Art does not have to be on canvas only. Deborah Hightower of Collinston has found may sources for her favorite pass time. Her work was first noticed at the Cotton Festival and Fair, where she had entered a decoupaged gourd.
When asked how she became interested in the gourd decoupage, she said her sister in Illinois had made one using fabric and she wanted to learn.
As Hightower explained, “It is called fussy cutting.” When you buy fabric that you think will look good decoupaged, the work follows. The entire background is cut from the fabric, then the artistic part comes in. Picking out just the right size and shape gourd, cleaning it, gluing the fabric on and painting several coats of Mod-Podge over the entire surface. She has been working with gourds for the past three or four years.
Hightower likes the safari look and has gourds with lions, zebras and other African forest animals along with the greenery from the forest. She has painted a gourd using the African influence with a lion and scenery. The brightest by far is of birds, in beautiful tropical colors. She took the decoupage to a larger project, an old milk can, that is a show stopper.
The gourds are just one of the many handcrafted projects that Hightower works with. She is a very good artist, on canvas! She said in 2006 she began painting classes with Faith Shoemaker as instructor. The classes were taught at Michael’s in Monroe. Shoemaker taught a one-stroke type of painting and Hightower has this particular painting procedure down to an “art”. She has some beautiful paintings in her home, some on canvas, on old fan blades, she even painted the inside front of an old cabinet door, thus it looks like it is framed.
Hightower said she attributes all her artistic abilities to her parents, the late Mattie Savage and Jerd Savage of Collinston. “Mother was always very inventive in her desire for art. Daddy was wonderful in woodwork.”
“Mother always encouraged me to get out and learn, I owe so much to her for making me learn to paint and be creative”, said Hightower.
Her most current project is a “Memory Quilt”. She has cut her late mothers everyday blouses into squares and is piecing together a king size quilt. “I’m using the sewing machine to make this quilt, Mother always made quilts by hand with those tiny stitches. I just can’t do that”, said Hightower. Either way the quilt is made, it will be one of a kind.
Hightower said she likes to stay busy. She has a full time job as a secretary, is a hairstylist and if that is not enough she keeps projects going, to keep her “busy”. In the spring you will find her outside in her yard working, another passion. But, as the summer days get hotter, she goes back inside to “find something to do”.
