Let Morgantown artists inspire your jack-o’-lanterns this Halloween.
images photographed by Carla Witt Ford
Pumpkins are irresistible. The cheery color—and that shape! Just begging to have its cheeks pinched!
They’re irresistible as a creative medium, too. What other art form invites us to wield knives, get slimy, and play with fire, all right at our own kitchen tables? Or stay on the surface—scrape it. Paint it. Stick things to it.
We can all use some wacky porch rotundity this year. Sassy, menacing, kitsch, bizarre—literally anything goes. Need inspiration? We asked seven Morgantown artists to plant some ideas.
Think A Head
Heads of all kinds can inspire your artwork. “This is a big cat face jack-o’ lantern,” says Francisco Amaya, an artist, art teacher, and musician from Wheeling. “I carved it with oversized features and simple outlines. The style is inspired by pre-Columbian Aztec jaguar images.”
Embrace the Sphere
Digital illustrator and designer Elisha Rush approached her pumpkin as a spherical canvas. “I chose to use a combination of illustration and papercrafting to decorate this pumpkin, combining the strengths of both to make a three dimensional design that really leaps forward into space.”
Go Eclectic
Express your infatuations and passions. “This pumpkin is one of my ‘Oshkas’—a series of paintings of whimsical characters that are a combination of matryoshka dolls, quilting, and jewelry, all things that I love,” says tattoo artist, painter, and silversmith Patricia Loy-Colebank.
Mine the Media
Whatever slice of media you enjoy, work it. “I really like the movie Beetlejuice and, when I thought of making this pumpkin, it immediately came to mind,” says Morgantown High School sophomore Darby Shaub. “What better to make a pumpkin into than a sandworm?”
Feel the Force
“I liked the idea of responding to the form of the existing pumpkin to create a character,” says mixed media sculptor Brittany Weekley. “When I looked at this particular pumpkin, this cute and spooky scarecrow is who I saw.”
Feel the Force
Try surrendering to the moment—you never know what will happen. “On the eve of Halloween, a creature channeled itself through me and into this pumpkin,” says Eli Pollard, a Morgantown visual artist and musician.
Go Wild
Leave it to an artist who works with everything from puppets to stained glass to bring a multidimensional character to life. Penelyn VanOrange carved features, scraped the flesh thin to create contrast by day and flickering layers by night, and pierced the eyes with chopsticks to hover them in place and suggest a mischievous mind.
For more information on the artists, see our digital issue.
