Holly Parker

Holly Parker's love affair with gourds began more than a decade ago in a little shop along the Georgia Coast. She discovered a small, yet beautiful, teal-colored bowl that she could not identify. Its rich surface texture and vibrant colors piqued her interest. She had to know more.
She learned it was a gourd. She had seen gourds before, baskets of rustic orbs on display, mildewed and bleached by sun and weather, the dried fruits of plant relatives of myriad garden regulars: cucumbers, squash, pumpkins. They grew in farmer's fields on bare earth, and in their natural state each expressed its own version of organic and spontaneous beauty. She learned the little bowl she noticed began like this. Then it was carefully dried and meticulously scrubbed clean. Special dyes and other finishes enriched the little gourd's already intense, leather-like surface. The result was a beautiful artifact that expressed the richness of nature and the artisan's clear commitment to craftsmanship and design.
It was the start of her obsession with the gourd as an artistic medium.
She began modestly, with paste waxes and other simple materials while studying more about this new discovery. Over a decade she has refined her skills, learning under the tutelage of the most advanced artisans in the field.
Today her work has matured alongside a design philosophy that insists on celebrating the natural beauty of the gourd, its shape, surface, imperfections, and uniqueness. Only after acknowledging this native beauty does she modify the object. She avoids techniques that conceal, such as opaque finishes, opting instead for visibility. She deliberately chooses stains whose transparency reveals surface, she carves only where surface or form suggests improvement, and she adds pattern cautiously and with purpose—usually by the meticulous technique of pyrography, or burned images. Her goal is that each gourd become a unique celebration of its natural beginning and a witness to her commitment to the craft.
Holly Parker resides in Eatonton, Georgia with her husband, Fred and their Border Collie, Diva.