SAN MARTIN
– If Marilynn Host greets you with a
”
gourd morning,
”
she is not out of her gourd. Instead, she works with them.
Host, a well-known San Martin artist and author, found a unique
medium through the vegetable that’s related to cucumbers.
SAN MARTIN – If Marilynn Host greets you with a “gourd morning,” she is not out of her gourd. Instead, she works with them.
Host, a well-known San Martin artist and author, found a unique medium through the vegetable that’s related to cucumbers.
She creates elaborate pieces from gourds, not only for decoration, but also for practical reasons.
Gourd art is most often decorated in simple patterns or in a Native American style, but Host tries to break these norms with her art.
Host’s decorative masks and animals reflect her colorful and artistic personality through strange juxtapositions and humor.
“I just want to make people smile,” she said. “That’s my focus.”
Host will pair dogs and cats, cats and birds and just about anything else that’s not necessarily supposed t0 fit together.
Inspiration for the art comes from her many animals – two dogs, two birds and a cat.
In August, Host will show her gourd art work in San Francisco. She travels coast to coast to sell her work.
Host has a strict rule about what kinds of shows she will do.
“I don’t do outside festivals,” Host said. “You have to dust the art and the gourds don’t like rain.”
Gourd art can fetch quite a bit of money. Depending on the size and material used in the art, Host’s crafts can sell for as little as $24 for a small vessel to upwards of $350.
Host found her artistic touch after taking a class in pottery. From there she quickly found her niche. Initially, she worked with ceramic pots then moved to mixed media and finally to gourds. She still works with mixed media, creating art with everyday items.
“I decided to go with it,” Host said. “It was something I found I could do.”
Since then she has worked with gourds, but not exclusively.
Along with gourds, Host also works with found objects, using such items as drift wood and pieces of metal. She often incorporates the found objects in her gourd art, using the materials to add legs or other features to her animals.
A native of Wisconsin, Host graduated from Ohio State University in 1974.
In 1989, she moved to San Jose with her husband, Bill, and five years later, moved to San Martin where she still lives.
Host is active in Gilroy, where she volunteers with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, helping with therapeutic recreation. She works with developmentally disabled people doing tae bo, videos and arts and crafts.
For four years, Host worked at the Garlic Festival in arts and crafts where she served two years as chairwoman and two years as assistant chairwoman.
Host said she no longer exhibits at the festival, mainly because the event is outside.
For anyone interested in making gourd art, Host wrote a how-to book called Gourd Crafts for the First Time. In it, she shows each step in creating art from explaining the different gourd types, to how to clean them, to how to paint them.
Host uses examples from her own work as well as work from three other artists.
The San Francisco show is the 29th annual show for the American Craft Council. It runs Aug. 6-8, at the Fort Mason Center features 54 artists from 34 states with a variety of works. The show runs from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday.Tickets are $10, or $18 for a two-day pass. ACC members and children under 12 are free. For more information, visit www.craftcouncil.org or call (800) 836-3470.
