I do not like to believe that I am very artistic. This is one of the reasons why I do not involve myself in artistic projects. Going to this event was a wonderful experience, because it showed me how anyone can make art, even if it is quite simple.

Graham Ottoson has so much enthusiasm and that is really what brought out the enjoyment of this event. I was familiar with what gourds were beforehand but I was indeed curious on how we can make art from them. I was nervous at first, because I didn’t want to mess anything up, but mistakes is what make a piece of art original and your own. I am glad I was able to make a piece of art and I am grateful that this was an experience I had.

This event was eye opening for me. I don’t often get to explore my own artistic abilities, but the Gourlandia project gave me that chance. I had a lot of fun working with my fellow Rose Scholars and thought it was interesting to see a lot of the idea they thought of. I was especially interested to see how passionate the nice lady who was teaching us was about Gourds. Who would have thought that someone would be so knowledgeable about such a random topic in small town Ithaca. I ended up naming my Gourde lamp “The Sausage of Truth.”

I’m glad the Gourdlandia event happened again this year! I really wanted to do this last year when it happened, but I had a conflict so I couldn’t go.

The first gourd I made didn’t look very good, so I quickly made a second gourd. I just put a face on it, so it was really simple, but it made a really nice nightlight that sparked a bit of joy in me whenever I looked at it. Unfortunately, later a member of my suite accidentally stepped on that gourd, so the majority of the gourd got detached from the lightbulb. Good thing I made two gourds!

Gourlandia was a unique experience and it was my favorite Rose Scholars event this semester. I really enjoy art in all forms, and I rarely have time between classes and homework. Gourlandia was art in an incredibly unique form and it was a lot of fun carving a new medium into a fun nightlight. It took some practice to be able to make a design on the rounded shape of the gourd, but the results were really cool. I actually attended this event last year as part of the program, and I was happy that the event was held again. My gourd came out much nicer this year and I was happy to be able to create more gourd art. This event opened my eyes to some unique forms of art and the passion that people in the Ithaca area have for their work. It was a very interesting event and it was a lot of fun. It inspired me to look into different forms of art and maybe I will be able to find a new project to work on over Christmas break. While I will not have any gourds to carve at home, the creativity of the project will serve as inspiration. Just like last year, I thoroughly enjoyed this Rose Scholars event.

In this workshop we learned how to make cute night lights by carving gourds with powertools. I got to learn how to use drills for the first time, by placing the tip of the drill into the gourd to make small holes. I had not known that gourds could be made into night lights, as I thought that they rot eventually, so I was surprised and excited to try this activity. The woman who ran the event seemed super passionate and experienced with gourd carving. I decided to make patterns of holes at the top and bottom of my gourd, and then I glued red beads in the larger holes made with a bigger drill. This added a cool effect to the gourd when it was plugged in, as it tinted the light a red color. To decorate the body of the gourd, I wanted to make a star effect, that would look like a bunch of stars sweeping over a night sky when it lit up. To attempt this, I drilled holed with the largest size drill and then interspersed it with the holes with the medium size drill and holes with the smallest size drill. Overall, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I think it would have looked cooler if I had used multicolored beads and stuck with a consistent pattern rather than two different patterns and also made the holes more random. I’m really glad I attended this event though and learned a new craft.

When I went into this event, I didn’t know what gourds were. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw brown, grayish objects, both decorated and not decorated, lined up along a table. The lady leading the event was very enthusiastic about gourds and how they were able to gather so many of them for this event. I really loved learning about gourds and where they come from. Learning about the different shapes and varieties intrigued me and made me want to explore this subject more.

However, the best part was decorating them. We all started with similar gourds as canvases, and we each made masterpieces of our own from them. I was shocked to see the creative energy that people had, in addition to the artistic energy that was radiating throughout the room. I felt intimidated and a bit embarrassed, actually. I tried making something that I thought was nice, but it was hard to find inspiration. I ended up making a mountain in the clouds which I brought home for break. I was proud of it and I thought this event was a great way to relax and deflate after weeks of work.

This year, my friends and I attended the gourd event. It was really cool to learn about gourds and about the process of turning them into lamps. It’s fascinating how people can turn the most strangely shaped gourds into such beautiful lamps. When I made my gourd lamp, I put the fire nation symbol in the center, as I love ATLA. I also added red gems to it to emphasize the “flame” part of the symbol. I look forward to attending this event next year.

I have to admit I never heard of sculpting using gourds, but I was pleasantly surprised when I attended the event. I have always loved anything created to arts. As a child, my favorite pass time was arts and crafts. I have multiple of my various artworks just hanging in awkward locations around my house and I am glad I was able to gain another artwork to add to the collection. I found this event to be very relaxing. I was very stressed the whole week due to academics and really needed something where I could channel that stress. The gourds really allowed me to get rid of any tension that I had and I found to be overall more relaxed after the event was over. This event inspired me to take more time during the day for myself and to do activities that allow me to destress. I even bought myself a coloring book that I could use to continue expressing my creative side and have a helpful, artistic way of de-stressing. This event really showed me the importance of taking the time to care for your mental wellbeing and to reconnect with my artistic side that I have forgotten due to focusing on school.

That was the question that my parents asked as soon as I called them to gloat about my artistic accomplishment (which I have very few of). I was so proud of what I had made that I had to call them; this was one of the coolest things I have done here at Cornell! My parents, especially my mom, were fascinated with the concept and wanted to know more information. As a result, I now have plans to meet my parents and grandmother at Gourdlandia some Friday afternoon, so we can all make gourd nightlights! This was such a valuable experience for me and provided a necessary stress relief from prelim season. I truly hope this event happens again, as it was such a fun and memorable experience.

On 30th Oct, I was introduced to the exquisite art of gourd crafting. It was unlike anything I have seen before – I can’t stop marveling at how durable these dried gourds are (huge contrast to organic matter decomposing rapidly) and the endless possibilities of creating artwork out of them. It’s amazing how artists can “see” inanimate objects in different perspectives.

That night, we were drilling holes into mini dried gourds to be used as nightlights. That idea alone – using gourds as nightlights – was already so novel to me. I had so much fun drilling (countless) of holes into the gourds, and creating something unique that relates to the inner “me”. This event gave me newfound appreciation of the natural world around us.

While attending the Gourdlandia workshop , I was able to learn more about  the art of wood carving and sculpting. I was also able to learn more about members of the Rose Scholars program and what peaked their interest, as Cornell students, just by looking at what they decided to carve into their gourds. As some students created little stars within their gourds, primarily because they had a deep appreciation for astrology. Others decided to take a more Christmas themed approach and decorate their gourds with Christmas-originated animations and rhinestones, as Christmas had been a really significant holiday within their lives. I decided to decorate my gourd with mountains, airplanes and birds. This particular scenery, I thought, was both beautiful and symbolic. Symbolic in the sense that airplanes in themselves were a constant reminder , to me ,that the sky was the limit. Even though sculpting the airplane, using the drills provided to us , was incredibly difficult, the experience was completely worthwhile. More so, seeing as I got a free night light!!!

Last night, I was able to make my own nightlight, but it was not a typical nightlight, it was made out of gourds. I did not expect that a vegetable can become so beautiful. We were able to drill holes into the vegetable to make our own design and even had the opportunity to add colored beads to allow for some colorful light. This was a great experience because I was able to learn about a form of art here in Ithaca that is unique, creative, and fun. I truly enjoyed this event, as I was able to make something of my own, and learn about this unique form of art.

It was great to see the effort and time that the work Graham Ottoson does takes to do. There were extravagant examples she showed us, and I was astonished that something that amazing can be made out of a vegetable. She has a passion for her work, and it was a great experience to have her share that with us.

It was a pleasure meeting Graham Ottoson last night and hearing about her work with gourds. In a day and age where bland, clean, modern style is popular, her work was a breath of fresh air as she helped me see how we can preserve natural beauty and use it to decorate our homes.

She scraped and polished the gourds to bring out their rich dark brown color. When she light up one of her finished gourds with holes in it, she revealed a starry pattern on the already beautiful gourd.

I immediately thought that such a gourd belongs in a warm small house, lit by a fireplace with cozy red rugs lining the hardwood floors. Even in trying to depict the Milky Way Galaxy on my pear-shaped gourd, I wanted to preserve the simple and earthy impression I got from the gourd. This experience has brought back my appreciation for a warm, organic aesthetic in my surroundings. I am inspired to appreciate more the beauty outdoors as well as indoors.

This has been my favorite event so far! I was able to create a gourd nightlight by drilling what is probably hundreds of holes into a gourd. I sketched a butterfly using oil pastel and then started drilling small holes around the outline and then adding larger holes the further away I got. I then inverted it inside the butterfly, with the larger holes near the butterfly’s edge.

I think I could have done a better job of making the gradient smoother but this has got me so excited about using light and negative space in art! It looks amazing with the light seeping through all the holes! I really loved this event.