Page 31 - Marina Del Palma

PAUL BALIKER — BALANCING LIFE WITH ART
Hidden away along A1A in the Hammock is Palm Coast artist Paul Baliker’s own landmark: his home, sculpture studio and gallery. Baliker, 57, has created more than a thousand pieces of art throughout his 35 years of sculpting. He pays close attention to human interaction with nature and strives to carve out an environmental statement with each piece of art.
“We need to pay attention to our world,” he says. “ e most important thing that man should do right now is save the environment. I can bring out art that makes people think about these issues.”
Most of Baliker’s time is used doing commission work, but every so often he creates a piece for himself. “I prefer to create large environmental sculptures,” he said. e self-taught artist uses mostly cedar wood, or old root systems to carve, or bronze, which he sometimes fuses with wood.
In 2010, Baliker spent six months working on a wood sculpture called “A Matter of Time” for the ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan. e piece “focuses on man’s powerful position in nature,” he said. is art
“A MATTER OF TIME”
BY PAUL BALIKER
statement is no“
w on display at Ripley’s Believe it or Not! in Mexico City.
I’m allowing all the ocean creatures to be revealed to people. Man is in the
middle because he holds the fa”
life. That’s what we are facing.
Paul Baliker
– 29 –
te. Imagine an ocean too toxic to sustain