Donna Welch knows how something grown from the garden can eventually take on an art form. "Gourds are very much like people," says the Chickasaw gourd artist. "Every single one is different. Different sizes, different shapes and different colorations. One of the things I love about them is that I didn't sculpt it, it came from nature that way." Growing gourds from vines to now pieces of art, she uses them to connect people to nature, adding wire, beads, texture and stones to make one-of-a-kind works of art. The Chickasaw artist has mastered gourd art over the years and shares the techniques of this challenging art form at the Artesian Gallery and Studios. "They're not perfectly symmetrical. They're not predictable," she says. "With gourds, you start out with one idea and the gourd will dictate if it's going to go that direction or not. And oftentimes you'll be working with a gourd and a mistake will happen. Sometimes those mistakes end up being the very thing that turns into an aspect of the gourd that really stands out and you like it."