UVA Library Lights Up Halloween Season With Local Carver’s Scary Pumpkins

This year, he has carved two pumpkins featuring well-known artists whose works are in the special collections holdings: an image from Edward Gorey and an illustration from José Guadalupe Posada.

“Modern-day folks will recognize Gorey’s influence in Tim Burton films,” Hatcher wrote in an email, citing especially “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” This image comes from the poster for a play of “Dracula” starring Frank Langella, for which Gorey designed the set and costumes.

The library has several books and manuscripts related to or illustrated by Gorey, most of which are in the miniature book collection or pop-up book collection.

“Gorey’s surrealistic style can be described as macabre and creepy, and the unsettling nature of Gorey’s characters is perfect for a spooky Halloween theme,” Hatcher said.

She and Morton agreed that the work of Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada also would be appropriate for Halloween. The UVA Posada collection contains more than 150 broadsides, prints and illustrated books. 

Posada was a satirical illustrator working at the end of the 19^th century known for drawing skeleton characters with “calaveras,” or skulls, which are associated with the Mexican holiday “Día de los Muertos,” or the Day of the Dead.

“The dark comedy and intricate nature of Posada’s illustrations were a perfect choice for our special collections pumpkin this year,” Hatcher said. 

Morton, who carved one of Posada’s calaveras astride a horse, said Posada “presents his skeleton-subjects with less horror.”

Each pumpkin carving takes six to seven hours if uninterrupted, Morton said. Simpler designs take about four hours. As in other years, he said the pumpkins for UVA are generally more unusual or have more difficult themes than other requests. Sometimes library staff have suggested a display or collection he could use as a theme.

Morton began carving pumpkins, and then melons, more than 20 years ago when he worked in food service for presentations, decorative platters and centerpieces. He currently manages an ABC store and carves pumpkins and watermelons as a hobby. He’s made them for weddings and parties, as well as Halloween. Everyone wants one, he said, until it comes to what he should realistically charge for his time and effort. Typically, he charges businesses $60 to $80 for the most detailed ones.

And in case you’re wondering, pumpkins are fruit and related to melons, according to Southern Living, but it’s complicated. “Not all gourds are squash, but many squashes are gourds and a pumpkin is a squash and also a gourd,” said an article last year.

Last year was a great year, as far as interest and orders go, Morton said, but not so this year. With the COVID pandemic, people just haven’t been gathering together as they usually would.

The new designs, with their intricate details, can be viewed in the Harrison/Small windows, as part of the Halloween decorations on display.

With so many fewer people on Grounds these days, anyone can view Morton’s grinning gourds and scary scenes in these photos.