Meet Marc Evan and Chris Soria, creators of museum-worthy pumpkin carvings

 By Sarah Emily Gilbert

Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory, Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night, and Maniac Pumpkin Carver’s annual Halloween pumpkin carving.

So maybe you didn’t expect a pumpkin to be among the artworks on display this October at the Modern Museum of Art, but Marc Evan and Chris Soria’s pumpkins are indeed modern masterpieces. Since 2010, the friends and co-owners of Maniac Pumpkin Carvers have carved one of the Museum’s iconic paintings in a pumpkin for Halloween. This is one of over 500 carvings the Brooklyn-based company will tackle for the fall season – a span of time that seems to grow every year.

“When we first started carving pumpkins, the business really ran in the last two weeks of October,” says Marc. “As word spread, things got cranking in the end of September, but this year, it’s started even earlier, like in late August. It’s not even that we have pumpkins yet, but it’s super crazy with all the event planning. Our busy season usually goes until Thanksgiving. Really, it’s the whole pumpkin growing season. As long as there are pumpkins, we’re carving them.”

What started out as a side gig carving pumpkins for people to use as gifts or decorations turned into Maniac Pumpkin Carvers, LLC in 2008 after WIRED Magazine gave them unexpected press.

“It very quickly turned into something much bigger than a few pumpkins we were doing for fun,” explains Marc. “We realized that we needed to put together a website and start a full-on company. Each year we’ve grown and added more members to our team, and now we have a pretty big operation. We never imagined doing the jobs the size we do now involving hundreds of pumpkins and huge corporate clients.”

Among their A-list clients are the Yankees, YouTube, Google, Mercedes, BMW, and Volkswagon. Their carvings have made appearances on television shows such as Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray, Good Morning America, CNN, and The Chew. They were also the winners of Food Network’s Halloween Wars. In addition to large corporate campaigns, Maniac Pumpkin Carvers do portrait pumpkins, advertising, and pretty much any other custom work that can be put on a pumpkin. Needless to say, Marc and Chris’s pumpkins are awesome. Some are spooky, some are playful, but all are painstakingly detailed and impressive.

Prior to establishing themselves as professional pumpkin carvers, Marc and Chris were childhood friends who, like many teens, had a penchant for mischief and Halloween.

“Since we were in high school, we’ve done a lot of really crazy stuff for Halloween. We would build haunted houses in our town and throw really wild Halloween parties during our college years. Eventually, that turned into us developing a style of pumpkin carving.”

Most of us have carved a somewhat successful pumpkin in our day, but Marc and Chris’s background in illustration, sculpture, and mural art primed them for quality carvings. “Pumpkins were just another medium we’ve experimented with over the years,” explains Marc. “It has some unique properties that aren’t like anything else.”

Among pumpkins’ unique qualities is their ephemerality. In addition to carving, Marc, Chris, and much of their team are street artists that do large-scale murals. Marc explains that like pumpkins, street art is often impermanent. This puts them in the right mindset to spend hours on a piece that will likely last a few days. In fact, Maniac Pumpkins has turned the short life of pumpkins into part of their business. Marc is the first to admit that nothing replicates seeing a pumpkin carving in person, but a photo of one is the next best thing. His company offers to take professional photographs of completed carvings as a sort of memento for customers.

While Marc wishes Halloween was year-round, he understands the seasonal nature of is craft, a sometimes-challenging aspect of the business. “I feel very fortunate to make a living as an artist getting to do the things I love,” says Marc. “It’s definitely a little bit of grind to get by at times. We are freelancers, so you don’t know month-to-month how busy you’re going to be and it’s hard to plan ahead for things. But there’s definitely a cool movement right now with the art scene. There’s a lot of emphasis on traditional arts coming back, so that’s exciting to be a part of.”

Equally exciting is Manic Pumpkin Carvers appearance on Cake Boss the first week in October, just one of many noteworthy events planned for this season’s pumpkin frenzy. To stay abreast of all of Marc and Chris’s big moves, follow @maniacpumpkins on Instagram or visit their website or Facebook page.

How can you take your pumpkin carvings to the maniac-level? Marc leaves us with some expert carving tips for this year’s Jack-o’-lantern.

Plan ahead

“People try to carve pumpkins by just diving in and cutting right away. You don’t have to be an artist to doodle out a sketch or idea. That will save you some headaches and make for a better product.”

Keep it sharp

“Like in cooking, you never want to use a dull knife when cutting into a pumpkin because it’s way more dangerous.

Cleanliness is key

“Keeping a clean workspace and pumpkin carving.” It’s easy to lose sharp tools under a pile of pumpkin guts and that can be kind of dangerous. You want to make sure that you keep your area clean and aren’t misplacing sharp tools.”