Jenn Avery GOURD ART
  • Home
  • Gallery
  • Store
  • Blog
  • About
    • About the Artist
    • About the Process and FAQs
  • Calendar
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
  • Etsy
  • Video

Jenn's Gourd Art Blog

Golden Eagle Mask

5/1/2020

9 Comments

 
I have been "gourding" for 20 years- I cannot even believe it has been that long but it has! 
​
Over the years I have made some gourd "oncers" which is my word for I just want to make it once, just so that I have the experience. Like the gourd lamp, the flute, the kalimba and the kaleidoscope. 

A mask was something that I had not yet tried.  Lots of people have made masks, they even have a history of being used by Native Americans, and they are a popular art form today.  

That all being said,  I started working on this in February and my original intention was to use real feathers to decorate it, much like other mask artists use.  However as I started burning in the small feathers on the surface, I decided instead to use actual gourd pieces to turn into more feathers.  
Picture
the original gourd ready to cut out the mask
Picture
Some of the feather cut outs that were added.
Since I wanted to have a Celtic flair to it, I added knot work to the top feathers and created more feathers inside each knot.  Gold leaf was applied to the Celtic knots, and the feathers, beak and eye rings were painted with transparent gold acrylic.
Picture
Top down view, here you can see the gold leaf on the knot work.
So, I honestly thought this would be something to hang on a wall, but as I worked on it and actually tried it on and it really fit!  This is definitely a "oncer" art piece but I am happy I made it.  It took a lot longer to complete than I first anticipated but with the stay at home orders, and most of my shows being canceled, it was good to have a fun and different project like this to work on.
Picture
Side view and the configuration of the added gourd feather pieces.
Picture
Here's me in my Golden Eagle Gourd Mask! What do you think?
9 Comments

    Author

    I am Jenn Avery, gourd artist of 20+ years. I have been a multi-disciplinary artist all my life, and my work has taken many twists and turns and many directions.  Gourd pyrography has become my passion, but I love to experiment with all kinds of art and crafts.  It gives me joy to pass on my enthusiasm for making art that makes people happy!

    Archives

    January 2021
    July 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    May 2019
    January 2019
    September 2018
    March 2018
    September 2017
    June 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Gallery
  • Store
  • Blog
  • About
    • About the Artist
    • About the Process and FAQs
  • Calendar
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
  • Etsy
  • Video