Central Ohio pumpkin carvers to appear on Food Network
REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio ( WCMH ) — Reynoldsburg artist Deane Arnold has been making art his whole life, but it's only in the last eight years he discovered his now "preferred" medium, pumpkins.
"I got to keep this moist while we're talking. Otherwise, it'll end when, when the surface oxidizes, it gets a film on, and it gets harder to sculpt," Arnold said while sitting in his garage Monday, with his sculpting tools and a large pumpkin in front of him. "Initially, I liked doing it because it was a twist on a familiar thing."
Arnold is taking on a new role in his work, as a judge in the upcoming season of "Outrageous Pumpkins" on the Food Network.
"We're in, this is season five coming out now, and each season I am called upon to do different things," he said. "They needed a judge. 'Deane, does this shirt fit you? Can you go see the hair and makeup person?'"
In addition to being a judge, he said he's also a supporter of all the contestants, a teacher, and a mentor.
"No one learns in an envelope; you learn from example," Arnold said. "You learn from what other people are doing. Look at examples of what other people are doing, they're teaching you something. So, no one learns in a vacuum. No one, no one is self-taught."
Arnold was joined Monday afternoon by another central Ohio artist, Titus Arensberg.
"Born and raised in Newark, Ohio, not to brag," Arensberg said as he worked on his newest creation. "Just your classic half bear, half cyborg sculpture. I like to have fun."
Arensberg competed in a previous season of "Outrageous Pumpkins" and will be featured in the all-star cast of Season 5 as well.
"I started in a kitchen, this carbon melon," Arensberg said. "So, I was a dishwasher, and I, I found this old Thai book. It wasn't even written in English. So I tried to duplicate the photos." He used that book to get his start in pumpkin sculpting.
He was a professional artist well before he found himself on television.
"I carved ice professionally full time for, like, 10 years," Arensberg said. "I've had frostbite in every finger. When you're having fun and doing it for the right reason, it works itself out."
Arensberg is a character, and his art shows it.
"It took years and years to accept that my sculptures are cute," he said. "You know, I'd want to fight children, old ladies, [saying things like] 'that's adorable.' Like, oh, my God. But no, I found my lane, and I have fun."
"They're a part of me, every single one, and then I throw them on my compost," Arensberg joked. Except, the compost part is real. These artists understand a pumpkin can't last forever.
"This is all ephemeral art, which is kind of a semiofficial title, because it doesn't last," Arnold said. "It's here for the moment."
Another artist working away on a giant squash (yes, pumpkins are squash, not gourds) in Arnold's garage is Anthony Pater. He carved his first pumpkin when he was 10 years old.
"I didn't have a shirt on. I don't have any professional tools. It was just a little, you know, bare-bodied me running around the kitchen with, with knives," Pater said.
The youngest artist of the group really found his groove as a pumpkin sculptor in college when COVID hit and forced everyone inside.
"Funny enough, it came from a place of low self-esteem, actually, because I didn't want the pumpkins that I carved," he explained. So, he decided to make midnight deliveries to buildings across his campus and leave little notes behind for unsuspecting students and staff to find the next day. It became a hit, and the Food Network noticed, casting him on "Halloween Wars" shortly after.
"Deane actually reached out to me, and we connected, and I've learned so much from him," Pater said.
Pater won't be on Season 5, but he'll watch and hope for the future.
"It's fun. The show is really a lot of fun," Arnold said.
"Outrageous Pumpkins" season 5 debuts Sunday, Sept. 29 at 10 p.m.
