The Gourd and Arts Festival in Folsom this weekend brought together great talent from the region.
Mamadou and Vanessa Sidibe brought their gourd music from the Wassoulou region of Mali, West Africa, to entertain us. Their music could be heard throughout the festival.
Gourd Artists displayed their work and showed how they create their art, with demonstrations throughout the weekend. The artists use many different techniques.
It was fascinating to watch Tito Medina, a Peruvian gourd carver demonstrate how he carves intricate traditional designs by hand. Tito makes ink from ash and oil, to fill the carved lines and then burnishes the colours using traditional hand tools.
In her first appearance at the annual gourd festival, Kathlees Story Krikorian displayed her Celtic gourds an jewelry, based on traditional celtic designs and knots.
This year, there were more non-gourd artists, including mand-crafted jewelry and glassware, glass engraving and glass kiln-fired work.
All the participants and visitors I spoke to remarked what a great, well-organized event it was, a credit to the organizers. They provided shuttle services to parking, the booths were well-laid out, under the trees, keeping everyone cool on two beautiful, warm days. Plenty of food and drink was available.
Interviews with Gourd Festival participants:
Gourd Music:
