Bluebird Hill Design Gallery - Gourd Art

This birdhouse gourd features our logo - the bluebird - which is a favored resident around our studio.

The Blue Jay is another common visitor to our studio and graces this bottle gourd. This is a classic design for the beginning student.

The stylized bowl is formed from the base of a large bottle gourd. The artist utilzes both carving and etching in addition to painting and weaving to complete and decorate this project.

The artist utilized dyes and stains as well as acrylic paints to decorate this gourd. The vertical slots are to admit butterflies which will overnight there, attracted by bits of orange peel wrangled through the slots.

A Black Capped Chickadee appears to be landing at this birdhouse. The artist has used the stem of the gourd to make a perch.

The Common Yellow Throated warbler and the Spiderwort both frequent wetlands near our home. They are pictured in acrylic on this sculpted and dyed bowl.

This gourd has been turned on its side. After carving, the artist utilized dyes and acrylics to decorate the exterior before sealing with varnish. The interior has been sealed with beeswax to extend its life when used as a planter.

Starting from a penguin gourd, the artist has carved a hollow tree with a Great Horned Owl as resident. This gourd has been lightly dyed then left with its natural finish in order to highlight the subtle inking and etching which enhances the trompe l'oeil effect of the exterior. Black sealant increases the depth of the interior cavity, and subtle touches of acrylic completes the owl.

Honeybees are important pollenators, especially for our fruit trees. This bird house is styled in the form of a bee hive with dyes and shading.

Hummers love trumpet-shaped flowers like these Petunias. This ruby throat with wings caught mid-flight migrates thousands of miles each year to join us at our studio.

This serrated and etched gourd is finished in acrylic and sealed in varnish. A "yellow iris" is M. Perrot lurking about somewhere?

The Karner Blue is a small (1-inch) butterfly which frequents wild blue lupines. Because the lupines savanna and barrens ecosystems are threatened this tiny friend is also.

Just the neck of a large bottle gourd is used in this piece. Here the artist is exploring color, form and texture to create a harmonius piece.

The Red Breasted Nuthatch frequents coniferous trees but may be seen at feeders too. Also feeding on insects, it is especially helpful in controlling eruptions of the spruce bud worm.

Though found all over the world, we see this butterfly intermittently due to the erruptive nature of its migrations. The larva feed mainly on thistle, a common invasive plant. It is also one of the speediest butterflies ranging up to 100 miles per day at speeds of 30 mph.

An exploration of technique: this bowl combines the glossy rounded surface of the painted gourd with the striking linearity of woven reed to add visual interest.

The Saw Whet Owl is the smallest owl in north america, weighing only 75 - 100 grams. According to native american legend, the origin of daylight and darkness results from a contest between Wapus the rabbit and Totoba the Saw Whet Owl. The owl lost, but was granted partial night by Wapus in the spirit of fairness.

Named for its ghostly trill or screech, this owl is only slightly larger than the Saw Whet (~125 - 250 grams). This species is naturally dichromatic - the reddish color is shown on this bowl.

This hanging basket features the Tiger Swallowtail, a common, large butterfly. Often seen frequenting butterfly bush, the females are dimorphic, having both a yellow form and a darker, inverted form which mimics a poisonous variety of swallowtail.