By Pete Scully, in Davis, California
These are two of the ‘Egghead’ sculptures by Robert Arneson, found dotted around the UC Davis campus. Now you might think that a post by me about the Eggheads would be littered with puns and silly jokes about eggs, it’s so easy, and on any other day, you might be right, but I’m trying, Ringo, I’m trying real hard. So, let me tell you about the Eggheads. They are not, in fact, made of egg, but are in fact bronze, painted white. They were created by the late UC Davis Art professor and world-renowned ceramicist Robert Arneson (who died of cancer in 1992), and were among his last works. they are popular spots for snapping a campus photo, and even have their own Egghead music tour. There are five Egghead pieces (two of which have two Eggheads in them, so seven eggs total), and the one above is called “Eye on Mrak”, aka “Fatal Laff”. The “eye” looking at Mrak Hall, the seat of power at UC Davis, is on the reverse of the egg.
This next one is called “Bookhead” and is fairly self-explanatory. It’s right outside the Shields Library, and I really wish I had something more interesting to say about it but I do not. Oh, ok, there is a boring tradition that says UC Davis students touch it for good luck before exams. There, it is impossible to talk about this sculpture without mentioning that frankly silly legend. It is written into the UC Davis charter that you have to mention it when talking about it, even if it isn’t really true. If you mention it then people will believe it and they will in turn do it because it is ‘tradition’ but it’s only ‘tradition’ because someone says it is ‘tradition’. Even those who do touch it for good luck have absolutely no evidence of any particular upturn in their academic fortunes, in fact I’ll bet there’s more truth in the tradition that people who believe touching a large ceramic egg will make up for not studying a bit harder do worse in their exams.
I’ve drawn these and the other Eggheads several times over the years at UC Davis, and you can learn more about the sculptures and their beloved, cheeky sculptor at ucdavis.edu/about/eggheads. I hope you enjoy their eggsplanations (dammit!).
