Despite being an old and somewhat unusual medium, gourds haven't lost their appeal. In fact, their popularity is still growing.
The gourd has been referred to as "nature's greatest gift to mankind." Experts believe it is the only plant that spanned the entire globe in prehistoric times. In North America, gourd seeds and fragments dating from 11,000 B.C. have been discovered in Gainesville, Fla. In both Africa and the Americas, gourds were used for baby bottles, infant bathtubs and cradles. Native Americans used gourds for cooking, eating, storing and transporting food, and American settlers stored eggs in bushel (large vessel) gourds.
This connection with ancient culture, coupled with the fact that the gourd is an organic life form, provides a sense of energy that many contemporary artists find compelling. Many gourd artists refer to the spiritual and inspirational nature of their work, saying, "The gourd tells me what to do."
There are many kinds of gourds in use around the world, but most artists in the United States work with the hard-shell variety. These grow in many shapes, but are generally categorized as baskets, bottles or dippers, and siphons, snakes or troughs.
One challenge that gourd artists face (like most craftspeople) is the public's lack of understanding about the amount of labor that goes into each piece. The approximately 12-month growing season for a gourd requires 130 days of full sun. Once ripe, the gourd is cured or dried; this can take anywhere from several weeks to a year. During the curing period, water (about 90 percent of a ripe gourd) evaporates through the woody shell and dries on the gourd's surface, forming mold. The cured gourd then must be cleaned by soaking the gourd in hot water, scrubbing and scraping it to remove the mold. Depending on how the gourd will be used, it may also be cut, and the dried pulp cleaned out.
Once cleaned, the gourd is ready for decoration. Some artists paint the surface; some embellish with beads, shells, basketry, wire, antlers and found objects; some burn; and some carve. Depending on the techniques used and the size of the gourd, some works can be completed in a couple of hours. Others take weeks or even months.
An untitled gourd by Peggy Baumgartner, who scribes designs into the gourd skin, then applies paints, dyes and inks.
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MARKETING THE GOURD
Gourd artists loosely divide their work into two groups -- craft and art. "Craft" gourds may be birdhouses, ornaments, Santa representations, etc. "Art" gourds are referred to as "gallery-quality" pieces. Many artists make both. And all of them seem to be finding ample markets for their work.
"Craft" gourds are usually marketed through craft fairs where prices are low to moderate. "Art" gourd prices range up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars, take much longer to create, and are usually sold through galleries, juried art shows or the Internet.
Peggy Baumgartner, of Vinemont, Ala., has worked with gourds since 1988 and markets through the American Craft Council and Baltimore Alternative wholesale shows, as well as various retail shows in the Southeast.
Educating the consumer about what goes into making each piece is a big part of selling her work. Baumgartner makes both craft gourds, including ornaments, and art gourds. After cutting the gourds, she scribes designs into the skin, applies paints, dyes and inks, and embellishes with waxed pine needles around the top. She recently started making handmade paper from the gourd pulp and uses it to embellish ornaments made of barbed wire and gourds.
Many gourd artists
refer to the spiritual
and inspirational
nature of their work,
saying, "The
gourd tells me
what to do."
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Aside from creating new forms, Baumgartner also hopes to record the past. On a recent organized trip to Peru (see information in "Gourd Resources" box), she spent some time with indigenous people who work with gourds. She plans to return next summer to visit the Bora Indians who live in the jungle outside of the city of Iquitos. "I want to document the techniques these people use in the craft work and how these are changing because of globalization," she explains.
Texas artist Rowena Philbeck was an oil painter when she discovered gourds in 1992. In 1996, her work was featured in Lark Books' "The Complete Book of Gourd Craft" (see "Gourd Resources" box). She makes both craft and art gourds and sells through galleries, crafts fairs, a personal Web site (www2.txcyber.com/~rowena/) and the Gourd Artist's Guild's Web site (www.hal-pc.org/~jstacy).
Groups like the Gourd Artist's Guild have brought many gourd artists together. The guild was formed in 1996 to encourage, enhance and perpetuate the use of gourds as a medium in the arts, and to provide a forum for artists and crafts-people to share ideas, supplies, tips and methods. It now has over 200 links to artists, suppliers, growers, articles and other gourd-related information.
The Webmaster for the Gourd Artist's Guild Web site, John Stacy, is a gourd artist himself. He and his wife Susan create birdhouses, bowls, butterfly hibernation houses, and rattles and containers with Southwestern designs. They sell their work through garden centers, arboretums, country gift stores, galleries and their Web site.
Easton, Conn.-based gourd artist Amy Campanella Traggianese creates commissioned pieces and participates in juried art shows. She makes vessels, containers and decorative teapots. Her most unusual commission was for a container to hold cremation ashes. The Slater Memorial Museum in Norwich, Conn., recently purchased one of her gourds for its permanent collection.
"Butterfly Maker," by Lillian Hopkins, a former polymer clay doll artist.
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Like many gourd artists, Opie and Linda O'Brien of North Perry Village, Ohio, switched from their former mediums to gourds. Linda was a pyrographic artist, and Opie was a pen and ink artist. In 1994, they started Burnt Offerings Studio, a full-time business offering contemporary interpretations of indigenous primitive art. They sell their gourd jewelry, healing vessels and musical instruments through juried art shows, galleries and their cyber-gallery (www.burnt-offerings.com).
GOURD RESOURCES
The American Gourd Society
Box 274
Mt. Gilead, OH 43338
(419) 362-6446 (phone and fax)
Gourd Artist's Guild
Web: www.hal-pc.org/~jstacy
"The Complete Book of Gourd Craft"
By Ginger Summit and Jim Widess
Published by Lark Books
50 College St.
Asheville, NC 28801
(704) 253-0467 or (800) 284-3388
Web: www.larkbooks.com/homepage.html
Peggy Baumgartner's Peruvian Trip Was Arranged by:
Amazon Rain Forest Trips
Morgan Smith & Associates
298 Old Ware Rd.
Wetumpka, AL 36092
(334) 567-7827
Gourd Festivals:
Sandyland's Gourd Festival
RR 4 Box 86
Tangier, IN 47952
(765) 498-5428
Dates: Aug. 28-29, 1999
Number of exhibitors: about 50
58th Annual Gourd Festival
Cary Community Center
Cary, NC
(919) 460-4965
Contact Scott Martin: bulldawg@aol.com
Dates: Sept. 11-12, 1999
Number of exhibitors: about 30
'99 Gourd Festival
The Tree Mover Tree and
Gourd Farm
5014 E. Ave. N.
Palmdale, CA 93552
(805) 947-7121
Dates: Oct. 2-3, 1999
Number of exhibitors: about 25
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WHEN THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Former polymer clay doll artist Lillian Hopkins of Santa Monica, Calif., discovered hard-shell gourds in 1996, and has been making gourd spirit dolls ever since. Because she works at her craft only part-time, each piece takes her two to three months to make. She introduced her "gourd spirit" dolls, priced between $750 and $1,200 each, at the Santa Fe Doll Art "Symposium of Excellence" (505-820-7270; www.dollpage.com/santafe/events.htm) in April 1998. She sold three of the four pieces she had with her and took a deposit on an order for a fourth, all in the first day. "People thought my prices were very reasonable," she adds.
Prices for gourd art vary greatly, depending on the intricacy of the design, the embellishments, whether they are "craft" gourds or "art" gourds, and the market. Baumgartner's gourd ornaments wholesale for $3 to $9, while her vessels wholesale from $18 to $65.
Retail prices for Burnt Offerings' work range from $30 to $60 for earrings and necklaces, which take a few hours to make, to up to $1,000 for some of their sculptural instruments.
ALL'S WELL THAT SELLS WELL
Most gourd artists don't seem to have any difficulty getting their work accepted into juried shows. "I have no problem getting into any shows, and galleries are very excited to have such different things," says Rowena Philbeck.
"When show organizers see the gourds, they love them!" echoes Stacy. O'Brien concurs, "We started doing juried art shows last year, and we were accepted into every show we applied for. Categories vary with each show -- we are considered either three-dimensional sculpture, mixed-media gourd art or fine craft."
GROWING POPULARITY
The popularity of the gourd is nothing new. In fact, gourd art has survived centuries of technological evolution, trends, etc. "Gourds are as available to artists today as they have been for centuries," says Stacy.
The American Gourd Society has more than 5,000 members and reports daily calls from all over the United States. Many states also have their own gourd societies. (Many state societies are listed on the Gourd Artist's Guild Web site).
As we struggle to cope with the rapid changes in our society, more and more of us look for links to the past to provide stability and grounding. Perhaps it is the gourd's ties to nature and ancient cultures that make it speak so eloquently to these artists today.
Grace Butland owned and operated Variations American Crafts Gallery in Riverton, Conn., for 10 years. She currently resides in Musquodoboit Harbour, Nova Scotia.
