Egg board has yolk on its face

CHICAGO —  Louisiana’s decorated Easter egg for the White House Visitors Center is split like a jeweled clam and features a chef with a bottle of Tabasco. Alabama’s is a red, white and blue homage to Space Camp. Wisconsin’s is a glittering depiction of butterflies and flowers.

Then there’s Wyoming’s: It bears a crudely drawn skiing egg, wings holding the poles.

“I have to say that it looks a little more contemporary and childlike than they probably would have liked,” said Joanne Ivy, president of the American Egg Board, which coordinates the display.

One reason may be that the artist -- who is not from Wyoming, but Elmhurst, Ill. -- was just trying to help out his mother when he got caught up in the mild interstate controversy.

The saga started early last year, when the Egg Board, based in Park Ridge, Ill., cast its net for artists from each state to decorate eggs consistent with their home state’s character. The Egg Board begins by contacting state egg associations. But Wyoming has no association, so the board contacted the International Egg Art Guild, which was unable to recommend an egg artist in Wyoming, Ivy said.

The board kept trying. A Wyoming artist eventually agreed to take a crack at the project, but begged off about a week before the eggs had to be shipped to Washington, D.C.

Ivy had to scramble.

To the rescue came Jacinta LeDonne, an administrative assistant at the Egg Board. She volunteered son Phillip, 21, an art student.

“Very honestly,” Ivy said, “we thought we were trying to do something nice instead of having a blank spot for the state of Wyoming. It backfired.”

Efforts to reach the artist and his mother were unsuccessful Thursday.