She decided to go back to college and earned degrees in marketing, business administration and digital animation and production. After graduation, she still couldn't find satisfying work so she continued her search for her calling in art.
She had considered pottery but working with a kiln in the Arizona desert heat was not very appealing. In the midst of her search for a new medium, she spotted some gourd artists and their work one day while attending a local woodcarving show. At first, she thought they were wood-turned-on-a-lathe bowls.
Upon closer inspection, she saw they were gourds! Wow! Here was ready made pottery waiting to be decorated and embellished. She was immediately hooked. Barbara bought some dried gourds and within two days, she had made her first gourd art. It's the large lizard gourd she features in her logo.
Barbara has gone on to embellish many more gourds and has won numerous awards at juried art shows in a short amount of time. She has also been published in a how to gourd craft book. She also teaches gourd craft to small classes occasionally by popular request.
The process of cleaning a gourd, which involves soaking, scrubbing, and cutting, then cleaning the inside of pulp and seeds, involves many hours of preparation before embellishments and design are added.
Barbara handpicks all of her gourds at a local Arizona gourd farm (Wuertz Farm) and cleans all of her gourds herself.
Barbara studies each gourd until it almost dictates what it wants to be. When you touch your first gourd, you will now know the patience, love and care that went into making your one of a kind, unique gourd art that is very special indeed.
