HERMISTON, Ore.-Fall is here, and Roger Pope of Boardman, a professional pumpkin carver, has turned the Halloween season into an art form.
Pope grew up in Dallas, Oregon, just west of Salem, and remembers being able to channel his creativity from an early age, including the time he got snowed in and constructed a six-foot snow statue of the family’s pet boxer in the front yard.
“I’ve always been a creative person, but until I found pumpkin sculpting, I didn’t feel like I was living up to my artistic potential,” said Pope. “It’s opened so many wonderful opportunities for me.”
Carving
There are really three specific types of pumpkin carving, cut-through, embossing, and 3-D sculpting, according to Pope, who works as a Graphic Media Producer for the Hermiston School District.
The cut-through method is the most common and is usually associated with Halloween, where a carver cuts through the pumpkin and removes the pieces to create a picture or the classic jack-o-lantern face.
Embossing is when the carver creates a picture or portrait on the pumpkin without cutting through and then illuminates the image from behind.
3-D sculpting differs from carving in that the pumpkin is not cut-through, but rather layers are removed a little at a time.
“It’s natural to sculpt faces,” said Pope, who specializes in subtractive sculpture by scraping, peeling, and carving away layers of a pumpkin to create a face or image. “They quickly convey emotions or tell a story, and that adds to the magic of the fall season and Halloween.”
Pumpkin Sculpting
According to Pope, pumpkin carving really comes down to pumpkins and proper tools.
While people tend to look for the perfect round pumpkin, that one may not always be the best for sculpting.
“The ugly pumpkin is better sometimes,” said Pope. “The best are kind of triangular from where they have been lying on the ground. The pointy part is thickest, so you can carve away from that to create depth.”
Tools are also important when sculpting a pumpkin. Like most of us, Pope started out learning to carve with kitchen knives, before realizing there was a more efficient and artistic alternative.
“Clay tools changed everything,” Pope said, of the tools that are available at most art stores and are now a staple of his craft, along with brushes and special knives. “They allow for more energy, creativity and safety.”
Going Pro and Halloween Wars
While Pope has always been creative, with a background in graphic design, he credits his daughters with helping him get into pumpkin carving.
One year, while carving pumpkins on garbage bags on the floor of their home while watching “Halloween Wars” on TV, his daughters said he could do that and urged him to try out for the show.
What finally convinced Pope to turn pro was, of all things, a pumpkin carving contest that one of his daughter’s employers held in Dallas, OR.
If Pope has always been creative, he is also a little competitive, and he took the contest seriously.
“I came loaded for bear, I wanted to win,” Pope said, about his winning pumpkin that featured a sculpted zipperhead. “After the contest, they asked me, ‘are you a pro?’”
Pope has been a professional carver for about 12 years now, and competed on season 13 of “Halloween Wars,” a Food Network reality show where teams comprised of pumpkin carvers, bakers and sugar artists compete in challenges, in 2023.
“I tried out and got on, that was a bit of a teary moment,” Pope said. “It was my creative dream coming to fruition.”
The TV experience was great, and Pope enjoyed meeting and developing a creative camaraderie with other professional carvers, all of whom were friendly and accessible, and who continue to talk, sharing tips, tricks, and projects.
“It was humbling and inspiring, the other competitors are the most talented in the country, and everyone is working to improve their skills in their chosen medium,” Pope said. “There’s a common trait of friendship among the best.”
Aside from appearing on TV, highlights of Pope’s professional career include carving a massive 1,900 pound pumpkin and hosting carves for companies and organizations, including an upcoming campaign with a well-known national children’s brand that is still under wraps.
Mixed Mediums
Since “Halloween Wars” Pope has competed with stars who are now his friends and peers. He holds carving classes and events in the community, and has even carved for the Expedia Group in Seattle, WA.
“I fear the day when I don’t have something to learn,” said Pope. “I’m always practicing and learning.”
For Pope, learning includes experimenting in other mediums, and for the past couple of years he has sculpted in the sand at Seaside, on the Oregon Coast.
His first time sculpting on the beach, he crafted an octopus out of six vertical feet of sand, and this summer created a shark circling some seals.
Earlier this year Pope picked up a chainsaw and after talking with Ryan Cook, a guest host on the show “A Cut Above,” started working with wood, which led to a carve for Bennett Botanical Gardens in Hermiston.
Pope heard Kris Bennet on the “Chamber Business Connection” on KOHU mention that she was looking for a chainsaw artist, so he gave her a call.
“Roger came out and said, ‘I think I can do that’,” said Bennett. “He’d never done chainsaw carving before, but if we were up to it, he would give it a try. Of course, we said yes.”
The Botanical Gardens carve is a large Cottonwood stump about ten feet wide that consists of a series of flowers and leaves with a ladybug and butterfly, that Pope hopes to have sealed by this winter.
Kris’ husband Doug is on the Umatilla County Fair Board, and Pope’s work at the garden led to an opportunity to carve watermelon at the fair this summer.
“Once you understand sculpture, then it’s a matter of gaining familiarity with your chosen medium,” said Pope. “Sand wants to crumble, wood can crack, watermelons get mushy, and the scary thing about pumpkins is, you don’t know how thick they are. You have to go by feel and sense the texture change.”
While he has mainly worked in subtractive sculpting, Pope may experiment with more permanent mediums, such as clay, and even bronze in the future.
He is also currently working on how to preserve and reproduce his work, through molds or 3-D printing.
Giving Back
Pope may be a pro, but he stresses that all it takes to sculpt pumpkins is patience and practice, and he will be hosting community carves and events at local pumpkin patches throughout October.
“You’re scraping layers away a little bit at a time, you’re taking away such a small amount, it’s much safer for kids and families,” said Pope.
Pope will be carving at Middleton Farms in Pasco every Saturday in October and at the Echo Corn Maze every Sunday.
He will also hold a carving class in Nugent Park in Umatilla on October 16, as well as a Sip ‘n Carve at the Echo Corn Maze on October 24.
For those interested in pumpkin sculpting, Pope would suggest getting some clay tools and reaching out to him or other carvers through social media.
“Once you get into it, look up the sculpting community,” Pope said. “We are always willing to help and share. We want to see those inspired by our art grow.”
