Gourd Artistry, Perfection & Color lead to awards by Elaine Bailey Darke County Ohio

Jim Story Award, Current Season, Dry High points & Total High points: Bruce Barber

Gourd Artistry, Perfection & Color lead to awards

Visitors entertained with Appalachian, Folk, Didjeridu music, and Tribal Dancing
By Elaine Bailey

For more Gourd Festival Photos, Click here.

“We love coming to this gourd festival … we missed it last year. But counting this year, we’ve attended three years,” Barb Beckmann enthusiastically declared as she watched her grandchildren decorate miniature gourds.

“Oma,” as her grandchildren call her, said that her children and grandchildren traveled from Lawrenceburg and Miland, Indiana to meet her in Cincinnati to carpool to this year’s event. She doesn’t raise or work with gourds. She said she just loves to see what other people can do with them.

Enthusiasm flowed throughout the coliseum and youth building at the Darke County Fairgrounds as gourd artisans advanced their skills in various workshops and as beginners discovered a new hobby.

Visitors delighted in examining the array of objects created by gourd artisans and could be overhead sharing with other visitors where to find “their treasure.” Treasures included earrings, head coverings, masks, musical instruments, bowls, bird houses, ornaments, tools, books, and hundreds of varieties of gourd seeds and gourds.

In addition to the workshops, tables were covered with feathers, beads, and other materials so that children could create their own masterpieces. Musicians and dancers, using instruments constructed from gourds, entertained visitors.

Judy and Warren Waldron from Butler County, Ohio played toe-tappin’ Appalachian songs and folk tunes using a gourd banjo, a reproduction of an 18th century version.

Phil Clark, a didgeridoo artist from Illinois, used a synthesizer to capture the guttural didjeridu sounds to create those similar to what one may have heard from a host of Aboriginal people from northern Australia. His instruments are created from the logs or roots of trees and played like a brass instrument.

The Oxford Gourd & Drum Ensemble performed traditional West African rhythms. They also accompanied The Circle of Rhiannon Tribal Belly Dance & Drum Troupe as they performed an eclectic dance style that embraces African tribal steps, urban street dance, and improvisation to create an American tribal style. A number of the expressive dances convey a story.

Awards were presented in GourdCraft and Raw and Current Season Gourds. The criterion for GourdCraft is based on the following: originality of design; quality of craftsmanship; creativity and artistry; color, finish, accessories, decoration; and appropriateness for category. Raw and Current Season Gourds are evaluated on cultural perfection, quality, cleanliness and maturity; and trueness of type and color. The following awards were presented at a Saturday evening dinner:

Junior:
        High points: Austen Martin from Greenville, Ohio
        2nd High points: Elizabeth Moss

Youth:
        High points: Pat Moore from Bloomingdale, Indiana
        2nd High points: Jessica Welch

Dry:
        High points: Bruce Barber from Galena, Ohio
        2nd High points: Larry Sherman from Oxford, Ohio

Current Season:
        High points: Bruce Barber from Galena, Ohio
        2nd High points: Tim Moss (Gourd Whisperer)

Total High Points:
        High points: Bruce Barber from Galena, Ohio
        2nd High points: Judy and Nelson Litzenberg

John Stevens Award: Roy Schmidlin for his hand-trained gourd

Stevens Family Award: JoAnne Vanderheite from Grand Island, New York for her butterfly gourd

Judge’s Choice Award: Karen Hundt Brown from Alaska, Michigan for her Gallery Display of The Black and White Collection

Jim Story Award: Bruce Barber from Galena, Ohio for his hand-trained, coiled gourd

For more Gourd Festival Photos, Click here.