What can be eaten, painted, carved, turned into a bird house, is related to a pumpkin and grows on a vine? A gourd, of course! Gourd art is becoming increasingly popular in the South, and the Alabama Gourd Society has a chapter that meets right here in Auburn: The East Alabama Gourd Sprouts.

Winnie Logan has been a dedicated member of the East Alabama Gourd Sprouts for more than eight years. She and her husband even built a warehouse for the chapter to come together and meet every month.

Working with ceramics her whole life, Logan has always had a knack for crafts. Her creativity is on display all around the building. From Santa to a mermaid and the Easter Bunny to a witch, there is nothing that Logan can not create from a gourd.

My afternoon with her started with a test. She held up what I know now is a Hardshell Wartie gourd and asked what I thought it could become. Staring at the brown, bumpy and disfigured dried gourd I stammered, “I have no clue.” Logan proceeded to help me visualize three unique ideas that she had considered. I knew then that I was talking to an expert.

As she showed me around, I realized the effort that is put into each individual piece of art. Most contained more than one gourd piece glued to each other. Egg gourds are used for heads most of the time, and snake gourds can be used for arms and legs.

Logan enjoys painting her gourds. She explained that there are other methods for transforming them into art. For example, some members like to paper mache, wood burn or pine straw weave. At each meeting, one member will teach the rest of the group how to accomplish one of the methods.

The meetings are held on the first Sunday of every month.

“We have everyone come out here at 1:30 in the afternoon so that no one has to miss church,” said Logan. “There are usually about 20 people that show up, and we have a great time for a couple of hours just visiting and working on our gourds.”

The Gourd Sprouts also enter their gourds into competitions. I saw several 1st place winner ribbons around. When I asked Logan how many times she won, she said there were too many to count.

The next opportunity to see the gourd art is at the end of March. They will have a booth set up at the Garden in the Park Art Show in Opelika.

Logan does not grow her own gourds. She and her daughter-in-law, the president of the East Alabama Gourd Sprouts, drive to Georgia every few months to purchase massive boxes of different varieties of gourds.

I was the most impressed by the two gourds hanging right outside of her office. They were both sliced in half. One had a clear coat on it and the other a dark coat. The clear was a dry-erase board and the dark was a chalkboard. I never realized there were so many uses for gourd art.

Anyone is welcome to come to the meetings. The next meeting will be held on March 1, 2009, at 1:30. To learn more about the Alabama Gourd Sprouts and to see pictures of some of the art, look at the Web site: http://www.alabamagourdsociety.org/.


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