Don is a descendent of the Lumbee tribe, and derives his inspiration from Native American traditions, including everyday objects like water containers and other domestic articles typically used in a Native American setting. His creation of medicine rattles pays homage to Native American spiritual traditions.
While Don is half Lumbee and half German, he more closely identifies with his Lumbee roots. Don is a proud ex-Marine and volunteers on a monthly basis teaching children on Camp Pendleton how to do gourd art. Gourds are not a “typical” art medium, and Don explains that gourds “fit” an idea, or cause an idea to take shape. Don helps the children work in this medium and discover how to allow their creativity to flow through this interesting medium. Don has invited FindItByMe.com to witness his classes first hand and we’ll be reporting on that in a future article.
Don explains that he has a method for developing a concept. Often he works from a sketch or drawing most often a Native American motif. He uses pencil and wood burning tools to transfer a two dimensional image to the three dimensional gourd surface. Wood burning is a slow, painstaking process and takes a lot of patience. This patience pays off when it is time to apply pains and colors to the gourd surface.
Although a gourd is a three dimensional surface, Don combines other art forms in his creations. He drills holes in the necks of some gourds and weaves pine needles into the necks, something I’ve never seen before. He also uses yarn to create traditional designs and then weave these in turn into the gourds. The effect is something that a photo does not do justice; you really can’t take your eyes off these works.
