Meet Our Featured Artist
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Introducing Evy Eisele
Our Featured Artist for the fall 2024 issue is Evy Eisele from Santa Rosa Valley in Southern California. Evy is a very active member of the Ventura County Gourd Artists (VCGA), serving as its President. She has also served as Secretary and as Vice President. Evy’s winning entry, an ET Carnival Cruise Ship, began to take shape following their UFO, “unfinished objects,” Gourd Retreat. Modeled after a similar San Diego event, no specific projects are planned for the retreat. Instead, patch members brought unfinished projects of their own that they didn’t intend to go back to. These projects were placed on a table so other patch members could grab someone else’s project to finish. Of her winning contest entry Evy says, “When I came into possession of this gourd, it was screaming to be a UFO! I wanted to make it last year for our first UFO Gourd Retreat and use it as a table display, but planning the retreat took up all my time and it did not happen.” Like much of her gourd art, Evy’s UFO evolved as she had the time and inspiration to work on it. When she saw the Gourd Magazine “Light Up the Sky” contest theme, she was excited to finish and enter her UFO. [See photo 1 – Evy With UFO] Evy acquires some of her gourds at the VCGA Raffle Nights as they include gourd donations. Others come from Welburn Gourd Farm or the Wuertz Festival. This very active patch meets on the third Wednesday of each month. Every couple of months the VCGA Board presents gourd challenges, with members getting to vote for their favorites and win small prizes. Their group project each year is creating an educational booth for the Ventura County Fair. Over the years they have taken first and second place many times. Evy has entered Bonnie Gibson’s Gourd Crafting Contest several times. In the Summer 2021 issue of The Gourd Magazine, Evy was recognized for her 2nd place entry for “The Music Within” theme. Afterward she was asked to create a tutorial for her entry, a gourd with chimes inside, which appeared in the Fall 2022 issue of the magazine. What Evy loves best about creating gourd art is the quietness of being inside her head, as it allows her to shut out the noise of the world. She does not sell her work, nor does she teach classes. Some of her projects come about when she finds a place in her home and creates a gourd to fit in it. Evy loves working with transparent inks. The colors are so rich and they allow the gourd itself to shine through. She looks forward to all the projects that swirl together in her head waiting to be created. A methodical person, some projects take Evy months or even years to start. Her 20 years of computer programming influence her process, which includes seeing it in her head, figuring out how to create it, how to build it, the order of the steps, and the final look. Woodworkers and artists run in her family. Her father is an exceptional woodcarver. Her mother a painter, using oil, acrylic and watercolors. She and her sisters have dabbled in clay sculpting, photography, drawing, painting and graphic arts. Both of Evy’s kids work in the film industry; her daughter Annalea produces films and her son Preston does voiceover work. Clog dancing is another of Evy’s passions. The power of groups of cloggers dancing together is exciting! Evy is both an instructor and a choreographer who also cues dances, like in square dancing. She loves including the ever-expanding variety of dance steps in her choreography. Evy says she has changed as an artist over the years, working with their patch’s teacher, Camille King. She credits Camille with teaching her to be fearless, spontaneous and lighthearted. As a slow, methodical worker, Evy helps Camille gauge how long a project will take her to teach. This Featured Artist’s Photo Gallery clearly shows the joy she finds in creating gourd art. Photos 2 & 3: Green Dragon and Copper Dragon – Elemental Dragons. Evy refers to these 2 creatures as “Elemental Dragons.” They have qualities that represent all four elements found in nature, Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. They can fly, live on land, breathe fire, and swim underwater. The first dragon was created with Powertex to give it a green patina. At her daughter’s request, the second dragon was made with open wings in a copper color. Photo 4 : “Mad Max” This sculpture was inspired by the “Mad Max” movie and according to Evy, it was a blast to make. Puzzling together all the toys and random objects was a fun challenge. Using the chaos of all the seemingly separate pieces to give them functions included using the monkey from the barrel and tiny army toys as crew members, a garden hose as part of the steering wheel, and power cords as cables for the vehicle etc. Photo 5: “African Warrior Finds a Gourd” A friend gave Evy a dried piece of cactus they found in the desert and asked her to make something with it. Instantly, this guy popped into her mind; the cactus would be perfect as his clothing. The trees were plucked from the dead Statice plant in her yard. Evy researched his look in order to make his face authentic. Photo 6: “Amudha Displays a Sitar” This lovely Indian woman was inspired by Evy’s dear friend, Amudha. She was created for the VCGA County Fair Booth where they were educating people on how gourds were used around the world. She is holding a tiny Sitar, demonstrating how their culture uses gourds as instruments. Photo 7: “Stacking Doll Gatherer” Putting together cut pieces and stacking them at an angle made the perfect place for a gourd baby in a pod on her back. The tiny tortoise gourd at her feet is one of Evy’s earliest gourd creations. Photo 8 Upside Cactus Photo 9 Carved Birds 
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