Memorial Jack-o-lanterns

Every Halloween for a decade, I carved into a pumpkin the likeness of a musician who died since the previous Halloween. The project began in 2008 and ended in 2017, and each jack-o-lantern was carved in 3D-style. As with those represented, the jack-o-lanterns soon decay and disappear, but the artifacts remain.

2017: Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016). Composer, accordionist, deep listener.

2016: David Bowie

davidbowie_jackolantern_2080

David Bowie (January 8, 1947 – January 10, 2016). Singer and songwriter.

2015: Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman Memorial Jack-o-lantern

Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015). Alto saxophonist and composer.

2014: Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger Memorial Jack-o-lantern

Pete Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014). Folk singer and songwriter.

2013: Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar Memorial Jack-o-lantern

Ravi Shankar (April 17, 1920 – December 11, 2012). Indian sitar virtuoso and composer.

2012: Adam “MCA” Yauch

Adam Yauch MCA Memorial Jack-o-lantern

Adam Yauch (August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012). MCA of The Beastie Boys, rapper, bassist, activist.

2011: Captain Beefheart

Captain Beefheart Memorial Jack-o-lantern

Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart (January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010). Songwriter, vocalist, instrumentalist, and rock innovator.

2010: Dio

Ronnie James Dio Memorial Jack-o-lantern

Ronnie James Dio (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010). Heavy metal vocalist.

2009: Michael Jackson

Michael_Jackson_Jack-o-lantern_2080

Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009). The king of pop, represented here in his lycanthropic transformation from Thriller.

2008: Karlheinz Stockhausen

Stockhausen Memorial Jack-o-lantern

Karlheinz Stockhausen (22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007). German composer and godfather of electronic music.