Meet Heather Kinkade, a master Gourd artist innovating new techniques to sell her art. In this post, please consider using some of the skills she learned as a professional gourd artist who sells in the gallery world.
In Early 2009, I joined the Phoenix Gourd club. We call our groups patches, and mine is the largest in the state. We have many good gourd artists in the room, and I was learning a lot about using the tools. One evening, this pigtailed gal walked in with one of the most enormous gourds I had seen. She said she was starting and needed some help.
We all took a close look at the precise lines drawn on the gourd and were aware that the complexity of the design was over many of our heads and would be complicated. Part of the lines were already wood burned, and when she showed me the burning tool, I saw that it wasn’t going to be appropriate for her task because it did not have a thermostat on it, so she would not be able to control the heat, of the tip.
Heather explained that she was trained as a landscape designer and had used some of those tools to lay out her design. This fact thoroughly explains how she approached her designs. Over the years, Heather has gone on her path and has been very innovative in the designs and materials she uses. She has become a master gourd artist and sells her work in galleries. In this post, I want to share ways she has laid out her designs on the round surface of the ground. Also, look at some of the innovations she chose to use, hoping it might give you some ideas for your work.
Gourd design from a new perspective
“I have close to 30 years of environmental and landscape architectural education that has provided a strong foundation focused on natural colors and forms that create the basis for all my designs.
I use geometry and free-formed lines, returning to my landscape design training to create pleasing patterns and colors as the entire gourd is used as my canvas.”
Heather looked at the gourd, and I think her landscaping eye took over. If the center point is the house, how would she divide the surrounding area with plants and lines of textural materials? In other words, she took the compass she used for trees and shrubs, a curve, and a ruler to break up the lines with texture in rocks and stones and began drawing sections on her gourd. Let’s imagine how she might have looked at this gourd.
Imagine the opening being the house and the black line being a road. As a landscaper, you divide the space up for different planting materials; the wavy line could have a different selection of grasses, and. the lines on the other side near the top might be planter boxes with flowering pants. The diagonal line of the blue square might be shrubs. Seems silly?
Yes, but diagonal division of the space on the gourd works to allow you to create more areas of interest in textures that could be carved or wood burned or painted differently. You aren’t suddenly left with a space around the back of the gourd, and you now have created different areas to limit and vary your decorative materials.
How it is applied to a Gourd Design
This gourd is similar to the gourd I saw that evening with overlapping circles. I imagine these representing the shade of trees that shade the house, represented by the textured black circle. Then, the band of geometric shapes reminded me of a planter with shrubs and flowers, and the coiling at the bottom seemed like the gravel used in most yards in Phoenix.
Her design structure uses circles to divide the space around the entire gourd. This allows her more area for images and forces the viewer’s eye to turn the gourd to see more. This gourd is divided into four sections: the wood-burned flowers coming from the top and overlapping the circle, then the white band with smaller circles, and at the bottom, giving the gourd a feeling of weight, is the wood-burned coiling technique.
Here is a later piece where she has reversed the pattern at the top and bottom but kept the circles in the center.
This gourd again shares the 4-section layout.
This gourd has a similar design but uses four ovals and two sections at the bottom.
This is a gourd made later in her career; she has mastered the technique and made it more complicated. Notice how the sections now become triangles and cover both the gourd’s top and lower sections of the gourd. Once you have a design scheme you are comfortable with, then you alter it. This keeps your artist juices flowing!
Faux Coiling becomes her signature technique.
Heather learned the basic coiling technique while in our group, but she didn’t like it, so she decided to experiment and came up with several different ways, and you can see them on her gourds,
The Color Palette
“I migrate to deep, rich colors and textures that reflect nature’s palette. I carve, burn, and finish each gourd with colored pencil or acrylic paint and sometimes add a small embellishment. “
She started with colored pencils because she told me it allowed her more control. The layering of different shades of color takes longer, but she has now mastered the technique and enjoys demonstrating working on her gourd while in her booth at shows. Over time, you can see how her skills have improved.
“As a Landscape Architect, I feel most at peace when plants surround me. The yellow sunflower, blue morning glory, and pink magnolia are favorites and work well with burning and carving on the gourd surface. I favor deep, earthy colors, and using botanicals as a subject matter allows me to create an image for blending color to enhance the plant vegetation’s depth or layering and contouring.”
Faux Leather Tooling Create her Western Theme
“With my roots in Wyoming, my western-themed gourds in faux leather tooling should reflect real tooled leather work. I have honed my faux leather tooling, which combines actual leather tooling patterns, carving, burning, and color rendering to mimic reality to the point that it will fool you into thinking it is genuine leather.
“My signature has become my varied faux basket patterns and faux leather tooling, unlike any created on a gourd. I challenge the traditional to think beyond the box and incorporate my love of nature into every gourd. “
Showing Unfinished Work in Her Booth
She will have several gourds at different stages of her process to help the prospective buyer see how much time is spent creating gourd art. This also helps justify the steep prices needed for gallery work.
Innovated use of Leather
Just before leaving Phoenix, she returned to Wyoming to help her parents run the K3 Guest Ranch. She gave a class for our gourd group on how she wove leather strips around a gourd. It was not difficult, but it took much patience, too. Now, this technique has seen the addition of natural embellishment.
Mask Making and Innovation of Display Material
“My masks are a combination of southwestern and contemporary expressions. While the basic idea is Native American, the actual layout of each mask is my original design, including the shapes and coloring of the copper and paper feathers. I play with textures and materials to create truly unique pieces.”
Her style of using faux coiling, geometric shapes, southwest-inspired patterns, and faux tooling flowers has transferred nicely to mask making. Masks are attempted by all of us who create gourd art. But I suggest you closely examine the different metals, pieces of wood, and pedestals she has chosen to use as a display. Some she has mounted on rippled building metals and other texture metal pieces. I also find the vertical pieces of wood intriguing. Consider using these ideas.
Stepping Beyond Your Skills
Once an artist becomes comfortable with their process, the good one uses their creative talent to innovate new ways of making a process work better or create new approaches or materials to make their work more unique and appealing to their clients or those already considering themselves collectors of her work. You can’t survive without making the same gourd in different colors or sizes.
Fulfilling Commissions and adding new ideas for the Gallery Market
When you are asked for a gourd that must fit the color pallet of a room, you must be sure your style can stand the change. Here are two gourds that show how she adapts her work to the client’s needs.
Making a Glass Version of her Gourds
Collectors and gallery owners began asking for something different, a more contemporary design or unusual materials. This was when she had the idea to transfer her entire gourd to a new medium- glass.
Much time was spent finding the right material and a foundry to help her recreate her gourds in the glass. Now, she is winning awards for this innovative application.
“I am using gourds as the mold model for my glass, which again allows an incredible medium for creating glass vessels with a new view of the world. Working to create glass art expands my creative three-dimensional thought process. I must visualize what the inside and outside surfaces will look like in glass. Transparency separates an original gourd design from an original glass design.”
The Path of a Professional Gourd Artist
When you choose a career as a gourd artist, your approach to your art is different. You will need several gourds for a gallery or a series of art festivals and shows. Most artists will focus on four or five technical skills to master so that production becomes faster. As we have seen, Heather’s techniques include faux coiling and leather wrapping, flower tooling technique, and a southwest style that includes masks displayed in a contemporary way. Later, she adds new media with her glass gourds.
Her Techniques establish her Style and Appeal
She uses the same design structure throughout her work because it is efficient for many subjects and allows her to plan her designs quickly. From these techniques, she has established her style and offers her clients subject areas she enjoys. This is how she organizes her work on her website. Botanical, Contemporary, Robe and Leather, and Masks and Southwest.
. “These design expressions allow my technical background to be released and explored further. I can use geometry and free-formed lines, returning to my landscape design training to create pleasing patterns and colors as the entire gourd is used as my canvas. Now that I found the artist in me; I have separated my art into several categories: Botanicals, Southwestern, Western, Contemporary, Masks, Glass, and Paintings.”
Meeting the needs of a new art show experience
Heather can now show/sell once a year at the Arizona Fine Art EXPO in Scottsdale. This event lasts from January through March. During these three months, she arrives daily to sell and demonstrate her work.
She will often complete a gourd a visitor wants to purchase. They then get to choose the colors and take it home at the end of the event. She has a large display booth that costs thousands of dollars and competes with artists using all media. The event is under a huge tent and is quite something to experience.
Using Heathers ideas and adapting to Your Gourd Art
Heather’s design structure is worth trying, and if you like it, it might improve the look of your gourd. Faux tooling and coiling are both techniques that are taught at festivals, and you might find a gourd artist near you who can help you get the basics. The ideas for mounting masks are also an easy tip. I found some of her metal ideas at Home Depot the other day. And last of all, have you tried using colored pencils on your gourds? That is not difficult. My tip here is to try the Prismacolor brand because they blend the best on gourds.
“My ultimate goal is to mix gourds, carving, wood burning, glass, and painting to find a fresh product, a piece of art that is visually satisfying and quenching all artistic desires. Follow me on this quest and discover what can be created as I do.
I learn about my chosen medium—gourds—the more I become entranced by their versatility for a unique piece of art.”
You can also take some time to visit her website to take a look at more of her work.
I hope this post encourages you to learn these techniques. They will increase your sales and gain you respect among other gourd artists.
Please share your thoughts about this topic, and if you show in galleries, share your opinion on how you have succeeded in the comment box or share them with all the gourd artists on our Facebook Group Page.
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