CL-October 2024 - 14

COOPERATIVE FOCUS
Of Light & Magic
(continued fr om page 11)
Jump to Lightspeed - 2018
pumpkin, " he explains. Dickover created
the intricate three-dimensional design
based on R2-D2 images, and it took him
about 11 hours to complete.
" George Lucas even commented on
it, " Dickover says, almost as an aſt erthought
- as though having the creator
of the legendary Star Wars franchise
notice his R2-D2 pumpkin carving isn't
a point to linger on.
Dickover elaborates: " Yeah, the guy
who made Star Wars ... that dude. He
liked it - which was kind of impressive. "
Dickover is a huge Star Wars fan; he
named his dog Lando Calrissian aſt er a
Star Wars character. " But, really, what
I love is people coming to my house on
Halloween and seeing the pumpkins.
Th ere's nothing better than that. I have
my own art gallery on my front lawn
once a year. "
As thrilling as it may have been
for his work to be seen by Lucas,
Dickover doesn't capitalize on being
in the spotlight every October. He says
he's had plenty of opportunities to
monetize his situation ... but chooses
not to, calling it a " money-losing
operation. " He's happy just squashing
the competition on the candy-collecting
circuit each Halloween.
" I've never been an artist of any
kind, " says Dickover, " so it's fun to
become an artist one month out of the
year and have people really appreciate it. "
THE ART OF IT
Dickover is constantly perfecting the
art of what he does. He explains that it
takes him longer to carve pumpkins
12 * Cooperative Living * October 2024
Dickover's pumpkins can be viewed
at 14223 Hartwood Court in Centreville, Va.,
on Halloween night.
co-opliving.com
now than it did when he fi rst started.
" Th at's counterintuitive, I know, " he
says with a laugh. " But I've become
a bit of a perfectionist over time. "
Texture and depth are what excite
Dickover. " Th e magic happens when
you take a pumpkin and you transform
it by going further than just carving
it - by playing with depth and texture,
as well as gradients of light coming
through, " he explains. " It's all about
getting the right angles for light to come
through. And when you're playing with
depth, you're carving out the back of the
pumpkin almost as much as the front. "
He's even started seeing the world
around him diff erently. " At this point,
he says, " I can look at someone on TV
and immediately know how I would
carve them. Your mind just starts
to work that way and eventually you
start to see things and go, 'I want to
carve that.' "
Most of what Dickover carves is
Malefi cent
what he calls " fantasy objects, " but he
did once try his hand at realistic themes.
" In 2001, I carved an image of Uncle
Sam. At the time, it was like doing heart
surgery on a pumpkin; the hardest
thing I could have ever imagined doing.
Nobody looked at it. Nobody commented
on it. Th ey wanted to see Scooby-Doo.
Th ey wanted to see SpongeBob
SquarePants. Nobody thinks about
reality when they're coming to your
house dressed up as a Power Ranger.
Th at realization was instrumental to me,
so I don't carve regular people anymore. "
Th en, aſt er a pause, he adds: " It's not
for me. It's for the people showing up in
costumes ... I give the people what they
want to see. "
For more information,
visit fantasypumpkins.com.
http://www.fantasypumpkins.com http://www.co-opliving.com
CL-October 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CL-October 2024
