Marta has a grand love of gourds! Big, small, smooth, and bumpy ones. While she may gussy them up a bit with fabric or cord or beads, they are still recognizably loved gourds. Earlier in her life she was a potter. She gets the same satisfaction from a nicely embellished gourd as she did from a well thrown glazed vessel. The gourds she uses are grown in the part of the world we live in - the southwest. She thinks they reflect the beauty that we are so fortunate to have surrounding us.