Gourd artist and Sacramento native David Roseberry, entered the art scene rather late in life. At the age of 38, he created Powerhouse Creations, a one man, primitive southwest art experiment featuring gnarled driftwood carvings, highly ornate walking staffs, homemade rawhide drums and gourds, both rattles and vessels. His ideas were largely fueled by the wonderful art he had witnessed throughout the entire southwest. The use of primary colors employed by southwestern legend Frank Howell, the classic sensuality of works by Georgia O’Keeffe or the complete utilitarianism of the great gourd artist Robert Rivera, they all became major, yet unknowing, contributors to Powerhouse Creations.
Within three years, as an artist, David worked on the first of many, very successful, large scale gourd festivals. His art was also, prominently, featured in two best selling gourd art books, he was written about in the local newspaper and credited with having built the largest gourd sculpture in the world, a four character totem pole weighing in at just under 10 feet tall.
Exhibiting his work in galleries throughout the West kept David very busy through the end of the last century and well into the new decade. His full time job as a steel fabricator took center stage until his retirement in 2019, when David decided to return to his gourd shop. He started by repairing and repainting some old favorites and finishing up the projects that were started many years before. Happy with these successes, he carried on and found that by layering gourd shards over one another he could create many types of feathered or scaled creatures. Today David focuses primarily on birds, flowers and reptiles, creating them using a technique that he calls ‘gourd feathering’ with the most amazing end results.
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