Dead tree lives again as art

A woodcarver labors for 15 months to coax new, imaginative life from the carcass of a 150-year-old oak tree in Central Park.

[Times photos: Jim Damaske] Woodcarver Bob Marek works on the remains of a 150-year-old oak tree in Largo Central Park. Marek has crafted a life-sized boy reading a book about animals while sitting in a tree. The child's imagination summons park animals, which are carved into the oak.

By ADRIENNE P. SAMUELS
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 4, 2003

LARGO -- It used to be the meeting tree, a landmark of old where parents could find their children should the family separate while visiting the Pinellas County Fair.

Now, after being whittled down by a wasting tree cancer, the 150-year-old tree holds a boy and his dream.

It's an image brought to life by the nudging hands of Clearwater woodcarver Bob Marek, who uses a chain saw and a gouge to chisel the ancient tree into obedience. After 15 months of work, this image blossoms: A life-sized boy reads a book while sitting in the crook of a tree.

"What better place for a boy to read than in the park and near the library?" said Marek, who apprenticed with his master carver grandfather while growing up in Nebraska.

But this is no ordinary book, Marek said. It's one about animals. The boy's imagination calls to the animals in Largo Central Park, and the critters come to him.

A rabbit chatters near a tree root. A dog bays at another. A tiny cat snores in the high branches while a dolphin arches its back near the boy's foot.

An eagle spreads it wings as its talons close upon a banner commemorating the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- the day Marek got the okay from city officials for the project.

This face is one of the images that Marek has fashioned in the tree's trunk. The varying grain of the oak makes for difficult carving.

It began a few years ago when the grizzled live oak started to wither and die. Instead of chopping down history, park officials dreamed of saving it.

"It just seemed wasteful to completely remove a tree of that age," said Greg Wright, foreman of Largo Central Park.

The upper limbs were cut and carted away, leaving a massive 3-foot-wide, 7-foot-tall trunk in the middle of a field.

Wright remembered that Marek used to work at the park and that Marek teaches a woodcarving class at the city's Highland recreation center.

"We called him up, talked to him about what he would do," Wright said. "He said he'd volunteer for us."

The oversized stump-turned-art sits south of the veterans memorial and southeast of the park's well-known clock tower.

Marek, 65, who owns a carving supply shop, works the stump for eight to 10 hours per day on weekends.

He's become part of the park's landscaping.

"He was here weekend after weekend after weekend," said Ron Bishop of Clearwater. "He must have put in hundreds of hours. To watch him work is fascinating."

Bishop frequents Largo Central Park with his wife, Dot. They like to sit on a park bench and watch Marek work his magic.

"Every couple of weeks we would go by to see what was new," said Dot Bishop. "He kept tucking those owls in here and there."

Marek doesn't work from a sketch because a drawing won't help him carve the wood of a tree that most carvers prefer not to touch with their tools. Oak is a hardwood, and the varying grains of an oak tree make for difficult carving, Marek said, especially when you have to work outdoors, on a ladder or on your knees.

Marek points out the difference in grains by showing a portion of tree stump covered with wood that, when cut, looks to have a circular pattern and texture. Another portion, when cut, shows off wavy lines leading toward the ground. Yet another portion has a grain that travels up toward the sky.

Those variations mean Marek has to be a quick thinker else the animal shapes might turn awry.

"This is not the kind of wood I want," Marek said while chiseling in the eyes of an eagle. "Now I know what it felt like to carve Mount Rushmore."

Marek should be done by December.

To prevent rotting, the stump is doused monthly with fungicide and insecticide. At the end, it'll be pressure cleaned, covered with fungicide and turned into petrified wood. After a few coats of varnish, a plaque will be placed at the tree's foot.

Children are encouraged to touch and study the stump and identify the carvings. At least 25 creatures will be nestled in the tree, he said.

Marek took on the park project because of the wood's challenges. It's all about imagination, he said.

"What better place to have a boy read a book than by the city library in the park?"

-- Adrienne Samuels can be reached at 445-4157 or samuels@sptimes.com .

If you go

The Suncoast Woodcarvers hold their 11th annual show on Jan. 18 and 19. Saturday hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Joe Dimaggio Sports Complex, 2465 Drew St., Clearwater. Admission is $2.

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