Ed visits Cocoa Beach High School, his alma mater

An artist's work is never done

By Chip Gorman

"I just can't make them fast enough."

Such are the problems of Ed Volonnino, the CBHS graduate who sells "Ed's heads."

His "heads" are actually tikis carved out of palm trees, and Ed says the small ones, about 12 or 14 inches high, (which sell for $35) are in such demand that he cant keep up.

"My sister wants a couple, my relatives all seem to want them," he said, unloading his woes upon an observer who watched as he demonstrated his woodcarving skill for CBHS art classes in October.

"It takes an afternoon to make a small one," he said, sending a chunk of palm debris to the ground from the face he was carving.

"This is a big one," he said of the head, which had been transformed from second period to sixth from a lifeless mass of splinters to a face with eyes and nose.

"This one'll go for $50 or $60," he commented.

All is not an artist's bliss for Ed, however. When asked about his trouble with the City of Cocoa Beach, Ed said, "Oh, you remember that?"

Ed wanted to spice up SR 520 in April by carving faces onto the dead palm trees along the causeway. He began one day, "and this guy came up, took my picture, and started asking questions. I told him why I was there. I hadn't asked anyone if it was okey to do it; I just started. The trees were dead, you know?

"I just thought I was getting some publicity, then I read in the paper about all that."

'All that' is Wayne Coombs, another tiki carver, who owns Mai Tiki. Wayne applied for a permit to carve the trees, but it had not yet come through. He was angry that Ed had begun carving without a permit.

"It was all a misunderstanding," Ed explained.

Ed turned the stump he was carving to show the opposite side, which was still blank.

"I may carve another face on this side," he said enthusiastically, as he examined the space, "and put patterns on the side, so they blend together, and hollow out the top to put a plant in. I could sell it for $65."

Inflation has even hit tikis.

ED VOLONNINO... creates heads.