Categories: Art

Gourd art

Gourd art involves creating works of art using Lagenaria spp. hard-shell gourds as an art medium. Gourd surfaces may be carved, painted, sanded, burned, dyed, and polished. Typically, a harvested gourd is left to dry over a period of months before the woody surface is suitable for decorating.

Gourd decoration, including pyrography, is an ancient tradition in Africa and Asia as well as among the indigenous peoples of the Americas, notably the central highland people of Peru, the Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo nations of the American Southwest, and the Nuxálk and Haida nations of British Columbia. Gourd crafting and painting has evolved from early hand carvings to the modern day use, by some, of electric wood burners and high-speed pen-shaped rotary tools that can be used to inscribe almost any design.

A wide variety of gourd shapes and sizes yields an array of art pieces, including: ornaments, bowls, sculpture, vases, and wall art such as masks. Artistic styles can range from craft to fine art. Perhaps the most prolific and successful gourd artist in the United States is Robert Rivera of New Mexico.

The American Gourd Society, headquartered in Kokomo, Indiana, was founded in 1937 and publishes its own magazine. The Canadian Gourd Society was formed in 1999 and is located in Kitchener, Ontario. Both are national nonprofit organizations dedicated to the education and instruction of those interested in gourd history, cultivation, painting, crafts, and participating in competitions. Gourd Art shows and festivals occur in many places throughout North America, the oldest running festival was founded in North Carolina in 1942. In recent years, Internet technology has considerably broadened exposure to the art form which in turn has helped generate a marked increase in the number of participants. In North America, gourd art has been the subject of specialty television programs such as The Carol Duvall Show on Home & Garden Television. No longer considered just a craft, gourd art is being elevated to the point where it has been featured in a number of galleries and magazines and exhibited at the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.

In 2003, gourd artists from the United States, Australia, and Canada got together to create the world’s first Gourdpatch quilt. Each artist brought their particular artistic style to a flat 4″ × 4″ gourd tile which was stitched together to create a quilt.
Gourd lamp
Gourd lamp is a lamp made of dried gourd.

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Waterfowl is a plant of ivy. It can be cut easily while it has a chopable structure. When they dry, they lose the water in the fiber structure and have a woody structure. Even in its natural form, the waterfalls have a decorative structure. Especially in the United States “gourd art” name has formed a branch of art.

Gourd lamp
These decorative products known as “gourd lamp” or “hyoutan lamp” in the world and also called “Gourd lamp” in Turkish are as follows:

After harvesting dried zucchini in the branch, it is removed by a peel-off or hard brush. The underside of the gourd is opened by a cutting tool and the core is discharged. Pattern is created by drilling holes on the Gourd with drill, utility knife and similar tools. If desired, beads are placed in the drilled holes. The bulb is placed on a tripod and the Gourd is ready when the pumped Gourd is mounted on this stand.

Source from Wikipedia

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