Gourd Art - Gourd Masks, Vases, Bowls, Ornaments and Unusual Gourd Art

A unique collection of gourd art including gourd masks and other collectable gourd art

I started dabbling in gourd art in 1999 while living in Texas but didn't get serious about working with gourds until moving back to New Mexico when I retired. I am and always have been truly inspired by the southwest and the native american culture and without the stress of my job I found that my creative juices were flowing more than ever. What I like most about working with gourds is that it allows me to be more creative than what I can do with just woodburning alone. I create my own designs giving me more opportunity for being creative. In addition to doing art on gourds I am now growing gourds. It's great fun starting them from seeds and watching them grow. Once the gourds are dry and cleaned I start working with them and that's when the fun really begins.  Sometimes I start with an idea and then look through my gourds for just the right one to make it work. Other times I start with the gourd and then figure out what to do with it. Depending on the idea, I might do some carving, cutting and shaping with a jig saw or pyrography or a combination. Sometimes I combine those with mediums such as acrylic-based paints, gourd dye inks, embossing powder, shimmer, etc. I enjoy experimenting with leather, natural fiber, beads, feathers and other embellishments as well. I find that working with gourds gives me much more freedom to create and explore new things than pyrography or painting by themselves, so perhaps this is why I enjoy working with gourds so much. I am fortunate to have spent a life of traveling, either for work or pleasure and I never leave home without a camera or two and most of my art is inspired by places I've been to throughout my life. My gourd art starts out with just an idea and evolve as I work on them and I may change the overall design in midstream because I had a "brain fart" in the middle of the night. I never quite know what will happen until it happens! The photo on the left is of my gourd net. It contains all my larger sized gourds waiting for a project. Many of the gourds I did while living in Texas were pre-digital camera and I was unable to get good copies to post them on our website so most of the gourds seen here are brand new. Now that I am retired and have a bit more time on my hands I have backed off on teaching and gotten in to what I really love...actually doing the art rather than teaching it!

 

Please click on the photos below to go to each Gallery

Miscellaneous Vases, bowls and other miscellaneous gourd art	Native American Style & Southwestern A variety of gourds with southwestern themes	Gourd Ornaments Collectable ornaments with unique designs	Gourd Masks Unique masks with pizzazz!

WHY IS GOURD ART SO EXPENSIVE????

That's a great question and let me give you some idea of what is involved in gourd art.

1. First I have to plant seeds and of course say lots of prayers.
2. Gourds require a lot of water and fertilizer
3. Once they start growing and flowers develop some growers, like myself, hand pollinate. This means I have to go out and individually pollinate all female flowers then put a bag on top for 2 days to ensure it takes.
4. Guard against pests, deer & squirrels.
5. Once the growing season is over gourds need to dry out which could take six (6) months or more. Part of this drying time is on the vine and the remainder of the time done in drying bins which allow air flow. This requires time, patience and lots of room.
6. Now comes the fun. Removing the skin and cleaning the outside of the gourd is the hardest and least fun part of working with gourds. Regardless of what type of gourd art I am creating I MUST clean the surface of the gourd. First I soak the gourd in warm, soapy water. Then the best part....scrubbing. Oh, yes this is truly the best part...NOT!
7. If cutting the gourd open (for bowls and vases) we're now adding on a lot more work. I use a mini jig saw to cut the top open and in some cases I do fancy cutting to create unique edging along the top of the gourd. Then the gourd must be thoroughly cleaned out and sanded.
8. Once completely clean I paint and seal the inside.
9. The design is sketched on the surface of the gourd and I can now, burn, paint, dye, carve, inlay or a combination of all of them. This process could take anywhere from 30 minutes to several days to complete the project. Often times it requires experimenting on scrap pieces before working on the project.
10. Several layers of protective varnish is applied which requires two days.
11. Beads and embellishments, such as feathers, sea grass, leather, etc. are sometimes added at this point.

I hope that this will help you understand and appreciate the time and work involved in creating gourd art. Most artists, including me frequently end up working for minimum wage so please don't ask me if I will take less for my time and effort. And all of this is just for a regular gourd. A gourd mask is far more labor intensive when you start adding in all the individual feathers.

Memberships

I am a member of the American Gourd Society, New Mexico Gourd Society, Arizona Gourd Society, Ohio Gourd Society, Washington Gourd Society, Idaho Gourd Society, the Texas Gourd Society and several other gourd societies.

If you would like to view more of my work, please go to our photo album at: Nedra Denison's Picture Trail Album and my gallery at Nedra Denison's Gallery at Fine Art America

How you can purchase one of my original gourds.

If you would like to purchase one of Nedra's original gourds or would like to discuss a commission, contact me

Copyright Information

All of my artwork is copyright protected. It may not be copied, reproduced, used as a pattern, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the artist.