Reynoldsburg pumpkin carver enters ’Halloween Wars’

 Reynoldsburg resident Deane Arnold will appear on an upcoming season of "Halloween Wars" on the Food Network. Premiering Sunday, the show will features six teams — each with a sugar expert, pumpkin carver and cake maker — vying to create edible Halloween-themed displays.

Unlike Michelangelo’s statue of David and other Renaissance sculptures chiseled from marble, carved pumpkins aren’t built to last.

Even jack o’ lanterns as intricately designed as those made by acclaimed carver Deane Arnold have an expiration date. But for the Reynoldsburg resident — who will bring his skills Sunday to the Food Network for the new season of "Halloween Wars" — the decay and deterioration only adds to the creep factor.

"I can use traditional, classical Renaissance sculpting techniques, but If I do it on a pumpkin it’s ephemeral, it’s not going to last," Arnold said. "Whatever I've got in front of me, it’s gonna rot within a week."

Inspired by sculpting maestros such as Ray Villafane and Andy Bergholtz, the 58-year-old graphic artist picked up the trade about eight years ago and soon gained renown. Arnold is part of a sculpting team that every year creates the whimsical Enchanted Pumpkin Garden in Carefree, Arizona — which draws tens of thousands of visitors during its 10-day run — and in 2018 he and two others set a Guinness World Record for largest jack o’ lantern by weight for their work on a 2,077-pound beast.

Rather than let his ambitions be squashed (pun intended), Arnold set his sights on the next pumpkin challenge. Which brought him to "Halloween Wars." Hosted by actor Jonathan Bennett, the competition tasks six teams — each with a pumpkin carver, cake decorator and candy maker — to create edible Halloween-themed displays for judges as they avoid weekly eliminations.

Arnold, who is part of Team Ghoulicious with sugar expert Cesar Barachina and cake maker Heather Sherman, spoke with The Dispatch about the experience, and what appeals to him about his spooky art form.

Question: You’re a graphic artist by trade. Is that where your interest in this art form comes from?

Arnold: Anything that’s visual attracts me. There’s something about faces — I think universally humans are hardwired to respond to a face that they can make eye contact with. So the pumpkins, this is why they got my attention in the first place is they were looking at me.

Q: How would you describe most of your designs?

Arnold: Moronic. There’s something cool and ironic about something that looks classically beautiful but he’s sticking his tongue out and he’s got a stem sticking out of his head. My most successful pumpkins are the ones that are as well executed as possible so that I get a perfectly subtle nuanced expression. I think subtlety works better than extreme expressions.

Q: Is it fair to say that come Halloween, your jack o’ lanterns are on another level from your neighbors’ creations?

Arnold: The first few years I think my neighbors were baffled. Then they kind of got into it, and then I started traveling so I wasn’t home. My neighbors would see my wife and they’d walk by and say, "Where are the pumpkins? We miss the pumpkins."

Q: Your designs were obviously good enough to land you on "Halloween Wars." What was the experience like?

Arnold: It was very cool; I expected it to be fun. I think I'm unusual in my noncompetitive nature, but I’m gonna give everything I possibly can because I know my teammates want to win. I gave them both my A-game but I went in with a more relaxed personal perspective, so I had a lot of fun. Without any spoilers, I think I can safely say that we did really well.