|
Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
Pine Needle Gourd Baskets Demonstrated by Lynn Horine at Kentucky Artisan Center
On Saturday, August 18, Lynn Horine of Bedford, KY will demonstrate how she creates her pine needle gourd baskets from 10:30 – 3:30 at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.
Originally from Southern California, Lynn Horine moved to Kentucky 40 years ago to settle with her husband in his home town of Bedford. Lynn has always been interested in the arts and except for instruction in oil painting, and quilting, she is essentially a self-taught artist. After reading the Fox Fire books, Lynn became interested in basketry and began creating Appalachian style baskets. It was when trying to make a pine needle basket from a kit that Lynn found the material that she really loved.
Reading books by North Carolina pine needle basket maker Judy Mallow, Lynn began experimenting with pine needle basketry. Coming across information about gourd baskets, she then taught herself how to clean and prepare them for use with her pine needle coiled work. The pine needles Lynn uses come from the long leaf pine trees of North Carolina – each needle being about 12-17 inches in length. These pine needles also require cleaning and must be soaked in hot water for about 3 hours, the caps are removed, and the needles dried before they can be bundled together. Lynn uses artificial sinew or waxed nylon thread and an upholstery needle to build and wrap the needles into coils.
The gourds are purchased ‘dirty’ and Lynn soaks them in soap and bleach and scrubs them with a wire brush or pot scraper. She states, “It’s like Christmas, as you never know what beauty is under all the mold and gunk!” After the gourd is clean and dry, Lynn cuts the gourd open with a dremmel tool or jig saw. Then the inside of the gourd must be scraped and sanded. Lynn sometimes enhances the gourd surface with wood stain, paint or leather dyes. She attaches her pine needle coils by piercing the gourd with an ice pick and sewing the wrapped coils of pine needles into the planned openings, sometimes adding slices of walnuts, pine cones or other materials to embellish her gourd baskets.
Lynn is a juried member of the Kentucky Guild of Artists & Craftsmen and her work can be regularly found at the Kentucky Artisan Center, located just off Interstate 75 at exit 77 (Berea). The Center’s exhibits, shopping, and travel information areas are all open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the café from 8 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Admission is free. The Center currently features works by more than 650 artisans from 90 counties across the Commonwealth. For more information call 859-985-5448 or visit the Center’s web site at www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov
The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Commerce Cabinet.
|