GOURD WEAVINGS

A basket was displayed in a southwestern setting with a pair of spurs.

Brightly colored threads are used to secure the pine needles.

BLODGETT -- Ruth and Tom Andre left Southern California and a large wholesale flower business for a simpler, slower life in Southeast Missouri.

They bought a farm in Blodgett, with visions of quiet afternoons watching the corn grow.

Just for fun, the couple planted six acres of gourds, several varieties, large and small. At harvest time, the gourds filled a large barn.

"Now what am I going to do with these?" Ruth Andre wondered. She studied the gourds, polished a few, watched them dry and then got an inspiration.

Gourds have a natural, uncomplicated beauty, she explained.

She decided to combine the gourds with the ancient art of pine needle basketry. She calls them gourd weavings.

"I look closely at the natural coloring," she said, holding a gourd. "Isn't it beautiful?"

She buys long-leaf pine needles from North Carolina. The needles and tips are died to accent the colors in the gourds.

With waxed linen threads, Andre weaves the pine needles together, creating patterns with the stitches and needles. One large red gourd weaving has more than 2,000 stitches. And each has a name.

Andre has found a market for her gourd weavings at art galleries across the country.

"Surprisingly, men are my best customers," she said. "Something about the rugged beauty of the gourds seems to appeal to men."

Last year, she began entering the gourd weavings in art shows and other exhibitions.

Andre knows her way around the art world. She studied art and design at California State Long Beach as well as printmaking at Otis/Parsons Art Institute in Los Angeles.

For years she represented artists and photographers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.

The gourd weavings have the look of the southwest, a look familiar to Andre. She grew up on a small ranch in Southern California, and for a time lived in Mexico.

While there, she learned from the Oaxacan Indians the art of discovering usefulness and beauty in materials with little or no value.

"Art is all around us," Andre said. "Sometimes you just have to look for it."

When Andre looks out the windows of her Blodgett home, she sees art in nature.

"Art fills the landscape," she said. "It is all around us and is there to be enjoyed."