Jenny Gummersall displays two different prints of her photograph “Broken Egg #1”/Photo by Todd Newcomer.

There are untold advantages to being an artist. To stroll the alleyways taking the world in through a magnifying glass while wearing a black beret and singing the Periodic Table of Elements, with impunity, is a great asset to the creative soul. Artists are allowed, perhaps even expected, to be a tad eccentric. A less obvious benefit is the ability to trade our artwork with other artists, to use our creative currency. Most of the art that graces my walls has been acquired in this way. Recently, however, I delved into the realm of the consumer world and purchased a piece of art: a black and white photograph of chicken eggs nestled in a cow vertebrae, a soft light blushing the surfaces of the eggshell and the bone with equal gentleness. The photograph caught my eye in a local gallery and I simply had to have it.

The creator of this intriguing image is photographer Jenny Gummersall, whose work I first saw in the exhibit, "Ranch Families: Culture of America," at the Center of Southwest Studies in 2002. The exhibit documented the activities of ranching families in La Plata County. She got interested in the ranching lifestyle in 1996 when she and her family moved to Durango and began spending time with friends who are ranchers/farmers. Having just relocated from the anonymity of Los Angeles, the sense of strong family values, community involvement, and neighborly actions within the ranching community affected her deeply and she began to photograph its unique culture. Gummersall says, "I soon realized that there was a rich history that I was recording and that it is a fading way of life."

Her most recent photographs, the "Egg Series" seem like distant cousins to the ranching portraits, though the two projects do share her interest depicting icons from Western culture. Donning our black berets, Gummersall and I recently spent some time talking about the simple things in life-eggs.

JM: You are hatching a new body of work, the "Egg Series." Tell me about its conception and where you are going with it?

Gummersall: Dozens of ways! I'm exploring it and like other series that I get into, they tend to take on a life of their own. Eggs are so basic, an organic form, beautifully simple, fragile yet strong and life giving. And which came first? Even the pre-monetary system of bartering such as a dozen eggs for a loaf of bread; there is a beautiful simplicity to them. Eggs are such a staple of what we eat. A reminder perhaps of the wonderful simple things of life unplugged. And the images are like life..some cracks, some broken, some strong and pure and surviving..like life's experiences.The particular eggs in the series have come from our chickens. They lay eggs, we eat and bake with them, I photograph their eggs.. like some sort of flowing cycle. I learn so much from photographing them, observing, studying the proofs, thinking about the scale and all the "meanings" I see in the images. But as in art, my job is half done when the piece is finished. It takes the viewer to also contribute to the meaning. One image can mean a dozen things to 12 different people. For instance, one collector feels that she can just crawl into the egg and be secure. For another it fills her "nesting" needs. So the art nourishes them emotionally. And it is so subjective. An emotion, a thought, or a whole dissertation can come out of one series or image.

JM: You mentioned that a selection of the egg series will be reproduced in a very large format. How did this come about and what are your expectations or apprehensions about this scale change?

Gummersall: Along the way of showing my Los Angeles gallery some egg images, the gallery suggested that we print one big 5'x 7' and my stomach fell. So it took me a little bit to think about what that would be like. The gallery owner also had the idea of printing a cow image of mine 6'x 4' on canvas and it immediately sold. She has a good sense for scale. What she said was that she needed to have the cow big and again that she needed a big egg, it soothed her, or fulfilled a need she had. All of this led to us doing the upcoming exhibition of the egg series.To see a 4-foot egg is exciting! We'll be doing some 5'x7'for this exhibit! I can't wait to see it all up. Such impact! Changing scale is another way of adding importance to something. It's stunning.

Jenny Gummersall displays the subject of her most recent work. /Photo by Todd Newcomer.

Gummersall: Along the way of showing my Los Angeles gallery some egg images, the gallery suggested that we print one big 5'x 7' and my stomach fell. So it took me a little bit to think about what that would be like. The gallery owner also had the idea of printing a cow image of mine 6'x 4' on canvas and it immediately sold. She has a good sense for scale. What she said was that she needed to have the cow big and again that she needed a big egg, it soothed her, or fulfilled a need she had. All of this led to us doing the upcoming exhibition of the egg series.To see a 4-foot egg is exciting! We'll be doing some 5'x7'for this exhibit! I can't wait to see it all up. Such impact! Changing scale is another way of adding importance to something. It's stunning.

JM: The use of strong light also has a way of adding impact to your images. How does the use of natural light affect your photographs?

Gummersall: Light is the basic element of photography. Photo from Greek "ph`F5s" meaning light and "graphe" to write or to draw. So photography is literally drawing with light. Using natural light maintains what I perceive and keeps it true to my vision. And it is a challenge -natural light changes so fast and the perfect shot is fleeting. The light in New Mexico and here in Southwest Colorado is so powerful, so pure, so piercingly beautiful, why use artificial light?

JM: Your willingness to not control, in this case, the light, is one of the qualities that I see in many creative people. Is this openness at work in other areas of your life?

Gummersall: I'm creating in all areas of my life. Like dropping the pebble in water and it keeps going. If I can help people through my creativity, to solve problems, look at things differently, evoke some emotions, joy, nostalgia, humor, a new way of seeing something, then I've done my job.

Jenny Gummersall is represented locally by Open Shutter Gallery. Her new photographs will be on display at Lacy Primitive and Fine Art Gallery in Los Angeles from February 18th -March 31st. www.lacyprimitiveandfineart.com .