Lunchable is an occasional Arts Blog feature that shows readers how to take in a small exhibition of art during a lunch or short break. 

While taking a self-guided live tour of Robert Arneson’s Eggheads that dot the UC Davis campus seems like a good idea (see a video version below) it might get a little toasty in the hotter days of summer. Like now.

There is a cooler way to take one version of a “tour.”  And you’ll get a bonus history lesson too.

For temperatures in the more comfortable range, you can “tour” them yourself inside the UC Davis Shields Library thanks to the archives of the Aggie student newspaper housed there. The exhibit is “Egg-xtra, Egg-xtra Read All About It.” It is viewable through the fall.

The library staff researched and retrieved photos and articles from the library archives collection of Aggie newspapers from the 1990s and blew them up to join in the campus celebration of the Year of the Eggheads — the 30th anniversary of the final installation of what are five, site-specific Egghead sculptures. The library exhibition was curated by Library Communications in partnership with Archives and Special Collections.

Notably, the actual three-dimensional version of Bookhead — the first Egghead installed — greets visitors just outside the the library. Inside, the Egg-xibit makes up a virtual tour hanging on the walls just inside the air-conditioned front entrance. Turn to your left after you enter, and you can see a series of photos that guide a viewer from the first installation, or "hatch" of Bookhead (including the large bronze Egghead being transported on a flatbed truck) — to the last installation of the final Egghead sculptures in 1994. 

Displayed prominently on another wall located directly opposite the front entrance is an article about Arneson’s death from cancer in 1992. A photo of his widow, ceramics artist Sandy Shannonhouse, and his then-young daughter standing at a lectern at the 1994 final Egghead dedication ceremony is also on view. 

Together, these images offer a snapshot of the Eggheads and their creator through newsprint reproduced in high-quality images.

The stories and photos you see mounted on the walls can also be found in the library’s online archive of The Aggie.

More information on the exhibition is here. 

For more on the Year of the Eggheads, the history of Arneson and the Eggheads and ways to buy Egghead-related merchandise go to the special Egghead website at eggheads.ucdavis.edu