“CARVING OUT THE LIGHT,” A PUMPKIN CARVING WORKSHOP AT LUCKY GALLERY— 10/23.
Begin your Halloween celebration early at Friday night’s “Carving Out the Light,” a pumpkin-carving workshop with acclaimed artist Christopher Coggiano. Bring your own pumpkin, but Lucky Gallery will provide plenty of friends, food and drink. It will be a ghoul time (ha, ha, ha!) and you’ll leave with the scariest pumpkin on the block!
Christopher Coggiano is one of the featured artist in the current exhibition at Lucky Gallery called “Nighttime is for Dreaming”, a collection of installations of light, sound, imagery and text.“Coggiano’s light installations of wire and handmade paper are brilliant colors of organic shapes, pulling spontaneously from his subconscious mind. His whimsical and playful creations bring warmth to your inner child and feed your imagination as if you have just woken from a fantastic dream.”
“Carving Out the Light,” A Pumpkin Carving Workshop.
October 23, 8-10PM
176 Richards Street, Brooklyn, NY. 11231
Lucky Gallery tells us a little about the history of Jack O’Lanterns:
“The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.” According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul.
The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.
Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack O’Lantern.”
Past Issues
