Picture Connecticut: A Spooky Sculpture

TOLLAND, CT — The next stop on Patch’s Picture Connecticut Tour takes us to a spooky, but artsy sculpture on the Tolland Green, just in time to spread a little “Halloween cheer” in the state.

Notable Tolland resident and metal sculptor, “Metal Genius” Joe Marandino, has set up a giant metal Jack-o-lantern sculpture display on the Green with the historic Hicks-Stearns museum as the backdrop.

Visitors are free to take photos with Tolland’s unique Halloween display.

“Giving back to my hometown has been painfully rewarding,” Marandino said. Marandino began sculpting metal after losing his career and almost losing his life during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. He said he began sculpting in order to ease his pain and losses.

“Being on the brink of death, creating something beautiful inspired me and kept me fighting to stay alive, and creating my metal sculptures was comforting because the metal sculpting process was kinda like what I endured. Like my sculptures, I am strong but my illness bended me like 1,000 degrees does to steel.”

He added, “For something as frightening as possibly dying, surviving was just as scary. Sculpting made me happy and I know that it kept me alive,” he said.

Marandino said that by sharing something scary and beautiful with his community, he hopes that this may inspire thoughts that “although scary, things that can be dark, may also shine some light through embracing happiness—which is essentially what celebrating Halloween is all about.”

The sculpture will be up until Oct. 25.

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Picture Connecticut is a weekly series that features images of the state, past and present.

Here are past images: