With Halloween right around the corner, it's time to pay tribute to one of the great sculptors of our time, Andy Bergholtz. Over the last 15 years or so, Andy has sculpted for McFarlane Toys, Diamond Select Toys, and DC Comics, just to name a few. He currently works at Sideshow Collectibles where he designs and creates high end collectible statues based on pop culture icons, collaborating with Marvel Comics, Disney, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros, Hasbro and many others.
But, for the last several years, when Fall rolls around, Andy has found himself focusing on creating astounding pumpkin carvings along side his partners at Villafane Studios. His work has stood out so much that this year he was invited to teach a one day class at the Stan Winston School of Character Arts. Additionally, he holds numerous sold out pumpkin carving workshops around the country.
Bergholtz has a fairly interesting self-written bio:
Not much is known about the childhood of Andrew Paul Theodore Bergholtz, but legend indicates that he was raised by a family of timber wolves in the Carpathian Mountains until the age of 13. Near the end of the 19th century, Andy was taken in by a blind hermit monk and was taught to study the world around him using senses other than that of sight.
It's said that this unique tutelage resulted in a heightened, almost super-human sense of touch within the young boy, who naturally developed a passion for creating things with his hands. At 18, Andy joined a group of traveling gypsies and honed his skills by offering hand-carved charms and talismans to the villagers he met on his journeys through eastern Europe.
Although his exact whereabouts are currently unknown, it's believed that Bergholtz eventually settled somewhere in the southern Province of the Californias, resuming his hermit ways and raising a family of his own. Discoveries of new works by the mysterious craftsman are reported in increasing numbers to this day, although the authenticity of such artifacts has not yet been confirmed.
An alternate version of his bio suggests that Andy was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, spent his early life cultivating his skills as an illustrator, and continued honing this craft as a student at Kansas City Art Institute. I am not really sure which to believe.
In addition to Bergholtz's full time job at Sideshow Collectibles and work with Villafane Studios, he also owns the Monsterpappa Workshop. He uses Monsterpappa to sell a few exclusive monster sculpture kits that fans can buy, assemble, sand, and paint themselves. Or, for a few dollars more, one can purchase a full assembled and painted monster from the master himself.
If you want to learn more, visit Andy's Monsterpappa website, Facebook page, or Twitter! Also, check out this amazing interview on Gourmet.com!
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