Ray Anthony Villafane (born 1968) is an American sculpture artist. Villafane was an art teacher for 12 years in

Bellaire, Michigan Bellaire is a village in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Antrim County. The population was 1,053 in 2020 census. The village is split between Forest Home and Kearney townships. The historic Antrim County Courthouse is ...

, before becoming a full-time sculptor in 2006. He gained national attention in 2007 when he competed on and won

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

’s Challenge Show segment “Outrageous Pumpkins”.

Early life and education

Ray Anthony Villafane was born in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, and was raised on Long Island. He graduated from the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1991.

Career

Villafane worked as a K-12 art teacher in

, for 12 years. He began to carve pumpkins when one of his students brought a pumpkin to class and asked him to carve it. He began working part time in 2003 as a sculptor in addition to teaching. After creating a

wax sculpture A wax sculpture is a depiction made using a waxy substance. Often these are effigies, usually of a notable individual, but there are also death masks and scenes with many figures, mostly in relief. The properties of beeswax make it an excel ...

of the

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics * ...

character

Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscul ...

and posting an image of it online, he was contacted by a company selling products licensed by Marvel; they offered to produce his work. He resigned from teaching in 2006 to pursue a full-time sculpting career. In 2007, Villafane was contacted by

and asked to appear on Food Network's Challenge Show for a segment called "Outrageous Pumpkins". He competed against three other professional pumpkin sculptors and won each of the three rounds, winning the grand prize. It received the highest ratings of any Food Network Challenge. In 2009, he was invited back to ''Outrageous Pumpkins'' and won the show a second time. In September 2010, Villafane competed in the World Championship of Sandsculpting in

Federal Way, Washington Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, United States. One of the most recently incorporated cities in the county, its population was 101,030 at the 2020 census. Federal Way is the tenth-largest city in Washington and the fifth-large ...

, placing third in the doubles category alongside his partner John Gowdy. In 2011, while attending a display at the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

, he carved the world's biggest pumpkin to resemble a

zombie apocalypse Zombie apocalypse is a genre of fiction in which society collapses due to overwhelming swarms of zombies. Typically only a few individuals or small bands of survivors are left living. In some versions, the reason the dead rise and attack huma ...

scene. He also carved pumpkins for Heidi Klum's annual Halloween party in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

in 2011. Villafane participated in the Food Network mini-series ''

Halloween Wars ''Halloween Wars'' is an American reality competition series from Super Delicious, the production company that also produces ''Cupcake Wars'' and ''Cake Wars''. It premiered on October 2, 2011, on Food Network and it runs over the course of four ...

'' that aired in October 2011.

Personal life

Villafane married Tammi Schmidt in 2003. They have a

blended family A stepfamily is a family where at least one parent has children that are not biologically related to their spouse. Either parent, or both, may have children from previous relationships or marriages. Two known classifications for stepfamilies i ...

of six children. He is allergic to pumpkins.

References

External links

Villafane Studios
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Villafane, Ray Sculptors from Arizona School of Visual Arts alumni Living people 1969 births People from Bellaire, Michigan Sculptors from New York (state)