A relative newcomer to gourd art, Colleen left a career in landscape architecture to explore new directions and challenges in life and art. Her early love of “functional art” was re-kindled while experimenting with hard-shell gourds. “Gourds are a great art medium!” she says. “They are endlessly variable, fascinating, and lend themselves to whatever creative path you want to follow. I enjoy the fusion of art and nature they offer, and the challenge of adapting two-dimensional designs to three-dimensional objects. Nearly any technique and medium used in arts and crafts can be used on gourds.”

A year living in American Samoa as a child and her parent’s tapa cloth collection sparked her interest in primitive and ethnic art styles. Native American, Polynesian, and African motifs inspire and are often included in her work. Depending on each gourd and its inspiration, Colleen’s work ranges from realistic line drawings to stylized designs with geometric, botanical, or abstract patterns. Pyrography (burning), carving, inlay, acrylics, and leather dyes are her primary techniques. Symbols of the natural world such as plants, animals, birds, natural fibers and found objects are incorporated in designs and embellishments.

For inspiration, instruction, and support, Colleen is involved with Foothill Gourders in El Dorado Co., the California Gourd Society, and the American Gourd Society. She won a blue ribbon for her "Warrior Gourdess” mask in the California Gourd Society 2003 Gourd Art Competition, held at Welburn International Gourd Art Festival in southern California, and another ribbon for “Starbird Spirit Vessel” in the 2004 CGS Gourd Competition. She has contributed to two design panels on the Traveling Gourd, a statewide collaboration of California Gourd Society artists. Her gourd art has been displayed in the Calaveras County Art Council Gallery in San Andreas, the Firehouse Gallery in Murphys, and Gallery 10 in Sutter Creek, California.

"Colleen Platt is a Featured Artist at the 9th Annual International Gourd Art Festival held at Welburn Gourd Farm in June 2005. She is also a featured gourd artist in the book 'Beyond the Basics: Gourd Crafts' by Sterling/Chapelle Publishers, available in the fall of 2005."

Colleen works on and grows her gourds in Valley Springs, where she lives on a hilltop with her husband Ron and rescued dog companions Nick and Sweetie (thanks to the Calaveras County Humane Society). She can be reached by email at cplatt@caltel.com. To learn more about Colleen Platt's gourd art, visit her website at www.cwplattgourds.com.