The customer art page features photos of the most outstanding gourd art created by some of our customers. All customers are invited to submit photos of their work for possible inclusion on this page. At your request, we also include information on how to contact you if your works are for sale.

About the Artist

Jackie Uthus is an artist and public school art teacher. All of her spectacular works featured on the site (see PAINTED GOURDS) were painted on giant gourds. Jackie’s gourd art is for sale; contact her at jmuthus@netscape.net for current availability.

About the Artist

Sandra Chastain of Colorado Springs, works primarily with wood burning (see ETCHED GOURDS). Her gourds are for sale and she can be contacted at artnsoul@datawest.net. See her web site at www.fearnoart.bizland.com

Recently, Sandra started using gourds in their natural state, just adding a shoe polish finish. As she wrote after she received a shipment of our gourds:  “When I unpacked the gourds and got to that big one…I had to hold it and rub it, and rub it, I couldn’t put it down, I loved it so much. I kept thinking ‘I’ve got to stop rubbing this gourd and get a life’”.

All you gourd fanatics out there will know exactly what Sandra means!

About the Artist

Liz Friedman, Marketing Manager in an Internet start-up in Alexandria, Virginia, somehow finds time to create exquisitely BEADED GOURDS and teach the technique to others. She is also involved in community activities and is writing a children's book.
 

STUDENT ART

We wish to give special recognition to some art teachers who have introduced their students to the joys of gourds.

Other art teachers who use our gourds for school projects are invited to submit their photos. This is an excellent way of helping students develop a sense of pride in their creative achievements.

Jackie Uthus, who is also one of our featured artists, worked with hundreds of kindergarten pupils in the 1999-2000 school year in a project making gourd rattles. The children were so enthusiastic that she is repeating it with her new pupils in 2000-2001. Here are some examples of her students’ work

Fleta Monaghan, a painter and teacher of  art to children and adults with an emphasis on culture and art history, ran a highly successful program for “at risk” girls between the ages of 9 and 13. Using our gourds, she had the girls create a personal myth or guardian figure, as a way of working towards personal expression and growth. Fleta wrote:  “The project went really well, and I thank you for sending us such beautiful gourds, they were bigger than I expected and each had its own character. All the girls really got into the project…”

See some of our customer’s art on the pages below.