The library will feature a special exhibition entitled “An Egg a Day: Drawings by Phil Burns,” in the Gallery of the Main Library through March 4, 2012.

In the early 1950s, Phil Burns met Russian surrealist artist Pavel Tchelitchew. The master artist told the young Burns to draw an egg every day. Decades later, suffering from chronic back pain, Burns remembered that advice.

For 14 years, Phil Burns drew eggs. In fact, on many days he would go far beyond drawing only one egg a day. By the time Burns stopped his drawings in 2008, he had created almost 3,500 imaginative egg illustrations. Hundreds of these are represented in this exhibition. The images are detailed, whimsical and extremely unique.

Now 85 years old, Phil Burns is homebound at his residence in California. This exhibition is a testament to one person’s will to live through chronic pain using imagination and creativity to stay alive—and, in the process, creating an extraordinary body of work.

The Gallery on the Garden Level of the Main Library, located in downtown Columbia, is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Saturday and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

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The mission of the Richland County Public Library is to provide experiences that Inspire, Inform and Entertain.