ABOUT HIMNAMEZachary Reynolds.AGE36.HOMETOWNChattanooga.EDUCATIONBachelor’s degree in environmental science, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 1999.FAMILYWife, Ayesha; no children.FAVORITE BIRDRed-tailed hawk. “Its egg – buff color with a solid splotching on one of its ends and gold speckles – is second to none.”MOST INTERESTING EGGElephant bird of Madagascar. A flightless bird that became extinct about 300 years ago, its egg was 12 inches long and pale orange. “It looked a lot like the moon.”FAVORITE MOVIE”Winged Migration.”
Zach Reynolds would just as soon students got outside and saw real bird eggs for themselves, but he’s got 1,300 or so ceramic replicas to show them in case they don’t.
The Chattanooga native is following his grandfather’s footsteps in creating the replicas, and he hopes to use his educational training as an environmental scientist to increase awareness of the importance of avian creatures.
“It’s a great way of bringing all those things together,” Reynolds said.
His grandfather, C.E. Blevins, now 85, began making and painting species-specific bird eggs in all shapes, sizes and colors after his retirement as an arts specialist in the former Chattanooga City Schools.
Many of the 20,000 or so he made are housed in the Avian Learning Center in Cohutta, Ga., about 45 minutes from Chattanooga.
Reynolds, 36, meanwhile, is hoping to interest school systems in Hamilton County and elsewhere in programs that feature the eggs, information about birds and their importance in the environment.
He already presents such programs at the nonprofit Avian Learning Center (www.avianlearningcenter.com) and will do so at an October program with his uncle, Joel Blevins, at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, W.Va.
With a flair for art and an interest in all things outdoors, Reynolds found his niche in the creation of the ceramic eggs by studying under Blevins.
“I spent a summer under his wing about four years ago,” he said. “I had never paid very much attention to nests and eggs. [But] he taught me about mixing paint and having an eye for detail.”
By day, Reynolds works in a family member’s construction business.
Q: How did your grandfather spark your interest in birds?
A: He showed me how each egg utilizes things such as camouflage, that each egg is distinct and its own, that no two are alike. He helped me appreciate the complexity of shapes, colors and the functions [of the shapes]. He also showed me the intelligence of birds.
Q: How will your program help students become more attuned to the environment?
A: I want them to have an appreciation for the simplicity of the outdoors. I think this can be conveyed through the eggs – the fact the egg is one of the most pleasing shapes known to man. I think that resonates with children. The real success [in working with students] has been to allow the kids to make their own species-specific bird egg, complete with nest. It’s a great hands-on activity.
Q: What can we learn from birds?
A: They have a strong sense of family. The distance they travel through migration is humbling, and they have a strong sense of purpose [through their migration] to continue their existence and raise their young. We can also learn a stewardship of the environment because birds are one of the largest disseminator of seeds. They’re tremendous seed and tree planters. We can also learn it’s good to have them around because they control the insect population, which can be a distraction.
Q: Are there parallels between bird eggs and the art world?
A: Without a doubt, yes. The pleasing shape and color of the eggs help us to take the eggs out of one context and put them into another, in which they stand alone.