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Fishing For Art

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By LOIS KINDLE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 5, 2007

APOLLO BEACH - His weathered hands belie the fact he's an artist by trade. That's because Frank Gabriel was once a commercial fisherman.

The Apollo Beach resident still makes money off fish, crabs and other ocean creatures. Only now, he carves them - out of wood.

Born 63 years ago in Manhattan, Gabriel grew up in the New York City area. His love for the sea came from his father George, who at age 13 began traveling from Greece to South America on an uncle's freighter. For 14 years, George helped his uncle deliver timber to the Greek Islands, where wood was scarce.

Jumping ship one day when the freighter was docked in Brazil, George traveled to the United States. He made his way to the west side of Manhattan, where he met and married Donata Farini, Gabriel's mother. Enlisting in the Navy in 1941, George served in Italy and the South Atlantic during World War II and became a U.S. citizen.

Father and son began fishing off Sheepshead Bay near Brooklyn when Frank was 7. By age 14, Gabriel had his first boat.

That year, he began carving wood as a winter hobby.

'I was 9 when I became fascinated with my uncle Evangelos Mantzaras, who lived in Manhattan,' Gabriel said, adding he used to watch his uncle take doors off kitchen cabinets and carve bird cages out of them.

'He carved all kinds of musical instruments and traded them for ouzo a Greek liqueur at a local Greek cafe,' Gabriel said.

It was Mantzaras who spurred the boy's interest in art. But it wasn't until the mid-1970s that Gabriel took to the art form in earnest. He started carving what he knew best - fish. But in the beginning he also made decoys, birds and large, swan-shaped planters.

Gabriel said he took his pieces down to the docks where he used to work and sold them to millionaires who kept boats there.

Through word of mouth, his talents became known, and demand for the carvings grew. In 1985, he got out of the commercial fishing industry to work full time as an artist.

Gabriel and his late wife, Frances, moved to Apollo Beach in 1989, where he sold a 36-inch blue dolphin to a local businessman for $150. Once again, word spread of his work, and business boomed.

Since then, Gabriel has sold carvings, which sell for between $35 and $1,500, that hang in homes and businesses all over Florida - and abroad.

'I've shown my work from Pensacola to the Keys,' he said. Some of his pieces have been given as gifts by the Tampa Bay International Super Task Force, an organization that promotes the Tampa area abroad, to foreign governments, including England, the Netherlands, France and Egypt.

Gabriel participates every year in the Apollo Beach Manatee Arts and the Ruskin Seafood festivals. He works events in Safety Harbor, Tarpon Springs and St. Petersburg.

Donald Geist of Apollo Beach has purchased 20 of Gabriel's carved creatures.

'You can see Frank's heart is in his work, and he makes everything come to life,' Geist said. 'He's very creative and a fun guy to be around. He's a truly fine artist.'

Starting with a pieces of bare wood - mostly eastern pine, but also black walnut, aromatic cedar and spruce - Gabriel rough cuts an object and then laminates several pieces together, smoothing the wood with a grinder and small sander. He hand-carves the fins then colors his creation with oil stains he mixes. He makes about a dozen a week.

Gabriel wants to carve objects depicting human anatomy, in addition to his sea creatures. He also would like to begin shooting digital photography.

'I enjoy the freedom of what I do, the freedom of expression and of doing what I want,' Gabriel said. 'I sell everything I make, and I'm grateful people appreciate my work.'

GET TO KNOW

WHO: Frank Gabriel
WHAT: Professional wood carver

SPECIALTY: Fish, turtles, crabs and other decorative objects

WHERE: Home-based business in Apollo Beach
INFORMATION: (813) 645-0231.

Reporter Lois Kindle can be reached at (813) 865-1553 or lkindle@tampatrib.com.

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