Last night I took part in one of the greatest traditions in the Stanford art community: carving a pumpkin for display at the house of the legendary professor Matt Kahn. This is an annual event he has been holding for decades. Dozens of pumpkins carved by my fellow Art 60 students and alumni of the class line Matt's driveway, with his pumpkins nestled by the entrance to his Eichler-style home, a museum crammed full of beautiful pieces he has collected throughout his lifetime. Much of this artwork is from indigenous artists around the world and serves as inspiration in his artwork, especially those of the pumpkin variety.
The three pumpkins show above are Matt's. He guest lectured for one of our Art 60 classes, teaching us the importance of repetition, patterns and negative and positive spaces in design. He also emphasized the importance of knowing one's materials; you must design for a curved surface and leave air holes, unless you plan to use LED lighting as was the case in the spectacular pumpkin shown below (I'm not sure whose carved this piece).
For my pumpkin I chose to go with a sea creature theme, settling on a tentacle-wrapped pumpkin. It's been years since I've carved a pumpkin. I don't think I'll approach this activity in the same way ever again.
