Artist Spotlight - Susan Ashley No. 2

I'm a little behind in sharing some pieces of art I have acquired over the past couple of years. One of them is another piece of gourd art. It is my second piece from Susan Ashley. I was set up next to her at a show a year or two ago and one piece caught my attention early on. While she sold several pieces of her work that day, this piece was still there shortly before closing so it had to come home with me. This gourd has cording woven on the top of it like my first purchase from this artist, however it has more of a Native American inspired style than the classic look of the first one. From the outside, this gourd is very natural looking with the subtle earth tone shades of the gourd, feathers, leather, stones and woven portions. The inside holds a surprise, a beautiful, shiny dark green interior.

You will be able to view eight pieces of Susan's work, including antler and pine needle baskets and some gourd art, at the Inspired by Nature exhibit coming up in Mansfield in May. Her work, along with some of mine and four additional local artists will be on display at the Mansfield Performing Arts Center from May 7-22, with a reception from 6-8pm on Saturday, May 12. Viewing hours during the remainder of the exhibit are 8am - 4:30pm, Monday through Friday. Come out and be inspired.

Artist Spotlight – Susan Ashley

During this past year another piece of gourd art spoke to me and asked to be taken home. While it has some similarities to my previous gourd art purchase, it also has some big differences. It has a wonderful applied patina that complements the other natural elements of the piece similar in this concept to my first piece. The gourd edge is woven with cording however, instead of being edged with pine needles. While the other piece is wonderfully wild, this piece has a more classical quality to it. The bottom of the piece is actually the top cut off of another gourd. Two stones, one attached to the stem end of the gourd to create a stable base and the other wrapped in cording to create a focal element for the piece echo the colors of the other elements.



I have watched the creators of both of my gourds work on new pieces and I have been totally fascinated. You have an opportunity to watch Susan demonstrate the art of basket weaving during the artist demonstrations that are part of the Arlington Museum of Art’s Mitch Wilson Memorial Festival of Trees. She will be the artist featured on Saturday, November 23, 2013. I think you will be as fascinated as I was watching her work.

In addition to the artist demonstrations, beautifully decorated trees and other holiday trimmings, the Festival of Trees contains the Happy Holidays Gift Store full of handmade items from local artisans as well as some vintage finds.

Artist Spotlight – Frontier Gallery

The artisan behind Frontier Gallery produces amazing pine cone duck “decoys”, pine needle baskets and gourd art. I first saw Dee’s work at the Dallas Handmade Arts Market last September and loved her nature inspired work. She was at the market again when I vended there last October. Spending time talking with her, watching her weave her pine needle baskets and looking at her beautiful pieces left me with just one question, did I want a pine cone duck, a pine needle basket or a gourd creation?

It was not an easy choice. All of her items were amazing. Finally I settled on a gourd creation. The one I chose had such great flow and motion about it. The gourd was cut such that the upper edge undulated up and down. Several layers of pine needles were coiled along this edge. The pine needle coils also held a shed deer antler in place. She completed the adornments on this gourd using feathers and metal beads. The patina on the gourd was created with alcohol ink dyes in blues and golds. It is a lovely addition to my eclectic collection of art forms displayed in my home.

You can find Dee’s handcrafted pine needle, pine cone and gourd creations in her Etsy shop along with her polymer clay wildflowers and naughty Christmas ornaments.