O B Gourdworks
Conway Lundquist, Artist
So who's Conway?
Based in Ocean Beach, a community of San Diego, California, Conway Lundquist is an award winning gourd artist who chose hard-shelled gourds as his primary artistic medium over a decade ago. He hand-selects his 'canvases' from an organic gourd farm in Southern California. This way he gets the perfect gourds for the his new art project ideas. Conway is a self- taught artist who develops his art ideas from studies of real life, videos, and photos. Most often, his designs are drawn free-hand in pencil directly on the gourd skin prior to wood burning. Each gourd is one of a kind in shape, size, shell thickness, surface texture, and skin color, adding new challenges to each project. 'Blemishes' become part of the designs... His first gourd art project used that 'snake' gourd to create a gourd art hanging and a gourd lamp. It was dried and cut in half. He wood burned and stained each half. The gourd hanging, which had wooden beads and coconut shell pieces hanging from the open end is called the Tribal Gourd. The lamp, when lit, projects dove-like shadows on the wall and is called, (who could guess?) the Dove Lamp. From the seeds of that first gourd, several crops of gourds were grown at the beach, resulting in many new art projects. Soon, Conway began hearing about a 'gourd farm' and an art festival involving gourds. While purchasing gourd holiday ornaments at a local craft fair, he happily discovered that there was a whole world of gourd art and artists! A trip to the International Gourd Festival at the Welburn Gourd Farm proved enlightening and inspiring. Now a member of the California Gourd Society, the Gourd Art Enthusiasts web site,and the San Diego County Gourd Patch, Conway was awarded the first place blue ribbon for pyrography (woodburning, beginner's division) in 2003 at the Welburn International Gourd Festival in Fallbrook, Ca. He was awarded other ribbons in other categories at the Welburn Gourd Farm's 2009 annual showcase of all things gourd.
Why gourds? Well, Conway's Dad grew some gourds one summer in Hopewell, Virginia, and the vines covered the whole front of the house, causing a sensation in that small Southern town. When the gourds dried, all the neighborhood kids had fun 'swordfighting' with them. From that fond childhood memory, fast-forward to the New York Pizzeria in Carlsbad, California, circa 1998. In planters in the parking lot were the largest gourds Conway had ever seen. Maria, one of the owners, gave him a 40 lb. green beauty, that dried in six months to four feet long and less then 2 lbs.
Conway is a featured artist in the Welburn Gourd Farm 2011 Calendar for October.
