Carving, color on gourds create unique artwork

Once upon a time, hundreds and hundreds of years ago, a guy was walking around and he stumbled over a gourd. His first thought might have been “food.” However, once he cut into it and tasted what Doris Brown called “gucky-looking seeds and pulp,” he spit it out and focused more closely on the tough exterior of the curious growth, perhaps saying to himself, “Ah, not food, but commodity, function and beauty.”

Now, hundreds and hundreds of years later, Brown sits in her Valley home at her dinning room table and creates unique gourds. The supplies at hand include acrylic paint, leather dye, wood-burning tools, a small Dremel tool, a jigsaw, leather and beads.

Brown, 72, was born in Arizona, where, as a child, she played with gourds and considered them a treasure. She moved to the Northwest when she was 10 and moved into her Valley home 45 years ago.

With a degree in horticulture from Spokane Community College, Brown went on to work in area greenhouses as well as photography studios. A wife and a mother of three, Brown blew off creative steam by working on her garden, snapping photos of nature and occasionally painting.

Three years ago, Brown started working with gourds. She has sold more than 30, showing mostly at school-sponsored craft fairs.

“It’s a passion,” she said, “I don’t want to do much else. When I can’t sleep at night, I dream up gourd designs.”

Brown has grown gourds, but they don’t do well in this area. Most come from the Wuertz Gourd Farm in Casa Grande, Ariz. Her sister, Nancy King, lives in Phoenix and brings gourds when she comes to visit. Both sisters are widowed, they travel extensively together and King stays for much of the summer.

Gourds in many shapes and sizes have been used for hundreds of years as vessels for food and water, decorative items and musical instruments – rattles with dried innards.

Brown first scrubs the gourds with a mixture of bleach and water to remove mold and dirt. Some she leaves uncut while others she opens to create bowls or luminaries. She then draws designs onto them, often burning shapes with her wood-burning tool. She maintains the gourds’ natural beauty by using nature-inspired designs like leaves, vines and flowers. She then embellishes the gourds with feathers, leather or beads. She finishes the pieces with a protective coating.

Brown said that people seem to be attracted to the natural colors and images the most, perhaps serving as a reminder of simpler times.

You can see her gourds at Art, Music, and More at the Spokane Valley Mall.