Gourd Artist Mike Connolly has worked with gourds for eight years. He has shown gourds in competition and has accumulated eleven First Place Ribbons, eight Second Place Ribbons, one Best in Show, and one People's Choice award.  His gourd art has been shown at the Arlington Art Museum, the Bower Center for the Arts in Bedford, Virginia and at the Lynchburg Art Club.  His gourd sculpture "Windsong" won third place of 176 entries in the Black and White All-Media exhibition at the Bower Center in 2012.  He has taught several gourd art courses in Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina. 

Mike is a retired U.S. Naval Officer who is presently an Adjunct Instructor at Central Virginia Community College.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Minnesota in Latin American Area Study and a Master of Arts Degree from Old Dominion University in History.  As a sea-going Line Officer and Latin Americanist in the Navy, he travelled extensively in Central and South America and resided in Bolivia and Paraguay. 

His final tour was as Instructor at the Inter-American Defense College in Washington, D.C.  He taught Spanish, European History and U.S. History in Secondary schools for fifteen years and has taught U.S. and Virginia History in the Community College System for fifteen years.  In 1992, he participated in an NEH workshop on the Columbian Exchange at the University of New Mexico. 

Three Sisters Art Show and Sale to feature award winning artist Michael Timothy Davis. Michael Timothy Davis is a West Virginia native and graduate of Shepherd University located in Shepherdstown, WV.

After earning his BFA in Painting he continued his studies at the Schuler School of Fine Art in Baltimore, MD where he learned the skills and techniques associated with classical realist painting. The show is free and open to the public at Barns of Rose Hill in Berryville, VA Oct. 17 - Nov. 21.

About the Artist
   Up until recent years Stacey had sculpted as well as painted. She had created a series of "Medicine Women" sculptures. In the history of our people many of the tribes there had been medicine women long before there were medicine men. Women held the secrets of the healing herbs, women were the keepers of the spirit and the givers of life.
    This was recognized and respected and gave women the power to be leaders, or clan mothers, the clan mothers would come together in the circle and

make decisions for the families, the village and the tribe. In ontinuing to recognize and teach the empowerment of all women Stacey began a series of paintings of "Women In Prayer."
    If you are interested in any of these pieces, please contact Spirit Fire Art, click here. I can take deposits on paintings and take payment plans for any of my pieces.

The Challenge Questions

• Depict the relationship between corn, beans and squash which derives the name Three Sisters given by America’s Indigenous.
• Why are the Native American Three Sisters called the Three Sisters and not the three mothers or three brothers?
• What makes them mutually supportive and energetically productive?
  
• What is the Spirit of these plants working together?
  
• Is it because they grow up together, with an older, middle and younger sister?
  
• It is the idea of one reaching upward standing like a soldier lonely without the next one stretching out to protect and the third one shading from below helping quench the thirst by protecting the shallow roots?
  
• Or is it about how these three vegetables provide every one of the essential amino acids our bodies need for complete nutrition making the Three Sisters complete?
  
• Is it about girls sharing secrets?
  
• Is it about a relationship that sisters have that others do not have?
  
• The artwork can reflect the spirit involved in growing and harvesting or being nourished by these crops including giving thanks and being connected to the earth and all humanity.
  
• How would you depict the Three Sisters?

The Challenge Questions

• Depict the relationship between corn, beans and squash which derives the name Three Sisters given by America’s Indigenous.
• Why are the Native American Three Sisters called the Three Sisters and not the three mothers or three brothers?
• What makes them mutually supportive and energetically productive?
  
• What is the Spirit of these plants working together?
  
• Is it because they grow up together, with an older, middle and younger sister?
  
• It is the idea of one reaching upward standing like a soldier lonely without the next one stretching out to protect and the third one shading from below helping quench the thirst by protecting the shallow roots?
  
• Or is it about how these three vegetables provide every one of the essential amino acids our bodies need for complete nutrition making the Three Sisters complete?
  
• Is it about girls sharing secrets?
  
• Is it about a relationship that sisters have that others do not have?
  
• The artwork can reflect the spirit involved in growing and harvesting or being nourished by these crops including giving thanks and being connected to the earth and all humanity.
  
• How would you depict the Three Sisters?

The Challenge Questions

• Depict the relationship between corn, beans and squash which derives the name Three Sisters given by America’s Indigenous.
• Why are the Native American Three Sisters called the Three Sisters and not the three mothers or three brothers?
• What makes them mutually supportive and energetically productive?
  
• What is the Spirit of these plants working together?
  
• Is it because they grow up together, with an older, middle and younger sister?
  
• It is the idea of one reaching upward standing like a soldier lonely without the next one stretching out to protect and the third one shading from below helping quench the thirst by protecting the shallow roots?
  
• Or is it about how these three vegetables provide every one of the essential amino acids our bodies need for complete nutrition making the Three Sisters complete?
  
• Is it about girls sharing secrets?
  
• Is it about a relationship that sisters have that others do not have?
  
• The artwork can reflect the spirit involved in growing and harvesting or being nourished by these crops including giving thanks and being connected to the earth and all humanity.
  
• How would you depict the Three Sisters?

The Challenge Questions

• Depict the relationship between corn, beans and squash which derives the name Three Sisters given by America’s Indigenous.
• Why are the Native American Three Sisters called the Three Sisters and not the three mothers or three brothers?
• What makes them mutually supportive and energetically productive?
  
• What is the Spirit of these plants working together?
  
• Is it because they grow up together, with an older, middle and younger sister?
  
• It is the idea of one reaching upward standing like a soldier lonely without the next one stretching out to protect and the third one shading from below helping quench the thirst by protecting the shallow roots?
  
• Or is it about how these three vegetables provide every one of the essential amino acids our bodies need for complete nutrition making the Three Sisters complete?
  
• Is it about girls sharing secrets?
  
• Is it about a relationship that sisters have that others do not have?
  
• The artwork can reflect the spirit involved in growing and harvesting or being nourished by these crops including giving thanks and being connected to the earth and all humanity.
  
• How would you depict the Three Sisters?