Florida Today Life Section runs cover story about Ed on HGTV.
'Offbeat' art
Home & Garden TV stint may show another side of Melbourne tiki artist
By Breuse Hickman — FLORIDA TODAY
In hindsight, Ed Volonnino wishes he had been in better control when a television film crew spent a day with him and his tikis.
"They got shots of me popping out from behind a tiki and doing other goofy things," says Volonnino of Ed's Heads in Melbourne.
He won't be disappointed if producers don't use footage they took of him doing his Mick Jagger imitation in front of his tikis at a local bar.
"I really don't know what to expect when the show airs," he says. "I mean, there's a chance I might be embarrassed."
But based on the show's premise and title, perhaps Volonnino should start bracing now. "Offbeat America" isn't another garden-variety instructional show. Last year, HGTV put out the call for unusual homes and eccentric crafts people.
Sunday's show featured a California couple who built a house that rotates.
"Viewers may pick up a few ideas," says the show's associate producer John Pauly of the Denver-based High Noon production company. "But the main idea is for them to see unconventional people and realize they can be unconventional, too."
And that's where Volonnino comes
.
About the show
"Offbeat America," which airs at 6 p.m. Sundays on HGTV, takes you places you've never been, shows you things you never knew existed, and introduces you to the people behind them. Whether it's funky architecture, the world's largest living roof or The Whirligig Master of the South, "Offbeat America" uncovers the most amazing people, places and plants with a Home & Garden twist.
— hgtv.com
Tiki artist gets taste of fame. Sculptor Ed Volonnino of Ed's Heads in Melbourne has been carving heads for the past 27 years. Volonnino's work will be featured in "Offbeat America," an HGTV show that features unusual homes and eccentric crafts people, sometime in August. An HGTV crew recently filmed Volonnino at Abaco Jack's in Melbourne.
Photos by Craig Rubadoux, FLORIDA TODAY
