So with the KPK show, I have been asked alot lately "How did you get into gourds?". I know it seems like a totally random thing right? Well, its a long story...
Its sort of starts all the way back in college. As an art major at a liberal arts college, we took all kinds of things - there was only slightly a "focus". I was a painter. But I took ceramics and found I loved it, but got into it kind of late. One semester I spent so much time throwing on the wheel till late at night, that when I would go home I would do nothing but dream I was throwing on the wheel. Not very restful sleep. Anyway, I loved it but just didn't see going into it. The cost of the kiln, wheel, glazes, etc. - not to mention the space needed to do all that. So, I graduated and that was that.
Fast forward a few years and I am pregnant with my second son. I had back surgery while 4 months pregnant. Before and after I found I could not stand or sit for much time, much less stand at an easel to paint. At that time I was also a very frustrated painter and was having a really hard time with confidence in my work. So, while at an art fair, I found myself buying a gourd. The artist had seriously under priced them. When I told her so, she said I grew all these and just needed to get rid of them! So I took the gourd home and studied it and got a few free from a farmer. I decided to start playing and see what I could do with them myself. Needless to say, I loved it and I started doing tons of gourds. I decided to sell them when I had no room for any more! I also felt a freedom to do anything and nobody could say anything because at that time I didn't know anybody else in the medium.
I also get asked where my ideas for each gourd comes from. (Shrugs shoulders).... I don't know - how does anyone decide what to paint? I might be inspired by the shape of a gourd, or the skin of the gourd might be especially cool. Sometimes I have a really cool bead or fetish or some other item to put on it. I am inspired by ceramics and sculpture alot. I have a file full of images that have sparked some kind of idea in me. I never copy them, but take that vein of thought and run with it. I have to change it and make it my own. I especially love pine needle coiling and am finding that I do that on most of my gourds now. I do occasionally use philodendron sheaths or palm stalk or some other natural material that would be great for a rim of a gourd.
The only thing I don't like about gourds is that when I do a show in the Midwest, I feel I have to explain them. For example, if someone asks me "What kind of art do you do?" I say gourds, but I HAVE to say NOT chickens and snowmen and birdhouses. My work is more like ceramics (and is often mistaken for ceramics). If someone asks me that question while I am in the Southwest, I dont' have to explain myself, they already know what I am talking about. While I know my gourds are still a form of craft, I believe they are a fine art craft which is why I call them fine art gourds.
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