Mary took Best of Show, a first, two seconds and a third
for her five entries at the 2008 Colusa County Fair!

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With a background in drawing, painting and graphic design, Mary Fahey creates gourd art that allows her to optimize her variety of artistic skills and her eye for design.

In Mary's words, "Gourds are a truly amazing canvas, and a wide range of artistic skills are utilized in creating gourd art. Gourds can be made into bowls, vases, drinking cups, purses, clocks, jewelry, and just about anything you can imagine." Mary likes to work with all shapes and sizes of gourds, using a variety of techniques, including pyroengraving, carving, coloring with dyes, inks and paints, embellishing with native grasses, pine needles, and a variety of twines, beads and other materials. All designs are hand-drawn before being pyroengraved, and each design is unique.

Mary lives on a small farm in Arbuckle, California, where she farms gourds and creates her art. The gourd plants are started from seed in a greenhouse in February, and the young seedlings are then planted out in the field in mid to late March. The vines grow swiftly all summer long, and produce a multitude of gourds in every shape and size imaginable. The mature gourds are harvested in the late fall after the season's first frost. Once harvested, the gourds must cure (dry out) for three to nine months, depending on the size of the gourd. While the gourds are curing, they develop a layer of mold that covers the entire outside surface. Once dried, the mold must be scrubbed off of the gourd. The gourd is then cut open and a mass of seeds and pulp must be scraped from the inside of the gourd. There is a lot of preparation that takes place before a gourd is ready to be turned into a piece of artwork, but this adds to the creative process as the artist is able to spend some time getting to know each gourd.

Mary graduated from U.C. Davis in 1987 with a degree in fine art. After college, Mary worked in the graphic design industry for fifteen years, while painting with acrylics and watercolors in her spare time. She discovered gourds in 1998, and they have been her preferred canvas ever since. Mary is a self-taught gourd artist and a proud member of the American Gourd Society and the California Gourd Society.

Mary Fahey's Gourd Creations can be found at these fine galleries:

The Artery
207 G Street, Davis, California 95616
www.artery.coop                                

Briggs & Co.
820 Railroad Avenue, Winters, California
www.briggsandco.com

Harbinger Gallery
1224 Oak Circle Arnold, California
www.harbingergallery.net

Artisans International Gallery
1653 Lucerne Street, Suite B, Minden, Nevada

The Gourd Gallery
Lake County California