Our Camera on NPB (Florida Living) December 1994OUR CAMERA ON
Mike St. Angelo (left)
and Allen Doherty, Ice
sculptors by trade, have
combined the artistry of
their work with their love
of Lake Side Park,
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STORY AND PHOTOS BY MARK BRoWNE
tf you ask Joyce and Ray Lilly about Lake Side Park's most prominent feature, they'll point
with pride to the growing menagerie of wooden sea creatures dotting the park. For the Lillys, it
is a dream come true. For Judy Pierman, former mayor and council member of North Palm Beach,
the sculptures represent one year of work, planning and patience.
Pierman, along with her friends, the Lillys, frequently walks in the peaceful waterfront park. But
the park used to be only "nearly" perfect. The flaw included 13 dead Australian pine trees, victims
of a freeze in the early I080s.
Joyce Lilly, an artist herself, had admired the work of a wood sculptor in Jensen Beach. His
designs focused on the playful nature of sealife along the coastal regions of south Florida. The
artist, Philip Bryan, had even begun a project of placing some large tree carvings along a busy
highway in the Jensen Beach area. Impressed by his creativity, the Lillys approached Piermart about
borrowing the idea for one of the tree stumps at Lake Side Park.
It was a match made in heaven. Pierman tackled the political and planning aspects of the
undertaking with the speed and agility to match that of the dolphin they wanted Bryan to sculpt
for them. Soon Pierman and the Lillys were joined by Sam Golden. The committee to sculpt Lake
Side Park was born.
As Phil Bryan began cawing the first 10 -foot -tall dead stump into a dolphin, a park visitor, an
ice sculptor by trade, happened along. He watched in fascination, wondering if he, too, could
sculpt something so beautiful from the amazingly hard wood of an Australian pine stump. Almost
as soon as Allan Doherty began work on his sea turtle climbing onto land, Lite Lillys, Golden
and Pierman knew he was hooked.
Wielding a chainsaw, Doherty carved out a rough -looking turtle in a couple of hours. Then
the real work began ---using sanders, grinders, routers and other tools needed to carve rhe creatures. The finished piece is a kid -
friendly treasure of originality.
The committee was thrilled to have two artists now. When Mike St. Angelo, affectionately known as "Michelangelo, AF offered to help
out as well, the work progressed quickly. St. Angelo, also an ice sculptor, created an eight--foot-tall sailfish, leaping and twisting as it escapes
the bonds of earth.
Pierman and her group began spreading the word that they were looking for donations to fund the creation of more tree sculptures.
They began to look at each of the dead trees as a potential sea creature.
The friends of Lake Side Park have managed to create a world of beauty for park visitors, reduce crime, save the mxpayers money, and
inspire other municipalities to look for their own methods to alleviate some of the problems that plague their parks.
For more information on this program, call the city clerk's office at (407) X48--3475. Yx
FLORIDA LIVING / December 1994 53