I can't wait for everyone to see a picture of the
mask I received
yesterday from Melissa Yerkes. You will be so
jealous. It is in
metallic colors with one
half of the face in purple and the other green
separated by gold dots.
The hair is purple raffia with three peacock
feathers as embellishments.
She cut out the eyes and inserted peacock
feathers and the ends look
like
eyelashes. She is sporting dangling earrings
with purple raffia on
the chin
area where she tied gold beads on the raffia.
It is so original and I
was so
excited to receive it yesterday. What a
wonderful Valentine present!
There
are so many talented people on this list and am
lucky to be a part of
it. Thanks so much Melissa. I love it.
Gourdfanatic June
is a graduate of Moore College of Art in Philadelphia,
with a degree in Textile Design, which consisted of Textile fabric
design, weaving and off loom fiber art. During the 70's Melissa
went to
England and Holland and studied textile design with 16 members
of her
class. She also traveled San Salvador and then studied in Guatemala,
where she took a back strap weaving course and earned college
credit.
After Melissa traveled the South West with a friend she met in
Quatemala, and a missionary took her into the homes of Native
Americans to study their work. Her love of Native American design
started there. Afterwards Melissa has had her work included in
juried
gallery shows in NJ, PA and NY. Also she has had her work exhibited
in
the Cheltanham Art Museum in PA. , and has had a one woman show
in
NJ. Melissa has had numerous full page stories written about her,
including the last two which were written about her gourd art.
Prior to
that, her stories were written about, spinning, weaving, Quatemala
Backstrap weaving, and her love of selling collectibles. Melissa
owns
a flea market where she sells her organic herbs, gourd seeds,
and
collectibles.
