Galveston Tree Art the Island’s Biggest Winter Tourist Attraction

Two Herons. Photo by Richard Varr

Herons stand majestically with their long slim beaks pointing upwards. A Great Dane straddles a fence not far from a smiling dolphin and stoic owl. There’s even the Tin Man and Toto, a glamorous mermaid and a life-sized geisha clutching a fan – all part of the legacy Hurricane Ike left behind on Galveston.

Great Dane. Photo by Richard Varr

The figures are actually carvings from trees killed by Ike in 2008, when salty storm waters tainted with chemical pollution flooded island neighborhoods. With their sharp cutting tools, sculptors breathed new life into the doomed tree trunks and branches – many of them live oaks whose grand leafy canopies once shaded quiet streets.

“They’re now the biggest tourist attraction on the island during the winter,” says Donna Leibbert, a member of the Galveston Island Tree Conservancy. “It’s taking something that was devastated which is now helping to make people smile.  Individual homeowners had requested things to be carved that were meaningful to them.”

Many of the artworks stand where the trees once stood, carved from their sturdy trunks and low lying limbs.  More than 30 of the carvings sit in the neighborhood between the Strand Historic District and the UTMB Campus.

Tin Man and Toto. Photo by Richard Varr

What were once limbs now branch upwards with delicate carvings of birds in a sculpture known as “Birds of Galveston.”  One trunk was transformed into dolphins and a mermaid, while another carving with a Greek or Roman-style column is called “Monument to Galveston’s Trees.”  Others include a wildlife totem pole, a toad, pelicans, a hand clutching a diploma, and a yellow lab.  There’s a large sculpture of a mermaid holding a clamshell over her head.  And near a Galveston fire station sits a carved hydrant and a Dalmatian posing.

Mermaid Holding Clam Shell. Photo by Richard Varr

“I think a lot of people are coming to Galveston to see these,” says homeowner Floyd Pollock, on whose property sits the Great Dane sculpture.  “I think it’s good for the neighborhood and good for Galveston.”

“We wanted to have something left, some beauty from the tree,” adds homeowner Lizette Gaudin, whose property on the 1300 block of Ball Street has a sculpture of herons.  “It was a beautiful live oak tree and we wanted to maintain some of the history of that tree here.”

Tree Art Tours Available

Geisha and Sister Angels. Photo by Richard Varr

Galveston Island Tours offers East End Historic District tours showcasing the post Hurricane Ike tree sculptures. Tours via electric solar shuttle run Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. and last one hour, departing from Ashton Villa, 2328 Broadway. Cost is $15 per person, $10 for children 12 and under. For more information: galvestonhistory.org or call 409-765-8687 or 888-425-8687.  Self-guided tour brochures are also available.

Dalmatian. Photo by Richard Varr

FOR MORE INFORMATION

http://www.galveston.com/treesculptures/