"A Connecticut Egg Goes to the White House "

HAMDEN, CT - Nancy Dudchik is a busy Chamber executive who spends countless hours organizing events and supporting the many needs of the business community in her role as President of the Hamden Chamber of Commerce. And when she’s home in Branford, she focuses on her other passion, Pysanky, the ancient Ukrainian and Eastern European art of egg decorating.

Dudchik, with other egg artists from across the nation, was recently invited to the White House by the American Egg Board. On March 9 they meet with the First Lady Laura Bush for the opening of the 2008 Easter Egg Display in the White House Visitors’ Center.

The Easter Egg collection began in 1994. Every year each state selects an artist to send an egg to the White House for the annual Easter Celebration. The oldest and most unique tradition in presidential history, the Annual White House Egg Roll, started with President & Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes, who invited children to roll their eggs on the South Ground Lawn in 1879.

In 2007 the CT Poultry Association selected Dudchik to design the 2008 egg to represent the State of Connecticut. “It was a tremendous honor for me to represent my state. I designed my egg with traditional designs and technique. The design took many hours and many attempts before the final version was completed. I was thrilled with the outcome. Being part of the Easter Egg Display was a once in a lifetime experience that I am very proud of… it was truly a special moment.”

One side of the egg depicts the outline of the Connecticut along with the state flower, the mountain laurel,  including traditional Pysanky patterns, designs and technique.

The other side is Connecticut’s state flag: an ornamental shield with three grapevines, each bearing three bunches of purple grapes. The states moto “He who Transplanted Sustains Us” (Qui Transtulit Sustinet) is displayed on a ribbon.

The vines stand for the first settlements of English people who began to move from Massachusetts in the 1630’s. These settlements were thought of as grapevines that had been transplanted.