn, 1651. 21 x 16 cm.
By permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library

The blueprint for the egg structure, echoes the symbolism of the egg as a blueprint of life. An aesthetically perfect and compact capsule, the egg contains in embryo the essentials for new life in most of the animal kingdom and is closely related to the seed, which encapsulates the same meaning within the world of flora. A great scientist of the Seventeenth Century, William Harvey, wrote ‘ex ovo omnia’ – everything comes from an egg. From primate to plankton it embodies the idea of new birth and renewal, protection and fragility. In an urban 21st century world where we are increasingly disconnected from nature this ancient archetypal symbol will nurture re-enchantment and understanding as a step toward a sustainable future.

While these ideas will be shared virtually online, I am floating older tried and trusted means of making contact…

eggletshell;blue

egglet;red

Eggletmap

Names and Numbers

When the Egg was launched into the river at Lymington last week, I poured a bottle of fizzy stuff over her ‘bows’ and named her ‘The Exbury Egg’ in homage to Neptune,  keeping the cork and bottle label (signed by the principle partners) as a memento. We also screwed a boat registration number over the port door, so I will now need to carve her name – we are all more than numbers.

number_4050

label_5927

Loaded Up

eggtransporter

The Egg by moonlight on Tuesday May 21st, made ready for transport to Lymington Yacht Haven where it is due to be launched on Thursday.

dinnerwithteam

Rob, Mark, Natalie, Me, Trisha, Paul, Wendy and Phil enjoy a last supper in the barn at Battramsley after loading the egg onto its transporter. Scores of midges join our party to remind us about the environmental intent of our work.