Student sculptors give pumpkins grand makeovers
Forget the jagged grin found in your typical jack-o-lantern.
The pumpkins that come out of the art studio at Vanguard School in Arlington Heights go beyond the notion of carving a pumpkin. These seasonal gourds are sculpted.
In fact, school officials say they are examples of relief sculpture, using what artists call "the subtraction technique."
Every student at Vanguard takes art, and they eagerly looked forward to this week, which has become a tradition in the school.
Rather than hollowing out the pumpkin, students carved into its rind to create their designs, being careful not to carve too deeply into the fibrous center.
Favorite designs include mythical-looking gnomes, gargoyles and fairies, and they often consult the Arlington Heights-based Design Toscano Web site for ideas.
For the past several years, art teacher Natalie DeMeo has taught her students this advanced type of sculpting, using pumpkins as their medium.
"With the subtraction technique, you can't add back on what you've already taken off," DeMeo says. "It's much like sculpting in marble, as opposed to more traditional sculpting in clay, where you start with nothing, and keep adding on.
"This is harder," she says. "It takes more moxie."
Over the years, her students have produced some intriguing designs and hooked many of them on the unique art form.
The seasonal project also helps DeMeo in preparing for another carving assignment: the annual snow sculpture competition, last year held at Randhurst Shopping Center in Mount Prospect.
Vanguard students have competed nearly every year, carving sculptures out of huge blocks of ice. DeMeo will select students to carve in snow based on how they worked with the pumpkins.
"It's basically using the same subtraction technique as we use on the pumpkins," DeMeo adds.
Last year, Vanguard sent two teams of students to the competition, but this year DeMeo expects to field one team of five artists. If the weather cooperates, they begin sculpting on Feb. 6, 2009.