Featured Artist Profile

Iris Gach – Calabash Club of Silicon Valley

By: Lisa Baurmeister

In this issue, we feature a gourd artist as humble as they come, who sometimes thinks she is a beginner artist, but who is very talented! I am talking about Iris Gach of the Calabash gourd patch. She is fast learning and always willing to help and share what she has learned.

When asked how she got interested in doing gourd art, Iris says, "The first time I saw a gourd was in 1993 in Folsom, Calif. I fell in love right there and then. I immediately bought a bunch of gourds and hauled them home, where they sat in my garage until 2016. That was when I retired from my job at Safeway after 42 years as a retail clerk, and finally had time to play with them. “

Iris has always loved arts and crafts, be it sewing, macrame, beading, you name it, she enjoyed doing it. Leaning along the way has been Iris's mantra. But it was when she joined the Calabash club, her work started to shine. "Learning the ins and outs of working with gourds and taking classes at different festivals and club demos helps."

As far as a preferred medium or specific style goes, Iris likes them all. "Part of the fun for me is trying out new things. I carved, wood burned for a while, then tried Dot painting, now I am on to Mudding. I work with whatever catches my interest at that moment."

Now before you ask what Mudding is, Iris will tell you: “Mudding is creating a design using a paste like clay product. The mud I use is a special clay paste that looks like mud, hence the name. The mud was developed and created by Margot Clark/margotclark.com. It can dry rock hard and be kiln fired, but of course not on a gourd. I use a pastry bag and decorating tip to draw a line and then a small paintbrush to dip in the mud line and drag it down to my center point creating a flower petal or leaf. The mud dries fast and very hard but has a fragile look.”

Iris learned the technique and then taught the club how to do it. This style looks excellent on gourds, especially ornaments, as you can see above!

A giving person, Iris uses her skills in a philanthropic way as well. She makes gourd pieces to give to Sugi Karuppiah, co-president of Calabash and a past featured artist (see Spring Issue 2020 of the Golden Gourd) to sell for her charity funding. "I enjoy helping Sugi and her NextVision charity. I get to practice and play with art and help a good cause like NextVision simultaneously, a win-win, in my book!