Inspiration strikes at the oddest times, often when we're doing something supremely ordinary.

For artist Sheryl Parsons, who creates holiday sculptures from gourds, driftwood, clay and repurposed objects, inspiration whisked in while she was chopping wood, back when she lived in North Pole, Alaska.

"I noticed that some of the slabs that chipped off when I missed the center of the logs had a shape that would lend itself to painting Santa figures on," Parsons remembers.

"The flat sides only needed a little sanding, and the rounded bark backs made for unique pieces."

Soliciting the assistance of her three children, who earned pocket money by painting tiny Santa ornaments and magnets made from the wood chips, Parsons sold her holiday creations in local gift shops. Through time she honed her skills into creating intricate three-dimensional Santa, Christmas, and Halloween-themed décor.

She later moved to the Southwest, where her holiday sculptures won several awards at the Utah State Fair, and then up to Joseph, Ore., where she shows her work at several galleries, in addition to selling at Reason to Believe, an online, all-year Christmas-themed store. What she makes, Parsons says, is folk art.

"This is anything created by hand using raw materials or repurposed things, to delight the eye and heart," she says. "They are usually figural, or depict a whimsical or impressionist style of people or animals."

Because she likes to focus on the positive, whimsical, and good in life, Parson's folk art sculptures are happy, she adds. "I want my art to be something that brings joy, peace, or pleasure to the owner or viewer."

Parsons is displaying her gourd and wood holiday sculptures at Wenaha Gallery (219 E. Main, Dayton) through Dec. 1 in an Art Event, and she will be at the gallery in person Friday, November 23, from 2 to 6 for the gallery's Christmas Kickoff Art Show, also featuring Dayton painter Steve Henderson.

Wenaha Gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday.