Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Carver?
I, like most people, have been carving pumpkins since I was very young. Heck, I can't even remember when my Mom first let me take knife to vegetable! I am sure it was a wondrous sensation to scoop the goop out of that very first, personally made Jack-O-Lantern!
For many years I stayed with pretty conventional looking pumpkins. Then I started to get more elaborate (as my imagination, skill with a knife and patience grew), but I was still not satisfied with the result. I always felt that there was more that could be done with this medium. I think that that is what set me along this path, treating the pumpkin as an art medium rather than just a prop to be carved into cute or scary shapes.
With that, I began playing around with different approaches to pumpkin carving. I finally hit upon the idea (original to me, at the time), of carving away just area of the skin, leaving the meat of the pumpkin shell in tact. This created the problem of lighting, as there were no openings in the pumpkin to allow a candle to 'breath'. This was solved with the use of an incandescent light bulb and a length of power cord.
The main feature of this method of carving is that it allows for the most intricate of carving potential! Using fine tools and several different techniques, I can apply very fine detail to a pumpkin that could not be done any other way.
I began doing fairly simple pumpkins, for my own use. As the years progressed I started doing more ambitious designs. In the past two years, I've taken to carving the entire pumpkin, creating whole stories that unfold as you walk around the pumpkin. I have also begun doing commercial pumpkins. As you will see in the following photo pages, I have several commercial pumpkins displayed to show how well a corporate logo can be carved onto a pumpkin to the delight of all of your customers!
Below are links to my pumpkin photo albums. Enjoy!
| 2010 Milford Pumpkin Festival! | 2010 opened with the Milford Pumpkin Fest! Jen and Ted join me as we carve and display our pumpkins for the folks of Milford! |
| 2009 Peabody Youth Session | Back for our second year, the kids of Peabody, MA do a wonderful job with their pumpkins! Come take a look. |
| 2009 | Pumpkins from 2009 including the 20th annual Milford Pumpkin Festival |
| 2008 Peabody Youth Session | I had the opportunity to bring this art form to a group of youths in Peabody Mass this past season. Check this album out to see what we've been up to! |
| 2002 - 2005 | The last 4 years worth of carvings in ONE album! (really, not as big as you'd think LOL) |
| 2001 | Covered bridges, portraits, fun and scary pumpkins. My best year yet! |
| 2000 | Keene Pumpkin Festival, Dragons, TOPS, Lynyrd Skynyrd and more! |
| 1999 | Artwork rendered on pumkins, Jimi Hendrix and others |
| 1997 & 1998 | Several commercial pumpkins, dragons and scary face designs |
| 1996 and earlier | Includes the Grim Reaper, his castle and master as well as a portrait of my brother Joe, amoung others. |
