2010 Instructors
Read below to learn more about some of the talented Instructors who will be offering classes at the 2010 Gathering!
Fonda Haddad is a professional artist. She has a Master's Degree in Visual Arts Education and is a retired teacher who has taught kindergarten through college. She is currently teaching at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina and Blue Ridge Mountain Arts Assocation in Georgia. She teaches at many gourd conferences including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Her work is for sale at the Queen Bee Art Gallery in Brasstown, NC and may be seen at www.etsy.com by choosing seller and then QueenBeeGallery (one word).
Mary Segreto
I have always been attracted to natural forms, so the gourd holds an innate fascination for me. The concept of the container has particular resonance for me as an artist. Each shapely gourd is a container of the seeds for the next generation, symbolizing the feminine and emanating the vibrational energy of the earth which sustained it for an entire growing season. Starting with just one seed I can actually grow my own canvass. How irresistible is that? For the past 14 years I have been drawn to this prime example of nature’s handiwork, my creativity beginning where Mother Nature left off.
I am a Minnesota native who spent enough time in southern California to become immersed in gourds as an art medium. In the summer of 2006 I traveled with my husband, one dog, one cat, and a trailer full of gourds to make our home in Birmingham, Alabama. It is here that I became the self declared “Artist in Residence” for Mardi Gourds, the art supply company my husband and I started. We have since closed our business, allowing me to get back to creating with gourds and spreading the gourd word through teaching classes.
Kathy James with a B.S. in Art Education, is a teacher, artists, and author of gourd education booklets and DVD's. She and her husband, Bob, are retired and sell gourd crafting supplies at gourd shows all around the U.S. They also enjoy organizing gourd events, like the Georgia Gourd Society Show and the Sunshine Gourd College. They also maintain a website called WorldofGourds.com, where you can go to find lots of gourd-related links.
Gloria Small
Gloria began her gourd journey by planting some gourd seed, just for fun. Her interest in gourds have lead her to become a self taught gourd artist and the "Gourd Lady" at the Village of Yesteryear at the annual North Carolina State Agricultural Fair. The Village is a group of craftsmen that share their craft in a working village, dressed in period style clothing. If you have the opportunity to enjoy the NC State Fair in October please stop by her gourd booth and say hello as Gloria enjoys her fourth year as a Village member. Her best gourd compliments are the bright smiles and lit up faces of people as they look at her crafted art gourds.
Fourteen years later she still enjoys Growing, Crafting and Teaching gourd arts and crafts. Gloria says;
"I enjoy helping people smile and create lasting memories with my original creations, from whimsical cats to elegantly decorated vessels made from my favorite fruit / vegetable the gourd! "
Facebook - Gloria Cranford Small
Etsy - GourdFlower
Karen Hundt-Brown
The humble gourd is my muse, and my medium of choice in the world of fine art. I incorporate a multitude of techniques that I have learned over the years to achieve the unique, and award winning art that I make from gourds. My Tiffany style lamps have been featured in a new book just released in the fall of 05 called, Beyond the Basics, Advanced Gourd Art by Sterling Publishing Company. Another of my lamps won best in crafted category, best in division and first place at the 2005 Indiana Gourd Show, which had over 11,000 pieces of art in competition this past year. I have won awards for my wood burning, painting, pen and ink, floral work, and functional specialty items like my lamps.
I attend gourd shows and meetings around the mid west area to take classes to learn new techniques and compete against other artist for ribbons and prizes. This competition helps push me to achieve better and greater things in my art form. After ten years of shows and competition I felt if was time to give back to the people who had helped me so much in my gourd art, so now I teach some of what I've learned and am still learning back to people who are getting into gourds now.
I grew up on a farm in southern Michigan and moved to Grand Rapids in the late 70's to attend Kendall School of Art and Design. After just about two years I dropped out as I could not get into traditional art forms. Years later I was sent a packet of seeds with an order I put in to a seed company and grew my first batch of gourds. At the end of that summer I have 50 gourds and no idea what to do with them. I went to the library and read up on gourds only to find out I had six months to a year for them to dry out before I could make anything. So I read all the books the library had in the mean time. Then I made my first bowl and I was hooked. Gourds allow me the freedom to do all the different techniques I have learned over the years and I have never been board with gourds. They still continue to inspire me and my art.
Karen Brown in Alaska, MI
Michigan Gourd Society President
A gourd's true beauty is just under the skin
Dianne Schuler has been working with gourds for over 8 years and enjoys experimenting with different techniques. She has been involved in some artistic medium for years, but has found that gourds offer the greatest avenue of artistic creativity.
Dianne and her husband Ronald live in Stem, NC and raise Cairn Terriers, which keeps them hopping! You can see the Cairns and some of her art work at the following links:
and
Sandra Doallas McGurn is a resident of Swainsboro, Georgia where she has a shop called Sandy’s Shed. She is a gourd artist and basket weaver who moved to Georgia in 2007. She has two children and four grandchildren who live in Louisville, Kentucky. Her mother and a sister live in Savannah and three other sisters and a brother reside in surrounding states.
Along with her love of baskets and gourds, she paints, makes jewelry, and does many other crafts using various media and natural objects that make her pieces unique. She has won ribbons and awards for her gourds and baskets and each of her pieces are one-of-a-kind.
She teaches children in the local schools and conducts classes for children and adults at the local art gallery, her shop, and in surrounding areas. Sandy also gives presentations and sets up educational displays for various functions. Along with teaching at the Cherokee Gourd Artists Gathering and Georgia Gourd Society show, she and a fellow gourd artist from Metter have just started a new “gourd patch” in Swainsboro and are using her shop as a meeting place. Sandy attends many of the local festivals and is active in various community arts programs. She is VP of the Emanuel Artists’ Guild which holds a festival each September that includes many children’s activities, an artists market and food vendors. She is a member and secretary of the Emanuel Arts Council and is the guild representative on the Board of Directors. Sandy is VP of the Glad Garden Club and is also Secretary of the Georgia Gourd Society, a member of the Florida Gourd Society, Kentucky Gourd Society and Kentucky Basket Association and a member and certified judge of the American Gourd Society.
Betsey Sloan, a New England native, currently splits her time between South and North Carolina. The previous owner of an artisan gallery located in the Champlain Islands of VT from 1997 to 2001 where she taught and represented 75 diverse artists, she now teaches primarily at art and craft schools, private studios and at the request of gourd gatherings from Maine to Florida and as far west as New Mexico.
Sloan was introduced to basketry and gourd art in 1993 and soon after began to be juried into major fine art/fine craft shows including ACC/Tampa, the Corn Hill Art Festival/Rochester, NY and shows throughout Vermont, New York and New Hampshire. Within four months of learning to weave, three of her baskets were selected for sale through a nationally distributed catalog. She continued the show circuit until 1999.
In her previous "life" Sloan was a public relations director for a large health care company in New Hampshire, overseeing marketing plans, corporate advertising, plus community and public relations. She is also an award-winning photographer and dabbles in pottery, silk scarf painting, fused and dichroic glass, and Precious Metal Clay (PMC.) She is certified instructor in both PMC and Art Silver. She was a long-time member of the Lake Champlain Islands Craft Cooperative and the Vermont Society of Craftsmen as well as past member of basket weaving guilds of North Carolina and Georgia. She is a current member of the American Gourd Society and the SC Gourd Society where she serves a PR/Promotion chair.. She is the president of the Cypress Gourd Patch, Sumter, and is a Certified Master Gourd Judge. Her first book, InLace Resin Techniques, was released in July 2009. Her second book on antlers as they relate to basketry and gourd art is due to be released in late 2010.
Her teaching experience includes the following:
Fletcher Farm Art and Craft School, Ludlow, VT - 7 years
J. C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. Gourd Vessels - three years
Florida Gourd Society Spring and Fall Gatherings,
Palatka, FL and Orlando, FL - 9 yearsCherokee Gourd Gathering, Cherokee, NC - 9 years
Savannah Gourd Gathering, Savannah, GA - 3 years
Ghost Creek Gourd Farm, Laurens, SC - 3 years
Arizona Gourd Society, Tucson, AZ - 1 year
New Mexico Gourd Society, Albuquerque, NM - 1 year
Shepherd's Center, Sumter, SC - four years
North Carolina Basket Conference, Raleigh, NC - 6 years
Georgia Basketry Conference, Atlanta, GA - 2 years
Handweaving Museum and Craft Center, Clayton, NY - 1 year
Green Mountain Cultural Center, Waitsfield, VT - 1 year
Brookfield Craft Center, Brookfield, CT - 4 years
Woven Spirit Basketry, Nokomis, FL - 3 years
Shelburne Craft School, Shelburne, VT - 2 years
The Arts Guild of Old Forge, Old Forge, NY - 2 years
Frog Hollow, Burlington, VT - 2 years
GH Productions, Scottsville, KY 1 year
Florence Weavers Guild, Florence SC - 2 years
Stowe Basketry Festival, Stowe, VT - 4 years
Baskets of Joy, Warwick, ME - 2 years
VT Area Campgrounds, Grand Isle, VT - 2 years
JB Designs, Worcester, MA - 1 year
Blue Whale Arts, Epping, NH - 2 yers
Cypress Gourd Patch, Sumter, SC - 7 years
E-mail: BASKETSVT@aol.com
Web: www.thepodlady.com
Susann D'Antonio has lived on Big Pine Key, in the Florida Keys for 31 years. Sue has a BA in Fine Arts and had hoped to have a career in the arts, but it didn’t work out that way in her earlier years. She has always had some artistic endeavor in her life, needlework, calligraphy, jewelry making. But after many years of raising a family and having a business, she got back into art about 18 years ago. She started taking classes at the local college, watercolor, printmaking, and stained glass. She and her husband, Bob, who is a steel sculptor, are part of a co-op gallery on Big Pine Key called Artists in Paradise Gallery. Sue also displays her work at the Key West Art Center. They have jointly been building huge costume constructions for the Keys version of Mardi Gras, Fantasy Fest. They have been building bigger and more ornate creations for competitions and the Fantasy Fest parade for the past 18 years. Then about 7 years ago, Sue discovered a book on artistic gourds while killing time in a bookstore. Instantly enamored of the beautiful creations she started exploring on the internet and discovered a whole new world. Her first exposure to live gourds was at the Texas gourd society show in Austin, then the 2nd annual Gourd Gathering. She has been creating gourd art ever since and never tires of learning new techniques or experimenting on her own. Presently she is focusing on wood burning with added color, adding texture with moulding paste, adding extra decorative elements to the gourds with Huichol style beading and weaving. That is what is so wonderful about gourds, there are limitless possibilities.
Email: torchart@mac.com
Becky Folsom has been working with gourds for who-even-knows how long...especially, not her! She doesn't remember the moment of her gourd attraction, but she finds gourds are a great inspiration by the transformation that takes place from seed to art object. . .much like people's lives. Their lives are often transformed as subtly, but drastically as are gourds. Becky says, "Friends I've made in the gourd community are like non other! Sharing of knowledge, techniques, and ideas is freely exchange among gourders. Becky taught her original Ragtop design at a class at Cherokee and repeating it this year. Becky recently attended Bonnie Gibson's Seminar in Savannah, GA. "There's NO better teacher around than Bonnie. Bonnie thoroughly teaches a technique and it's up to us to use the technique to adapt to our own style." Becky's filigree class aims to teach the technique for relief carving, filigree and inlay of a stone. If you don't know Becky, be sure to look for her and introduce yourself...she's the one that's smiling!
Since she was a child, working with her hands and creating things has always interested Judy Zeigler. A native of Sarasota, Florida, she attended Ringling School of Art and has a B.A. degree in art education from the University of South Florida. She began painting on gourds several years ago. After attending the Second Annual Gourd Gathering in Cherokee, NC, she was hooked. Gourds offer a limitless canvas to express ones artistic creativity. Judy currently does pyrography, painting, and basketry on her gourds. Judy’s specialty is coiling with waxed linen thread to create sculptural pieces. She resides in Murphy, NC where she teaches gourd classes in her home and at the local gourdpatch. Judy is a member of the American Gourd Society and Georgia Gourd Society.
Marianne Barnes, also know as Maribasket, has been working with gourds for the last eighteen years. She has been a basket maker for twenty years and an elementary art teacher for thirty-eight years. She retired this year and loves it! “I love the combination of baskets and gourd art. Texture is the core of my art. I work with natural and textural materials such as cedar and birch bark, sea grass, mohair and knobby yarns, pods, philodendron sheath, leather, etc. I love to incorporate basketry by weaving on top of the gourd with an undulating weave that resembles hills and valleys. Many times I add a dream catcher or a tapestry weave on the front of the gourd. I try to visualize what I am doing as part of nature. The gourd comes from the earth and is a natural art form with which to work. I also carve gourds, paint them, add clay, and wood burn them."
Marianne has won numerous awards including “Best of Show” at Greenville’s Art in the Park festival and “Best of Show” at the Georgia Gourd Society show. She is a member of the Upper SC Basketmaker’s Guild, SC Gourd Society, American Gourd Society, and Palmetto Gourd Patch. She started and is current president of the Palmetto Gourd Patch in Greenville, SC and a board member of the SC Gourd Society. She teaches gourd classes at gourd shows, retreats, and in her home studio. She sells her art work at the SC Artisan Center in Walterboro, SC and the Foothills Artisan Center in Chesnee, SC.
Reggie Eakins
I have been studying gourds for the last five years after deciding that I wanted to do more than paint Santa Claus Gourds. I am an active member of the Coastal gourd patch is Southeast Georgia.
I’ve won first place ribbons for wood burning, weaving, carving, and multiple technique categories in the Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina shows. My Madame Butterfly Gourd came in second in the Gourd Magazine contest Spring 2008. In 2008 my “Dancing Braves” wood burning won Best of Masters Division for the Georgia Gourd Show.
I’ve studied carving on several occasions with Bonnie Gibson and Gary Devine – and had some of my work shown in Bonnie’s monthly magazine. I am a Master Certified AGS Judge and will sere as the head judge for the Georgia Gourd Show Competition this year.
My wife and I plan to retire next year and travel as much as we can afford.
Email: southerngourds@gmail.com
My website is http://southerngourds.googlepages.com/
Sammie Crawford, a professional teacher, designer, author, and member of the Society of Decorative Painters and the American Gourd Society, enjoys painting on gourds so much that she has done it exclusively for the past fifteen years. It has been so long since she painted on a flat surface that she doubts whether she even could.
Sammie's designs have been published in national craft magazines and books she has authored. She has appeared on Willard Scott's Almanac on HGTV three times and has had gourds on the White House Christmas tree three times. These gourds are now part of the Smithsonian Institute's permanent collection.
Her books include Gourd Fun for Everyone, and Creative Gourds. Her latest book arrived on the scene in Fall 2009, Holiday Fun Painting Christmas Gourds.
She is currently working on two more books!
Email: Gourdfairy@aol.com
Visit her website to see her work and her patterns which are available for purchase:
Jody Retford has been interested in crafts since she was very small. She has kept busy with basketry, quilting, and various other projects. She discovered the joy of gourding about two years ago. Just one project and she was hooked. Her specialty is closed coiling with waxed linen thread. She dabbles in pyrography and basketry on gourds.
Jody is a native of Sarasota, Florida. She now resides in Jasper, Georgia with her husband of almost ten years and three beautiful children. Austin, age 9, and Sierra, age 7, share her passion for gourds. Savannah is just 22 months old, but says “guh” every time she sees a gourd. Jody works on gourd projects in her spare time, and team-teaches and does shows with her mother, Judy Zeigler.
Suzi Nonn
All my life I have wanted to create something with my hands that others would admire and appreciate. I have tried many mediums, with many failures. To high-light my attempts lets consider stain glass (until I accidentally put stitches in my hand), batik (second degree burns) and lets not even discuss my drawing and painting attempts. Oh, and my pottery would not hold water.
Six years ago, I attended a workshop at a gourd festival, and left with a beautiful bowl, enhanced with pine needles. And I was amazed at the simplicity and beauty of my project. I continue to take workshops, learning new techniques, and more important meeting gourd people from all over.
I have learned so much from the generosity of others, and I hope to pass that gourd passion on to another generation.
Email: snonn@yahoo.com
Terry and Sandy Jordan own a small Craft Business where they sell their gourds. They are both certified instructors with Dewberry Designs in Clay work. Sandy is also an Elite One Stroke painting instructor with Dewberry Designs.
Terry is retired from Florida State College at Jacksonville, and Sandy is still teaching there.
Besides the Gourd Artists Gathering, they taught at the Florida Gourd Society Show in February, and will be teaching at the Georgia Gourd Society Show later this summer.
Sherry Briscoe
I have been involved in art and crafts of one form or another nearly all my life. I have considerable experience in gourd crafting, sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, braiding, painting (both oils and acrylics), card-making, and scrapbooking. I have owned and operated a small home-based craft business for a number of years and have been teaching acrylic painting techniques since 2003.
Several years ago, my husband and I were visiting a local farmer’s market where a grower was selling hard-shelled gourds. Even though they were covered in dirt and mildew, we could envision the possibilities…and it was love at first sight! We researched how to grow, dry, and clean these wonderful vegetables; and have never looked back. I venture to estimate that we have probably sold 100’s of painted birdhouses, Santas, Snowmen, and Penguins at craft shows across the Southeast.
Then I found the NC Gourd Society’s Annual Festival! Low and behold, there was so much more you could do with a gourd…bowls, baskets, masks, carving, burning, etching, dyeing, weaving, coiling, jewelry…the list is never-ending. So I started taking classes to learn how to do more than just paint them. Every time I attend a Gourd Festival I learn new techniques…and try to soak them up like a sponge. This love affair is definitely here to stay.
I am trying to pass along this love of gourds to others, and have even won some awards for my work. I have introduced gourds to all my painting students. And I am now teaching classes at each gourd festival I attend.
I am currently a member of the American Gourd Society, as well as the NC and Florida Gourd Societies.
My name is Angie Craft and I have been doing gourds for 5 years. Up to that point I had done many different crafts but none of them stuck with me like the gourds did. I just can't get enough of working with gourds and learning all the new techniques you can use on them.
I am originally from Hendersonville, NC and now I live in Pelzer, SC and have a booth at The Saturday Morning Downtown Market in downtown Greenville May through October. I am currently the Membership Secretary and Treasurer for the SC Gourd Society. I am a member of the Palmetto Gourd Patch and The Travelin' Gourd Patch.
I am married to my greatest "Gourd Assistant", James. I also have 2 almost grown sons, 2 dogs, and a deer that thinks he is a dog, and a menagerie of other Wildlife that I accumulate by being a Wildlife Rehabber.
Remember....A Gourd Life is a Good Life!!!
M.J.Kimble
I live in Baxley Georgia and formed the "O My Gourd" patch here last year. I have been gourding for ten years and learning more everyday. I taught this year at the Southern Gourd Retreat in Ebenezer Ga.and have taken classes there for the past three years. I am a Certified Judge for the American Gourd Society, a member of the AGS and the Georgia Gourd Society. Yes I guess I am a certified GOURDHEAD!!!
Betty Bloomfield
I have been puttering with gourds for about ten years. I discovered gourd
art at the North Carolina Folk Art Center. While I was looking at what I
thought was a pottery bowl, I discovered it was a gourd. A light went off
and I thought "I can do that", later I took a gourd basket class and that
class started my great gourd adventure and what an adventure it has been.
What we can create with a gourd is limitless and I love every aspect of it.
Today I'm still on a continuing gourd education quest.
I retired in 2009 and now have time for my loves, grandchildren, friends,
gourd art, and lake living.
Judy Drew
Lives in Georgia with her husband, John; they have 3 Children, 5 Grandchildren, and 2 Great grandchildren
She is a member of Decorative Painters Society, American Gourd Society, Georgia Gourd Society, O' My Gourd Patch, and Geechee Gourders.
Born in Missouri, lived in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Okinawa, Illinois, Alaska, Oregon and Georgia, she has been fortunate to have traveled much of the United States. She is a retired Credit Union Controller
"I have been involved in arts and crafts most adult life. Have taught gourd and decorative painting classes. In Georgia have been active with the Georgia National Fair in Perry for many years. Have won awards for gourds and decorative painting. In the 2009, won the hobby show sweepstakes for the most blue ribbons in the hobby division. I love working with gourds, there is always something new to learn!"
Judi Fleming has been doing gourds for over 15 years and has taught countless classes in a very wide variety of techniques. So far she hasn't found a medium she hasn't found a way to incorporate in her gourd creations or a gourd shape she hasn't liked.
Jeannine Thames, a 30 year Texan, moved to Meridian, MS in 2000 to take care of her mother who had Alzheimer’s. Even as a child she could never sit still and had to be doing something all of the time.
While sitting beside her mothers bed she began making pine needle baskets. Meridian has several long leaf pine needle trees and Jeannine searched out the owners to ask permission to gather their needles.
She had been given a ladies name who grew gourds and after months of seeing on HGTV and other places what could be done with gourds, began a journey of “playing with gourds”.
Jeannine taught for 4 years at the Meridian Adult Activity Center the Art of Pine Needle Basketry and then added gourds to the class.
After her mother passed away 6 days after 9/11, she took care of her father till his passing in 2003.
Jeannine and her contractor built a 16 X 32 foot building to house her gourds and art studio, but while at Cherokee Gathering in 2006 her cousin called and said that her aunt had fallen and broken her hip and needed her help. Four years later she is still in KY taking care of her aunt.
Jeannine loves to do the unusual with gourds, mostly purses, earrings, watch bands, necklaces and bracelets. The miniature gourd is her favorite canvas and second the canteen gourd for purses .
Jeannine loves to laugh and have a good time teaching how to “play with Gourds”.
Jeannine is a Viet Nam Vet, a Caregiver for 25 years and an avid artist/crafter always looking for a new twist on techniques.
