Looking for the perfect site for his work, he moved from Westport to Tokeland, then to Ocean City until he found his present home location at 1552 Ocean Beach Road, Copalis Crossing, where he now operates under the name of Native Beach Accessories. Robinson’s new career soon became a consuming passion. “You need three things to be an artist – a gift, ambition and desire,” he states. Robinson views his new creative life as a quest which began when he was 40. Uitto gave him a piece of driftwood from which he created an image of wild horses titled “Hurricane.” Robinson recently completed this 15-foot statue of Poseidon at Seabreeze Gallery on Hogan’s Corner. I made a gigantic mess.” However, the fire had been lit. “I bought a chainsaw, took it to the beach and started carving. I wanted to carve it into a wolf,” he says. “One day I was walking on the beach and found a large piece of driftwood. Robinson began his sculpting career by carving the figures of a wolf and a heron into a piece of driftwood he had originally planned to use for displaying his jewelry. The stunning work of his neighbor, driftwood artist Jeffro Uitto, inspired him to carve wood.

During long walks on the beach, he collected sea glass and stones which he fashioned into jewelry. In 2012, he found himself living in an RV park in Westport looking for a new direction in life. Tony Robinson is ready to carve the rough shape of an eagle’s head in his work tent on Ocean Beach Road.Ī failed marriage turned Robinson’s life and career upside down leaving him penniless and depressed. This year-long project included the remodel of 17 cabins, the demolition of the old lodge and the construction of a new pump house. As lead construction superintendent, he renovated Iron Springs Resort beginning in 2010. After building custom homes in Texas, he came to Grays Harbor in 1997 where he worked for Bill Peters Construction, Western Washington Construction and Northwest Catastrophe. He had always wanted to build houses, a career he pursued for 20 years. Chainsaw sculptor Tony Robinson only recently completed this imaginative piece carved from local redwood on the lot of Seabreeze Gallery, a new store and gallery exhibiting and selling the work of 30 local artists and artisans. The god’s bust is emerging from a totem-pole-style column of whimsical sea creatures: serpent monsters, shark, turtles atop whales and seals. In Copalis Crossing, at the Hogan’s Corner intersection, a monumental statue of the Greek sea god Poseidon is lifting its trident 15-feet high into the sky.

Ohlsson and rice chainsaw