These are great pumpkins
Cheerful, spooky and hilarious takes on Halloween make school event festive
First Place: Stephen King’s ‘It’ — Jane Cotter, dental hygiene
First Place: Stephen King’s ‘It’ — Jane Cotter, dental hygiene
Sure, we’re professionals around here. But when offered a chance to decorate pumpkins and carve jack-o-lanterns, eat popcorn and share some laughs, we’re all over it. Scroll down and take a look for yourself!
October gives us many ways to celebrate fall, so the school coupled that with an opportunity to raise money for a good cause. With $5 entry fees, 50-cent popcorn and silent auction bids, the students, staff and faculty contributed $292.27 to the State Employee Charitable Campaign.
“It was wonderful to see all of the talent and hard work put in to each and every pumpkin,” says DeAnn White, who helped coordinate the event, along with her human resources colleagues.
Jane Cotter, assistant professor in dental hygiene, won first place for her Stephen King “It”-inspired clown-in-the-sewer entry with 113 votes. Taryn Walker’s cheerful Snowcones entry won second place with 71 votes. Cristina Rivera’s lit skeleton pumpkin rounded out the big three with 49 votes for third place.
Cotter shared the method behind her scary yet admirable genius:
What was your inspiration for this creation?
Stephen King’s movie “It.” Clowns are always scary to me. I had seen other painted “It” clown pumpkins online and thought that having a two-sided pumpkin would be fun. When the kids come to the door, they will see the “nice” Pennywise with the balloon. Then when they turn to leave, they will see the scary Pennywise with bared teeth and reaching arms.
How many hours did you spend on your entry?
This project took me about 3-4 hours.
Where did you get your materials?
I bought the pumpkin at a local pumpkin patch in my neighborhood. The teeth are made from the extra pumpkin scraps from carving. I had the acrylic paint at home. The sewer is made from two cardboard boxes that I got from the school and is covered with silver duct tape. The clown’s costume arms and hands are from an old costume I own. The boat is folded paper, and the flashlight inside with yellow paper over it represents the “dead lights” that come out of the clown’s mouth.
Do you have any other artistic talents or background?
No, not really. I just like to make different things for fun.
Just how big is Halloween for you?
I really enjoy Halloween. I spend Halloween with my sister. She has two kids. We decorate the yard and sit outside to welcome the kids. Her children rarely go out to visit other houses. They enjoy putting on the “Halloween show” at home with us. We both love to make Halloween a little scary, but not too much so for the kids. After the candy is gone, we go inside and watch scary movies.
Run your cursor over the photos to reveal these clever pumpkins’ crafty creators.
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