Trustina's profile
Trustina Fafa Sabah is a theater and gourd artist originally from Ghana who lives in Baltimore, Maryland. A year after her MFA degree in Theater Arts at Towson University, she discovered her love and talent for gourd art, and decided to pursue it.
In 2016, she discovered her love for gourd art through research and curiosity that led her to opening Gourds By Fafa studio where she makes and sells her work online and at various events. She also teaches gourd art workshops.
She exhibits at The Barn at Wellspring, Maryland and her work is displayed and sold at the Stonehouse Collective in Historic Ellicott City, Maryland. She has taught weekend and weeklong gourd art workshops at Arrowmont School of Arts and crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee (May 2022 and October 2023). In October 2022 Sabah was resident at Baltimore County Public Library, (BCPL) and she taught workshops. In May 2022 & 2023, she exhibited her work as part of Arrowmont’s Instructor exhibition and is set to be part of the exhibition May 2024. In January and February 2023, she exhibited her work at BCPL Hereford as part of 2022 Artist In Resident’s Exhibition Show and has continued to teach workshops to the library’s adult and children patrons. (June & August 2023). In November 2022 she was awarded, First Place and Best in Division at the North Carolina Gourd Society’s 80th Anniversary Gourd Show. Trustina’s work is inspired by her background as a Ghanaian, the thing that might inspire peace in her patrons’ homes and the beauties her heart is drawn to.
For the past 10 years, she has worked with various theater companies in the Baltimore area as a devisor, performer, director and an ensemble member. For the past five years, she has continued to serve as a Core Creator at Submersive Productions LLC(Submersive), where she works with other artists to create, vet and approve concepts on new shows to be stateged. Some of her works in theater include Katalepsis by Submersive, 2023 (Core 4, space designer, devisor/performer), recollection by Submersive, 2022,(Core Four), Mass Rabble by Submersive, 2020(devisor/performer), HT Darling’s Incredible Museum by Submersive, 2017 and 2018(devisor/performer).
