Icehouse Gallery

Art Guild co-director Dana Heath

2017 Gourd Festival

Saturday, September 16, 9am-3pm

Arts & Crafts vendors, food trucks and live music will be featured at this year’s Gourd Festival to be held at Mayfield’s Icehouse Gallery on Saturday, September 16. The festival opens at 9am and continues until 3pm in and around the Icehouse. This year’s event will have something for everyone!

The Gourd Festival is the Icehouse Gallery’s principle fundraiser. It attracts gourd art lovers from throughout the region and across the nation. It has been held annually for the past 13 years and this year’s event should be the biggest yet. We will have the annual gourd race car derby, the “All About Gourds” exhibit in the Gallery, a silent auction, bake sale, live band, performances by MSU’s percussion ensemble playing music on instruments made from gourds, more than 30 art and gourd-related vendor booths, and a Food Court featuring several food trucks, each with a different menu.

Inside the Icehouse Gallery visitors will see gourd artworks submitted for the annual “All About Gourds” annual juried exhibition. This exhibition attracts gourd art from throughout the region. A Silent Auction of items donated for the festival will be held with final bids to be announced at 2:30pm.

Admission to the Gourd Festival and "All About Gourds" exhibition is free!

Vendor Booth Form

Click here for the Vendor form

Gourd Art by Kathleen Sherman

All About Gourds 2017

Annual Juried Gourd Art Exhibition

We are now accepting entries for this year’s “All About Gourds” juried gourd art exhibition. The show opens on the day of the Gourd Festival on Saturday, September 16 and continues through October 14.

We’ve made changes to this year’s exhibition. We’re eliminating all of the categories from previous exhibitions and creating just one category for all entries. Best of Show winner will be awarded a $200 cash prize. First Place winner will receive $100, Second place will win $75 and third will win $50. The entry fee remains at $20 for up to three pieces. The deadline for entry is Saturday, September 9 at 1pm. Entries may be shipped to the Icehouse at the artists’ expense. Entries forms may be downloaded here and are also available at the Icehouse. A price may be placed on the artwork submitted to the event; the Gallery retains 30% commission so price your work accordingly. Works may also be submitted “NFS” (“Not for Sale”). Works that remain unsold at the end of the exhibition on October 14 must be picked up Tuesday, October 17 through Saturday, October 21. For gourd artwork submitted by USPS, FedEx or UPS, we will get a quote on shipping and contact the artist for payment by PayPal or credit card before the work is shipped back.

This is the 14th year for this exhibition and we look forward to having everyone submit gourd art to this annual fundraising event.

Juror

Justine Riley will be the juror for this year's All About Gourds exhibit. Justine is a graduate of Murray State University with a BFA. She is also a recent recipient of the Kentucky Arts Council's coveted Emerging Artists Award, a non-restricted grant to pursue her studies in the fine arts. She and husband Josh are longtime members of the Mayfield/Graves County Art Guild and they both offer classes through the Icehouse. We are honored to have Justine participate this year as juror.

Click here for the Entry form