An Interview with Debbie Wilson

In memoriam of Debbie Wilson

Since the conduction of her interview, Debbie Wilson has sadly passed away, but she will always be remembered as an amazing, kind, and inspirational person.

Background/early life

Debbie Wilson is a gourd artist, and her art is displayed in many different galleries across the Southeast. Debbie Wilson grew up in Miami, Florida where as an adolescent she spent a lot of her time outside, reading, making art, and hanging out with friends. Since she was so in tune with nature the textures, colors, and shapes in nature have influenced her art today. When she went to college, she majored in art education, and she later became an art teacher for many years. After she officially retired in 2012, she started teaching carving, basket weaving, and mixed media classes. One of her favorite things to teach is weaving because “many people don’t realize it is something they could do”. Being able to connect to others and teach them a new skill brings a sense of joy. She said that she truly started making art around 1996, but made smaller pieces before then, especially as a young girl

Feelings About Art

Debbie found her passion for art, specifically weaving, once she moved to South Carolina. Once her kids had grown up, she wanted a way to connect with others in the area, so she joined a weaving guild. Though she does love weaving, she also enjoys watercolor, mixed media, quilt making, and other forms of painting, which she often incorporates into her gourd art; however her favorite forms of art are carving, watercolor, and sculpture weaving. She often incorporates materials around her in her art, like leaves and sticks. She thinks this may be from her days teaching when you had to make do with what you were given. This is a wonderful way to use resources around you and incorporate nature into your work. Being able to include things around you into your art makes art more accessible and affordable. If those items are sticks, leaves, acorns, etc., it gives the art a fun twist and a more naturalistic feel. Artists may love creating art, but it is easy to get burnt out. When this happens to Debbie, she changes the medium she is using or the piece that she is working on. There have also been times in her life when she didn’t make art at all. It is very easy to get caught up in life, especially when you have a 9-5 and have kids to take care of. Such instances can often make people sad, but Debbie didn’t seem to be phased by it. She says that “it is okay to get caught up on life because everything happens for a reason”. 

Inspiration

Artists find inspiration in a wide variety of ways, but for Debbie she often finds inspiration in music, even though she is not musically inclined, as well as the outdoors. For her rhythms, beats, and lyrics turn into shapes and colors in her mind that inspire her artwork. I find it easy to be inspired by other people’s artwork. Debbie can also relate to me in this sense. She finds inspiration in some of the masters like Matisse and some contemporary artists. She is always looking at others’ art. The world that surrounds us is art, so when you look hard enough, finding inspiration can be effortless.

Her Work

Debbie has many years of experience creating art. When she was younger, she never thought that she would sell her work or that it would become a profession. She is happy that her life led her in a way that she could sell her artwork. For a single gourd piece, it could take years for her to complete depending on the complexity of the gourd. She also takes breaks when working on a piece if she gets bored or hits a roadblock, and works on other projects in the meantime. While creating a piece, her favorite part is the planning period and being in the midst of working on a piece of the artistic process. She says there is a sense of calmness in the middle of making a piece of work. Some may say that art needs a deeper meaning to it, but that does not apply to Debbie. Even when she begins making something with a deeper meaning in mind, she feels like she loses it if she tries to explain her reasoning. She creates her art more to show texture and shapes that speak to her rather than for a specific reason. For Debbie, art is a good way to work through good and hard times, and she thinks art can be a good way for people to cope and express their emotions.

Interview conducted and written by Julia Pressley.