>> Everything is "eggceptional,"
or "eggtraordinary."
>> Kathleen Mand Beck can list
egg puns by the dozen.
>> I think I've heard every
"eggciting," and
"eggstravagant," and every
egg word there is possible.
>> When you're the
"Egg Lady from Egg Harbor"
>> This is our egg museum.
They're all numbered
and all catalogued.
>> It comes with the territory.
>> Oh, I'm used to them,
but I laugh, you know.
And I usually say,
"Oh, I've never heard that."
>> Egg puns aside,
there is little about eggs
Kathleen doesn't know.
>> The egg is the gift of life,
the sign of friendship
and love and new beginnings.
Even holding an egg
in your hand feels wonderful.
[high-pitched drill whirring]
>> Kathleen uses
a dentist's drill to carve eggs.
While it may be
hard on the ears,
the result is easy on the eyes.
>> It's total play time
for me.
I just, when I get my drill
in my hand, it's like a painter
getting her paintbrush,
I think.
It's just, what can I do,
what can I create.
>> Kathleen's start
in egg carving was an accident.
She used to work with
stained glass.
>> I ended up with a personal
injury to my right arm,
and had to have three surgeries.
>> With limited strength
in her hand, she needed a new
medium for her art.
>> I lived in the country
so I went to my nearest farmer,
and I got some eggs
and cleaned them out,
and started carving them.
And I found out that it was
a really an interesting surface
to carve on.
>> The next accident of fate
came on a trip to Door County.
>> I had been carving eggshells
as a hobby and had my
a-ha moment of my life,
and realized that there were
no eggs in Egg Harbor,
except at the market.
I saw this building and it was,
it was a terrible mess.
I looked at it and I said,
this is it, I have to be here.
This has gotta be my home.
I am the kind of a person
who gets an idea, and
then I jump in with two feet
into the mud puddle, and then
figure out how to get out of it.
I never worked
in an art gallery before.
I don't know what possessed me
to think that I could do it.
I started out personalizing
the eggs, so I put
names and dates on them
for anniversaries, and babies,
and birthdays.
>> Soon she was making complex
sculptures out of eggshells.
>> This is my lighthouse
of Door County,
down in Sturgeon Bay.
>> Then she went worldwide.
>> This is where my eggs
have gone.
Indonesia, New Zealand,
and South Africa.
>> Along the way, people
started bringing her eggs.
>> We now have over 500 eggs
in our collection.
They are from all over
the world.
There are antique eggs,
and wood eggs, and marble eggs,
and carved eggs,
and painted eggs.
>> Early on, Kathleen set what
she thought was a lofty goal
for her collection.
>> To have the essence
of the egg world in Egg Harbor
would be to have three things.
It would be to have
a prehistoric egg,
a wild bird egg collection,
and a Faberge.
>> Hi.
>> Welcome to Dovetail.
>> One by one,
people came into her shop
and told her about eggs
that were sitting in attics,
or boxes, or a safe.
>> It's an Easter egg.
It's not the Imperial eggs
that were made for
the Czar's wife and mother,
so it's quite valuable,
but not nearly as valuable
as those.
>> Yes, it is real.
It is really 70 million years
old.
It is truly a fossil.
One of the great things
about this egg, is not only
that it's that old, but it's
also that it's a whole egg,
because many, many
of the fossils are broken.
The wild bird egg collection
is all down here.
>> In theory, the wild bird
egg collection would be
the easiest to get,
but Kathleen needed a federal
permit to take possession
of an old collection.
>> By the grace of God,
we got our letter
that we got our permit
from the federal government.
>> For most people, eggs and art
only go together on Easter.
>> Eggs are for all seasons.
They're not just for Easter.
I love to dye eggs.
They dye beautifully.
This was dyed
with coffee and tea.
Here's a whole box of dyed eggs.
These are my Easter eggs.
>> For Kathleen,
there's something magical
about holding an egg,
from the tiniest--
>> That's a little finch egg.
>> To the biggest.
>> I get excited.
Eggs!
I'm sorry, but I do!
I love it.
It's where my heart is.
Right here in Egg Harbor.
[laughs]
I know it's such a pun,
but it's the truth!