SOUTHWEST GOURD ART: D.R. Nance, a member of the Lumbee Indian Nation, grew up in the “Piney Woods” of East Texas, riding horses and being a cowboy. His desire to work with the natural elements began early in his life as he burned wildlife images into wood pieces gathered from the surrounding forests. His Shawnee grandmother encouraged his youthful artistic inclinations, but as he matured and experienced the demands of raising a family, he put his art aside and worked in the oil fields of Texas.

After 20 years of wildcatting, he once again followed his heart and returned to his passion of making things with his hands. He began by knapping flint to make arrowheads, and then made bows, arrows, and leather goods, things that supported his interests in hunting and being in the mountains.

In 1993, while attending a Native American Powwow, D.R. had a fortuitous meeting with a Lumbee man, who after seeing his painted feathers, acknowledged D.R. as an artist, and engaged him in painting drums. This man was a pivotal force in D.R.'s life, for he directed him to a gourd farm, where D.R. fell in love with the gourds. He immediately began working with them. Overtime D.R. his unique style, which shows influence of the ancient Native American artists of New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico.

D.R., now an accomplished artist, creates powerful art as each uniquely shaped gourd speaks to him, inspiring him to burn designs and images into the outer skin and then to apply dye, paint, feathers, turquoise and metal inlay, native beads, antlers, and leather, thus blending the gifts of the natural world to enrich the gourd’s inherent beauty. What is created is an image that speaks beyond itself, bringing the magic of art as a transformational medium to the enhanced piece.

Diverse in his offering, D.R. makes feathered masks, decorative bowls, usable water jugs and canteens, purses, kachina dolls and medicine bowls. Each piece is unique and brings the power of the spiritual world into the elements of nature to offer rare gifts of beauty and power.

D.R. Nance’s artwork is held in private collections, is exhibited in commercial establishments, and is shown in art galleries throughout the Southwest, in towns such as Taos, Albuquerque, Scottsdale, Tubac, Patagonia, Tucson and Durango. D.R. lives and works at the base of the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Southern New Mexico, where the prairie is wide, and the sun, the moon and the stars shine bright…an artist’s haven.

Eight Northern Pueblos' Arts & Craft Show

2008 1st & 2nd Place

2007 1st & 3rd Place

2006 1st & 2nd Place

(Click for D.R. Nance Bowls)

(Click for D.R. Nance Masks)