Featured Artist : Marcie FalconettiOH MY GOURD

Marcie Falconetti is originally from Northern New Jersey and has lived in Toms River for the past 8 years. Also living in Sun Lakes, Arizona for 5 winters, she found a local instructor that offered a beginner gourd class.

The very next day she realized that she found her passion & traveled 1/2 hour south to the Wuertz Gourd Farm in Casa Grande, AZ, to a 23 acre - 4th filled up a huge plastic bag with ‘cracked gourds’ to practice on, then stopped at Home Depot for a Dremel.

A friend had suggested that she take her beautifully finished gourds to The Farm At South Mountain in Phoenix, where they took on a life of their own. The Southwestern style birdhouses, the bird feeders & vases were a big hit & were sold within a short time...so it was back to the farm for more gourds!

“I have never enjoyed a hobby or a craft that keeps me totally occupied, not only with it’s history & culture but with a distinctive creative challenge. This challenge is magnified by the embellishment techniques that I use, mainly a leather dye which gives them the ability to ‘speak to me’. They are all my own one-of-a-kind designs, my own inventive process that in the end can ultimately project a voice of their own”.

I make Birdhouses, Vases, Planters, Various Art Objects - depending on their size, shape & distinctive markings. It is a very labor intensive process, as the Gourd needs to be drilled, cleaned, washed thoroughly & dried before I can start to embellish it. I mostly use a leather dye process, but also use a wide variety of other embellishments, such as, acrylic paints, wood stains, Jacquard silk, among others.

I am inspires by the shape, size, distress markings & pigment variations of the Gourd along with the Four Seasons. I’m inspired by nature & by the creating-of-the-process - that is in my imagination. 

I use mostly the Angelus Leather Dyes + Jacquard Silk Dyes + various stamping-stenciling products.