Latest news, weather and high school sports for Albany and Southwest Georgia

SYLVESTER, GA -- In the City of Sylvester is a house unlike the rest of the neighborhood.  It’s the home of The Gourd Master Sam X.  He uses gourds to create artwork and tell the forgotten stories of his elders.

“I wanted to tell the stories about the place I live here in Worth, Co.  I wanted to tell the stories about Africa, I wanted to tell stories about the struggle,” said The Gourd Master.

He lives just off the highway.  The constant traffic might be a distraction to some but for The Gourd Master, it’s his energy.  Some people take the long way home just to drive by to get a look at the house and say hello.

"To see my sisters and brothers riding past and they blow their horn, to see neighbors drive by, they're really just driving slow."

He started working with gourds about nine years ago after a trip to Jamaica where people were carving coconuts. Back in Sylvester, he was walking through a flea market when he saw gourds for the first time.  He thought he could recreate the Jamaican coconut artwork.  The Gourd Master saw a picture on the gourd and from that moment on he has been perfecting the craft of gourd-making.

"I didn't even know they were called gourds."

The Gourd Master gets his inspiration from Africa and the Islands, so he created his front porch and yard to look like a boat dock so people can come and relax.

"I want people to be able to come here, and just ya know lay back and have a conversation, talk about whatever, drink some lemonade."

He hopes when people visit they have the opportunity to see and hear things outside their everyday lives, things they might not be able to see otherwise. 

"But I like the elders to come sit and shell peas right here on the boat dock while the young people are sitting in the yard with peas, shelling peas, hearing the stories."

Behind the walls of color and artwork, all The Gourd Master wants is to bring the community together.  He hopes his home is an open place for people to have conversation and storytelling.

"It's about looking deep within ourselves and becoming a human being again."

You can find out how to contact and meet Sam X at his website.