Terri Schmit

medium: mixed media

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Basket Makers 2007 Sculpture	Chesapeake Bay Retriever 2007 Mixed media	Co-Motion 2007 Mixed media
Mask 2006 Mixed media	Feathered Bean Maiden 2007 Sculpture	Florescence 2007 Mixed media
Gourd Universe 2006 Mixed media	Nature's Embrace 2006 Mixed media	Out of the Box 2007 Mixed media
Petiole Bowl 2006 Mixed media

Contact information
2099 County Road E
Blue Mounds, WI 53517
Email Address: thegourdgirl@yahoo.com

Artist statement
When I moved to Wisconsin in 2003, I was working on my second career, eager to complete my master's degree in music composition. Shortly after arriving, I was introduced to gourds and, while I haven’t given up music, composition often comes in the shape of a gourd. Although my formal education is in music, it’s all right brain to me, and my goal is to make my art look like my music sounds.

I hear art; it screams at me with movement or stillness. There doesn’t seem to be much of an in-between. I listen for ways to achieve motion or stillness. My goal is to retain the sense of the gourd, for it’s the gourd that tells me what it should become.

Gourds are a fascinating canvas. Because they have been used for thousands of years for musical instruments, I often find myself focusing on making a new drum, a balafon or a rainstick. They’re limitless in their adaptability to any art form.

I started teaching gourd art in 2004 through gourd organizations and, in 2005, I founded and became president of the Wisconsin Gourd Society. I teach gourd art in my home as well as throughout Wisconsin and also participate in teaching and learning sessions across the country.

I am a member of the faculty at Shake Rag Alley Living Arts Center in Mineral Point and at Play In The Mud Studios in Madison, where I focus on making gourd art and gourd instruments.

Biography
Born in the Chicago area, I moved to San Francisco in the '70s to pursue a career in computer science; upon retiring in 2003, I moved to Madison to complete a master's degree in music composition. I began working with gourds in 2004 and have exhibited and taught gourd art throughout the state since. I have earned several awards in Wisconsin and Arizona for gourd art and have pieces in several private collections throughout the states.