Featured Artist Winter 2022-2023

Bill Wilson of the Folsom Gourd Artists

By Lisa Baurmeister

Contrary to what some might believe, we do have a sprinkle of male gourd artists. They are a rare species, but they do exist. Our gourd artist for this winter is the very talented Bill Wilson and some of his story should sound familiar.

As with many of us gourders, our first introduction to gourds is seeing them at a festival or a booth at a fair. Bill’s experience was no different. “I was invited to a gourd festival in 2002 and was fascinated by all the different techniques that could be used on gourds. I picked up a few gourds and started playing. A year later I had 50 gourds sitting in my house. So, I either had to stop or get good enough to pass them on.” We all can relate, can’t we?

Bill’s previous career was in teaching, he says nothing prepared him for gourd art. However, he had been taking a few classes and workshops in drawing, watercolor, pastel, and woodcarving. In 2004 Bill joined Folsom Gourd Artists, the California Gourd Society and American Gourd Society. He enjoys the club’s monthly gourd meetings because they almost always have a class or demonstration. He has also been learning through books and has taken classes from several of our fine expert gourd artists. He credits his success with a lot of practice.

In the beginning Bill used a wide variety of techniques for coloring gourds. He finally settled on just a few, mostly ink dyes and transparent acrylics. He also uses acrylic paints, Inktense pencils, metal leafing and likes to carve.

When asked if he has a particular style Bill’s reply was, “I tend to use a high gloss finish on all my pieces except for the carved or texture areas. I do have several motifs I repeat frequently including Autumn leaves, hibiscus, dogwoods, sunflowers, holly, and poinsettias for Christmas, and Zentangle patterns. However, Autumn leaves is my signature theme.”

Bill’s favorite technique is to cut out Black Oak leaves, “I love carving while maintaining the integrity of the gourd. And I love making the spines on the edges of the leaves as sharp as possible.”