The Lord of the Gourd

Oct. 26, 2014

Sometimes artistic success arrives with time, patience and focus. Other times, it shows up almost by accident. Pat Harrison of Leelanau County shares the story of his coincidental journey from graphic designer to pumpkin-carving expert.

CARVED CREATIONS

"I got my start pumpkin carving back in the mid "˜90s when my family owned a motel in Traverse City," Harrison recollected. "We’d decorate the lobby every year for Halloween and my mother and I used to have a friendly rivalry going to see who could come up with the craziest new idea."

One year, Harrison was trying to top his mother’s pumpkin creation and a slip of the carving knife cut a bad gouge in the side of a pumpkin.

"I thought it was ruined, but decided to try to save it," Harrison said. "As I looked at it, I saw a face and just started carving away. People liked it and asked for more, and that’s how my style developed."

Fast forward to 1999. Harrison was living downstate in Oakland County and went to a pumpkin farm where he fell into conversation with the farmer.

"It came up that I sculpted pumpkins, so the farmer asked if I’d be willing to come there that weekend and carve a few to see if people would buy them," Harrison said. "I never in a million years thought anyone would be interested."

He gave it a shot anyway and a local newspaper saw his work and put him on the front page. The next day, a Detroit TV station called and invited him to carve pumpkins on their morning news broadcast. That was the first of over 30 TV appearances.

"From there, the calls started coming in and I found myself carving every night and every weekend," Harrison said.

GOURD GOALS

By 2006, the pumpkins were really paying off. Harrison moved back up north and decided to be the "Pumpkin Bumpkin" as a full-time job.

"But when teenagers heard that name, they’d roll their eyes and walk away," he laughed. "So I became "˜Lord of the Gourd,’ which they thought was much cooler."

What’s truly cool is Harrison’s skill with a carving knife. His graphic design background is primarily in cartooning, so his pumpkin faces are dynamic and full of life, sneering and grinning, each with their own personality.

"What I learned from cartooning is that there are no rules," Harrison explained. "You can make things up without being constrained."

95 percent of his works are faces, but he’s also carved things like lighthouses, cars and boats, sometimes as a favor to a friend, sometimes just to further challenge himself.

"I carve, on average, 400 pumpkins in a two-month period, and I have to keep it interesting in order to grow as an artist," he said. "I feel a strong obligation to my audience, so I work very hard to give them new and exciting things."

The most challenging part of his unique job, he said, isn’t the carving, but the amount of behind the scenes work and travel.

"For every hour I spend carving, I spend ten hours doing things like PR work, booking tours, arranging lodging and handling the finances," he said. "I only sleep four hours a night during the fall because of the demands of the road. But, the most rewarding part is northern Michigan in the fall. I get to meet new people and I get a two-month color tour every year."

He won’t let his carved pumpkins end up "at the mercy of the post office," so rather than sell individual pumpkins, he does paid appearances where he shows up to carve onsite and the client keeps everything he carves while he’s on the job.

"So, if you want a Lord of the Gourd creation, you’re going to get the Lord of the Gourd himself, too," he joked. "Although I do have to leave at the end of the show!"

PUMPKIN PALETTE

Today’s more expansive crops of pumpkins help Harrison with his creative goals, since they’re now available in so many different shapes, colors and sizes. Most people picture orange when they think of pumpkins, but white, blue, green and red varieties are available, too. Harrison expands his carving to fruit and vegetables in the summer and other vegetables in the winter, crafting heads from rutabagas and animals out of Hubbard squash.

"You can carve a melon just like a pumpkin, although you do have to be careful because they tend to leak," he said. "Then, after Halloween ends, I switch to squash."

But the Lord of the Gourd’s favorite time of year remains fall, the Halloween season– and all those pumpkins.

"I’ve always loved pumpkins," he said.

"To me, they’re an empty palette just waiting for a way to come to life and I feel that’s what I do when I carve them."

To learn more about Harrison’s carving work and to see his updated personal appearances schedule, visit his official Lord of the Gourd Facebook page.