gourd painting

Today I am going to plant some birdhouse gourds for future art club projects.

In April I attended the first annual Wisconsin Gourd Festival and got excited about the sculptural potential of gourds. The festival donated a few gourds to the art club and the kids painted them up like chickens. I thought they were a grand success. It was great practice for the students because they had to respond to a found sculptural shape and work figurally. Some of the chicken gourds were lying on their stomachs, others had their beaks pointed up in the air, and some needed to have popsicle stick feet attached for standing purposes.