Irene Frank’s extraordinary egg art started as an inspiration in her early 20s in 1951, but quickly turned into an obsession lasting decades until her eyesight failed.

At 82, the artist now enjoys sharing her amazing decorated eggs that range from tiny quail-egg necklaces to giant bejeweled ostrich eggs. Through the years Frank displayed her art at Egg Art Guild shows across the country and had two of her prized eggs displayed in a White House collection.

“I got a letter from Hillary Clinton,” she said, sharing the thank-you letter dated June 1995 when Bill Clinton was president.

She was living in Colorado at the time and was selected two years in a row to decorate an egg to represent the state. Her first featured an intricate cut-out pattern on the back and a hand-sculpted columbine flower inside, while the second had a charming ski scene within a decorated egg.

 A glass display unit in her apartment at Buffalo Hill Terrace reveals the diversity of the art form. Frank carved dainty designs in chicken, duck, goose, emu, rhea and ostrich eggs, then painted or decoupaged the outside and installed figurines or miniature dioramas through hinged openings or oval windows.

One of Frank’s favorites has a clown encased in an egg carved into scrolls.

“I was the only person that I ever saw at the shows who cut this kind of design with the scrolls,” Frank said. “Even people who had been egging for years didn’t know how I got that clown inside there.”

Always willing to share, she said the secret was cutting the egg into fragile pieces, then praying she could reassemble it with the figure inside. Frank didn’t mind helping other egg artists emulate even her signature designs.

“A number of people came around and asked me if I would draw the scrolls so they could cut it and I did do that for a lot of people,” she said. “It doesn’t come naturally.”

Art did come naturally to Frank, though, from the age of 3 when she was living with her grandmother in Roundup.

“I drew my own paper dolls,”  Frank said. “She couldn’t afford to buy them for me.”

She took as many art classes as possible in school but couldn’t afford to attend college. Following high school, Frank went to work doing advertising art for a chain store in Billings.

She married David Frank in 1949 and the couple had two sons. After a few years, they relocated from Billings to Colorado Springs, where Frank became a stay-at-home mom doing freelance art when the children were at school or in bed.

In the 1950s, she got the idea of decorating eggs for Christmas ornaments as a hobby. She recalled her excitement at later finding photos of decorated goose eggs in a craft magazine.

“I thought it was my own unique idea,” Frank said. “Then I found out there were egg shows around the country and got very excited. I thought ‘I’ve got to see what other people do.’”

She immediately made reservations to go to a decorated egg show in Dallas, Texas, scheduled for 10 days later. Frank said she found artists doing incredible work.

“I spent two days there just in awe of what I was seeing,” she said. “People were using goose eggs because they were bigger and stronger.”

The show was a turning point for her. Frank said she got more serious about “egging.”

Viewing her eggs as a canvas, the artist unleashed her many talents, including painting, sculpting, decoupaging, design cutting and more. They possibilities were endless. She also tapped into the ancient Ukrainian egg decorating art of pysanky using wax and a series of dyes.

“I got so I was obsessed with them. That was all I wanted to do,” Frank recalled. “Then I started to go to different shows around the country.”

Frank not only saw different artistic approaches but also discovered all kinds of tools as well as supplies such as rhinestones, gold chain and gold braid.

When she started she used manicure scissors to make the opening in the front of the egg. She moved into a motor-driven Dremel tool, but the vibration from the motor caused her to break a lot of eggs.

“When I was at the shows, I learned about a drill powered by air that didn’t have as much vibration,” she said. “It was easier to make fancy cuts. By then I was quite serious about trying to better myself at the art.”

Frank pursued the art for the joy of creating and the pleasure of giving people special gifts. She said she never made them with the idea of selling them.

“If someone got sick and was in the hospital, rather than send them flowers, I’d send them an egg,” Frank said. “And people always enjoyed that a lot.”

She still remembers the time a close friend who was a retired colonel fell ill and went into the hospital. She described him as a very stoic and serious man.

Frank decided to make him a custom egg to cheer him up. It said “You’re a good egg” on one side and “Get well soon” on the other.

She embellished it with fancy cut-outs then presented it to him. Frank was surprised when he got very choked up and emotional.

He went home and put it in the china closet where he could see it daily.

“When he died, there was that egg, right out in front in their china cabinet,” Frank recalled. “He treasured it. I made someone happy.”

Frank said her problem with her eyesight came on very gradually. She wasn’t concerned at first because she could still work. But macular degeneration continued to progress.

“I used to pray ‘Lord, don’t let me lose my eyes’ because they were so important for me to do this,” she said. “But I have been blessed with many years of talent as an artist, so I couldn’t complain really and I don’t now.”

In about 1997, she reached a point of so little vision that she had to quit. Since then, Frank has displayed her decorated eggs at several of the Montana care facilities where she has lived.

When a Missoula facility put her eggs on display around Easter time, Frank remembers a particular woman was drawn to the eggs. Normally, she was all alone and spoke to no one.

“I came in the room and she called my name,” she said. “She was absolutely bouncing up and down, laughing out loud and having so much fun looking at the eggs. She had a hundred questions to ask. I had never seen her like that. That definitely made my day.”

Frank said she misses her vision because she would like to see the faces of people she talks to  and especially the faces of people as they enjoy her decorated eggs.

“That, I think, is what I enjoy the most — to make someone happy or smile or laugh because of something they enjoy in my eggs. I think that really makes me happy, more so than even making them.”

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.