The goal of my art is not only to create an object that is aesthetically pleasing and well crafted, but also to make people smile and maybe even laugh out loud.(more by this artist)
|
|
| | Since I received a bachelor of science degree from the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, my career has taken me from stints in clay and cel animation to graphic arts and computer generated graphics. However my creative instincts were rarely satisfied and another outlet became necessary. For awhile it was painting, for a while it was sculpture and then . . . hordes of gourds took over my studio space. | |
| Artistry of Alan Baker | ||||
| My father was always a farmer at heart. Every year at harvest time he would give me bushel baskets of gourds. Not wanting to hurt his feelings by throwing the gourds away, I needed to figure out something to do with them and maybe give some of them back. Thus my interest in gourd art was born. It started out small and simple, just your typical painted birdhouse. Then I realized there were animals and figures hiding within their ususual organic shapes and it was my task to find them. I still look for shapes within the gourds but now I see them as parts of the whole and through the use of other materials like wood, clay, and fiber, I combine several to form whimsical animals, people, things and situations. The goal of my art is not only to create an object that is aesthetically pleasing and well crafted, but also to make people smile and maybe even laugh out loud.(more by this artist) |
||||
festival artists entertainment location millennium project contact & links