Freckles, enlarged pores, and jagged teeth. Bug eyes, wrinkles, and awkwardly big noses.
These are all things that Studios on the Park manager and curator Jordan Hockett gives to pumpkins.
“I think the weird shapes of pumpkins lend themselves to kind of being very strange looking people, and ultimately, a lot of times they end up looking slightly questionable,” Hockett said. “Ultimately, it’s a pumpkin. So, it can be silly. I have a license to be silly or weird or whatever.”
Hockett’s been sculpting pumpkins into fully fledged characters every October for the last 15 years, and that talent will be on full display in Studios on the Park on Oct. 18 from 5 to 7 p.m. The pumpkin sculpting demo is free to anyone who wants to stop by and will eventually get posted on social media for those who couldn’t make it.
All you need is a pumpkin and tools, such as a paring knife and small set of clay loop tools, and anyone can get their giant squash to make a face, he said. Taking layers off little by little—Hockett compared it to peeling vegetables—is much more forgiving of mistakes than the traditional carving, where pieces are cut out of the giant fruit.
“I maintain that once you start doing it, anyone can do it. … I guarantee that you will get a face on it,” he said. “I think it’s more forgiving than a traditional jack-o’-lantern. Because once you cut the eye out, you’re stuck with it. Once it’s cut, it’s cut.”
Pro tip: It’s best to find an interesting-shaped pumpkin with some meat on it.
“I’m hoping for a thickness I can get the detail to,” he said. “I’m looking for something that’s heavy and dense.”
To find a perfect specimen, Hockett recommends that people hit up their local pumpkin patch. The Paso Robles native prefers to find his at River K Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze, usually something that’s 2 to 2 1/2 feet in diameter.
The pick-your-own-pumpkin purveyor has been hawking pumpkins since 1969, according to Valerie Reynolds, who said her parents started the patch outside of Santa Barbara as a 4-H project for Reynolds and her brother. In 1994, her parents, Herb and Ginny Kunze, purchased the land in Paso Robles, where the patch has been ever since.
Her parents are now 91 and 90, respectively.
“He and I together planted all the pumpkins,” Reynolds said of her father. “He drove the tractor, and I planted all the seeds, so it was pretty special to me.”
With 5 acres of pumpkins and a 5-acre corn maze, a little haunted house, and scarecrows, River K has about 30 varieties of pumpkins. From blue, pink, peach, white, and standard orange to green with bumps and warts.
“Everything [we] have is still on the vines,” she said. “We give you a pair of clippers and send you out into the field.”
If the pumpkins you’re looking for are too big to carry, River K also has wagons they can send you out with. While you might not see any fair-worthy sizes, Reynolds said there are some that might be as heavy as 100 pounds.
“Come earlier in the month while we still have a good, big selection and things are still looking pretty,” Reynolds said. “Try not to wait until the last minute or you might be disappointed.”
River K has also sold out before Oct. 31 the last couple of years, so you’ve been warned. However, Hockett cautions people not to cut into their pumpkins too early. The faces he creates on Oct. 18 during the demo will be lucky to last a week, he said.
As he’s peeling back squash skin that Friday evening, people are welcome to ask questions and check out a different way of celebrating the Halloween tradition of carving. He added that when you add light to the pumpkin, the face mimics a photo negative. The deeper you go, the brighter the glow.
He started sculpting squash while he was still in art school at the University of San Francisco to give himself a break from homework assignments and do something that was just for him.
Although Hockett mostly focuses on painting now, he said that sculpting pumpkins every year enables him to re-hone those skills and work with something more physical. It’s a craft he looks forward to and allows him to be more freewheeling with his creativity.
“With a painting, I have to hope that it sells. There’s more pressure to do a piece of art,” he said. “With the pumpkin sculpting, I know it’s going to rot eventually, so it is purely just for the fun of it and practicing sculpting. … It’s kind of nice to do something like that.” Δ
Editor Camillia Lanham is clambering into the pumpkin patch. Send story tips to clanham@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Oct 10-20, 2024.