How are the gourd horses made?
The gourds used in these sculptures were grown in the 1970s and perfectly preserved in a hay barn near my home in Virginia. I discovered them in the winter of 2023, and was inspired by a chubby pony who lives at the farm. (Gordito means little fat one in Spanish)
Each gourd is scrubbed to remove 50 years of dust and dirt, then waxed, painted, or stained. The horse heads, tails and legs have an interior aluminum wire and foil armature on which I build out the features using a Japanese air dry paper clay and Apoxy Sculpt clay. I do not use molds, so each animal is unique.
Most of the sculpted parts are finished with layers of acrylic paint and then polyurethane. The interiors of the gourds are specific to each piece. Examples include resin pours with pigment or sparkles, gold leaf, velvet fabric, and a leather covered candle pedestal.
Studying horse anatomy to try for realism in my sculptures is an enjoyable challenge. The horses at the farm probably think I'm weird for staring at them so much.
