1998, 2000–2004, 2006–2013, 2017–2020, Ongoing

Related Press

Untapped Cities, 2013 Pumpkin Impalement Featuring One Cobble Hill Fence and a Few Hundred Pumpkins, November 1, 2013.

The Wall Street Journal, In Cobble Hill, Bidding Farewell to a Rotten Art Exhibit, October 31, 2013, p. A17.

New York Magazine, Neighborhood News, October 21, 2013.

Hyperallergic, The Persistence of Time at Grand Central Terminal, May 23, 2013.

The New York Times, Jane the Impaler and a Ghastly Halloween Tradition, October 31, 2011.

Today, Pumpkin impaler: Artist decorates spooky fence with heads for Halloween, October 17, 2012.

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Inspired by the spikes on the long iron fence on the corner of Kane and Strong in Cobble Hill, I began, in 1998, to impale individually carved pumpkins on Halloween. For years, with the help of friends and family, I impaled 80 to 100 pumpkins on these spikes. Every face was unique. The impaled pumpkins were left for months to age as nature commanded, into gnarly, more and more expressive remnants of themselves.

Starting in 2012, I explicitly invited neighbors and all pumpkin artists to contribute carved pumpkins to the fence. In 2013, contributors added 62 pumpkins; in 2017, they brought 75. In 2019, there were carved pumpkins on all 274 spikes of the fence, 174 added by the community.

In 2020, in deference to the Pandemic, and its distancing rules, we discouraged crowds and the pumpkins were socially distanced.