About Ray Villafane

Even though Halloween is gone and we have to wait until next year to try our hand at pumpkin carving or admire other artists' carved pumpkins, there is more to Ray Villafane then just being the “The Edward Scissorhands of Pumpkin Carving” ~Steve Hartman, CBS Correspondent.

Ray Anthony Villafane was born on March 5, 1969 in Queens, New York. He was one of the four children of Reinaldo Villafane and Virginia Guzman Villafane and, along with his 2 sisters and one brother, spent most of his younger years growing up on Long Island.

He showed artistic skills at a very young age which was encouraged by his mother and Ray pursued an academic career. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1991.

Due to his love for children, he chose to become an art teacher in Bellaire, Michigan, and from 1993 to 2006, he taught children from kindergarten through twelfth grade. One day, one of his students brought him a pumpkin with the request to carve it.

Approaching the pumpkin as were it a block of clay, he transformed it into something that was admired by both students and their families and the requests for custom-carved pumpkins grew.

That was the beginning of an amazing career which eventually would result into the renowned 3-D master pumpkin carver, sand/snow, action figure and collectibles sculptor he is at present!

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