Aloha and Welcome!

I've been fascinated by gourds since 2003.
After looking at a red-painted birdhouse in a book my auntie Ria had sent us,
without any experience in carving, painting or even drawing, I just had to get a gourd, picked up the tools we had and just like that, I was addicted! (Nobody had warned me!)

After all these years, it's still a hobby rather than a business.

Gourd is a beautiful gift from nature. It takes about six months to grow and six more months to cure them.
They have been an important part of history of many cultures throughout the world and still play an important role in the Hawai'ian culture. They're used widely in the hula dance and traditional chants.

I have a high respect for gourds. They're beautiful as they are and when working with them, I try hard to preserve the beauty of their natural shapes, textures, unique characters and "imperfections" by designing them accordingly. The last thing I want to do is taking away the gourd's natural beauty. 

I have been using paints that last and better suit even the Hawai'ian humid and sunny weather.

The beautiful tropical flowers, leaves and the gentlest creature, the giant green sea turtles here on the islands give me inspirations for the designs. Most of my work are carved or woodburned, some cut-out. They're all done right on my lanai (deck) at my home, here in Hawai'i. Each design is original and freehand, sketched one at a time.

To see what's available at this time, please visit the What's Available page

If you have a non-island designs or different styles in mind, I'll be glad to introduce you to my wonderful gourder friends. I have a lot of wonderful gourder friends who specialize in different things, such as human figures and Native Americans that I'm fond of but not good at. I would be happy to ask them to contact you directly.

What's New:

Happy holidays!

I'm off-island Dec 3rd - 27th, 2011

New Gourd:

Calla Lily 

3-Flower Torch Ginger

Ornaments sold out this Christmas

Academy Art Center at Linekona

Studio Benefit Sale

Ceramics, Glass, Jewelry

Mezzanine Gallery

Nov 25 - Dec 4th, 2011

M - F, 10AM - 7PM

Sat, 9AM - 6PM

Sun, 12 - 6PM

Reception: Spiced Cider Cup Fundraiser, Surf Rock & Sangria, 5-7PM

Come to the opening and have sangria for $5 and up and  pick a ceramic cup of your choice!  I threw 6 of these donated cups. It was fun!

I will also try to bring some of my ceramic and glass pieces and glass earrings  for the sale. Part of the proceeds will be donated to the Academy.

Come and join us - just in time for Christmas shopping!

I will be volunteering so come and say hello when you see me.

Update: All 6 of my donated cups were sold, glass earrings sold-out, 6 pieces of ceramics left. Added 4 fused glass, 3 ceramics today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for the support on the ALSA Fundraiser to help find the cure for Lou Gehrig's Disease on behalf of Russ Conley.

Congratulations to Ray Davis of MS on winning the Raffle Gourd

Russ Conley won this gourd in 2005

2005 Mississippi Traveling Gourd done by 11 artists including Russ Conley himself.

It is a beautiful 17" tall gourd, 12" wide, donated by LaVonne Hall,

 divided into 10 sections and a lid which were decorated by 11

 gourders/ artists from various states:

LaVonne Hall of ID

Russ Conley of CA

Ardee of HI

Betsy Ritz-Frith of IL

Billie Phillips of AL

Debbie Byess of AL

Ray Davis of MS

Susan Byra of MS

Jeannine Thames of MS

Janie Calamia of KY

Joey Calamia of KY

It includes a small booklet about each tile and it's artist, cover is

 designed by Linda Whitley of AR.

New Gourd

Update: 

1st place at the Powertex Challenge

June 2011

"Hydrangea"

Powertex is a fabric hardener and the challenge is to incorporate it with gourd(s)

The petals and some of the leaves are made from a recycled cloth, hardened and sculpted with the help of Powertex, the center of the petals are sculpted clay and I used two gourds for this piece. It was a fun and adventurous project.

Thanks to my mother-in-law whose beautiful hydrangeas had inspired me and auntie Ria who got me into gourding.

Ceramics

Ceramics had always been on my list of what I'd like to do in this life, even before I discovered  gourds. While waiting for the right time to try my hands on ceramics, I fell in love with gourds and I was afraid to add ceramics into my life for a while. This past Spring was finally the time! My daughter took a drawing and painting class and I decided to jump into a ceramics class at The Honolulu Academy of Arts. The teacher was very supportive  and open, he let us go with what was in our hearts. I learned how to throw clay on the wheel to make pots while incorporating my love for island designs into thrown pots and just had fun with free forms/ hand building.

Here's some of my creations:

Click on an image above to view them in larger sizes and more ceramics.

Painting on Canvas

I could never see myself painting on other than gourds nor was I brave enough to do it. One day recently, I picked up a canvas, a leftover from my daughter's birthday party years ago and brought it to the gallery I helped staff. I started doodling and painting on the canvas.

On a bright sunny day after I dropped my daughter off at her art class in Honolulu and I parked at Magic Island by the beach and worked on the canvas again with the Kaiser high school band then beautiful hula dancers happened to be performing right before my eyes. I felt the aloha and finished the painting.

Plumeria in the Evening

Acrylics, 12X12"

More paintings in progress.

Island photo greeting cards by my husband, Michael Walter. 

$2 per card or 3 for $5 plus actual shipping. Prints are 4x6 attached to embossed white card, blank inside. Prints are made from higher resolution images.

      

                

Michael Walter Photography

Check it out. They're beautiful!

   ~Island Crafts~

I've been working with natural seed pod earrings. The dolphin earrings might bring you back the sweet childhood memories if you grew up on the islands. I have also been working with palm barks of different sizes to make short table vases to tall floor vases. To view what's done so far, please visit Island Crafts
I will continue to work with natural island material.

The page was last updated on December 3rd, 2011

  Mahalo for visiting!