Members

Gloria - Michigourders Director

On a warm summer day in the Bavarian mountains of Germany, a shinning light was born into the world of art.

Two days later and just down the road I was born. I don't know what time but my mom remembers missing lunch.  I came to the States at about 3 years of age, living in a farming community in upstate New York. At 12, we moved to Michigan where I've been since. I'm married to a wonderful man for 35 years, have three grown children and 3 grandchildren, two horrible little dogs that I adore and Mr. Peepers, my canary.

I've always been interested in art. While I didn't pursue a degree, I did take every art class offered by Oakland Community College. Artistically I'm an accomplished portrait artist I prefer pastels or colored pencil as my medium. I paint as well and took up painting furniture which I sold in galleries for a time. I paint murals interior and exterior, create faux finishes, work with polymer clays, make jewelry, dolls in fabric and otherwise. I design children's knitwear and I write children's poetry and stories.

Evidently I have too much free time. And afterseeing a decorated gourd in Niagara Falls a few years ago I started working with gourds. It has become a passion for me. I am able to use nearly all of my skills on them. With their round surface they create enough of a challenge to keep my fleeting interest.

Because of gourds I am learning basketry and carving. I've discovered a huge variety of new products to play with. I've fallen in with a delightful group of "gourd heads" who have seen fit to make me their director and I have nothing but high hopes for our future as an organization.

See Gloria's work on her web site www.imsart.com

Ann

I first became interested in gourds in 1996. I attended a large holiday show held at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds and happened to stumble upon a booth that was filled with amazing gourd art. Of course, at the time I didn’t know anything about this type of art form and had to ask the artist what it was all about.

I purchased one of her Christmas gourds and cherish it to this day. It wasn’t until my husband and I moved back to southeast Michigan that I decided to try to locate others that perhaps could teach me more about gourds. I was on a California gourd website and happened to see Chris' address, which was near where I was now living, and her e-mail and thus, my introduction to a very talented artist and the world of gourds. I took Chris’s first gourd class she offered and there was only myself and Pam as her students, but I sure did learn a lot. Chris’ classes now have a lot more than 2 students and many of them belong to the Michigourders patch.

I volunteered to help at our booth at the State Fair in 2008 and was delighted to take 3rd place in the competition. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to volunteering for our event at the Fair every year.

Each person in our patch is very talented and has a lot to offer, not only art-wise but sharing with others their friendship. Sometimes I may not have the time I would like to work on gourds, and I may not be the most talented, but I do enjoy learning and sharing with everyone else.  I’m very happy to be a part of the AGS, MGS and especially the Michigourders. 

Chris – Current Michigan Gourd Society Membership Secretary

In the early 1990’s a friend of mine convinced me that we should start to sell our work at craft shows to make a little money. All these years later and I am still doing shows. I started out working in recycled paper making old world Santa’s and snowmen. However with the ever evolving world in the mid to late 1990s,

venturing out on my own I decided I needed to expand into more non-seasonal work. This is when I decided to go back to working with hard shell gourds. Part of this desire to start working with gourds was due to coming from a long line of Carpenters, sawdust is in my blood, more like gourd dust these days! I openly

admit I have a hard time looking at a block of wood and seeing something, but look at a gourd and the possibilities seem endless. I have to say the response at the first few shows I took my gourd to was unbelievable.

A friend of mine told me the local school adult education program was looking for people with unusual hobbies and skills to teach new classes. I contacted the school and the rest is history. As Ann stated the first class only had two students. I did receive a phone call from the school asking if I wanted to cancel

and I said if they are willing so am I.

I also looked into the AGS and joined looking and hoping to contact members in Michigan.  Well it wasn’t long before I was at my fist meeting, then a second, where we became a chapter of the AGS and I was selected to be Membership Secretary.

In 2007 I entered my first gourd show in Ohio. I was nervous and wanted to see how I would stand with all these other people working on gourds. I took 18 pieces and came home with 16 ribbons. My second show in Indiana I took 26 pieces and came home with 25 ribbons and 15 of them were first place. Since those first shows I have continued to win in competition and in a years time have won best of show and taken second in points. One of the reasons I like working with gourds is because you can make just about anything. Working on gourds with a very good group of people makes it even better.

I guess the biggest thing that amazes me is we all work on gourds but how they are all different because

we add a part of our selves to them.

See Chris's work on her site The Decorative Gourd.

Karen

I became interested in decorating gourds about 4 years ago. A co-worker of mine was a part time farmer and had planted some gourds just to see what they were all about and brought in some for me. I started out just cleaning them out and painting them. I also applied stickers to them and created birdhouses out of

them. I gave these away to co-workers and friends and they thought they were wonderful. They would tell me how they wanted them decorated and I wouldm make them one. It was a fun and exciting way to pass my free time.

My husband works the afternoon shift and I have most evenings free so it was a great way to spend my evenings. One day my Husband came home with a flier from the School where he works and showed me a class on Hard Shell Gourds and encouraged me to take it and see what it was all about. I never would have known there was such a thing as Gourd Crafting had he not found this flier. Well I signed up for the class and I was hooked.

I am now retired and have even more time to spend creating different gourds. I don’t have any kind of art background but I have learned a lot from Chris who teaches the classes I take. I may never be great at creating gourds but I am having a great time trying.

I now belong to the Michigan Gourd Society and am in Patch 1 that is called the Michigourders. I also belong to the American Gourd Society and attended my first State Gourd Show last year. It was exciting to see all the different Gourds and Gourd creations. I plan on going to the Indiana Gourd Show in the spring of

this year.

G O U R D S ARE GREAT