St. Pete Artist Selling Whimsical Bronze Sculptures Lining Beach Drive

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — For more than a decade, bronze bench sculptures depicting whimsical animals have lined Beach Drive, delighting both St. Petersburg residents and tourists visiting the city.

Now, the iconic works are disappearing one by one as artist Mike Elwell sells them.

“I’m 80 now and I had a stroke last year,” he told Patch. “The benches are too big and my kids don't have any way to take them. So, I’m starting to figure out if anyone is interested in buying them.”

When he moved to St. Petersburg from Kansas about 12 years ago, he brought some of the large-scale sculptures with him. He also created several new ones after relocating to the city.

Elwell found homes for his eccentric creations, placing about a half dozen of them outside businesses, on private property, mostly on Beach Drive.

Last year, he sold “Catching Some Rays,” a statue of a pelican on a bench wearing a baseball cap, an unbuttoned shirt and shorts, to the city of Tarpon Springs for $30,000. The sculpture now calls the Sponge Docks home.

“It looks great there,” he said.

Two years ago, he sold “The Prince,” a frog sculpture that sat outside the shop Agora to a private buyer. It now resides in the front yard of a home on Coffee Pot Bayou, Elwell said.

“Salvador Seahorse,” a bench bookended by two seahorses that was outside North Star Realty, has also recently been sold.

Only two sculptures remain in downtown St. Petersburg. One is “Let’s Talk,” a dolled up alligator wearing a hat, heels, a necklace, and a dress, and carrying a purse, which sits on a bench outside Red Cloud Gallery.

The other is “Money Talks,” featuring a cartoonish elephant on roller skates, outside Kilwins ice cream shop. This is among Elwell’s most political works.

“It’s a big, fat elephant and it’s supposed to represent the Republican (Party). He has his foot on top of the donkey and he’s trying to keep the donkey subdued,” the artist said. “He has money bulging out of his pockets and a dollar sign on his hat. The elephant is on roller skates with square wheels, meaning they can’t get anything done.”

Though he’s selling the works, he hates to see the sculptures leave St. Petersburg.

“They’re somewhat iconic at this point, after 12 years,” he said. “I didn’t want to abandon St. Pete.”

But the city has turned down several opportunities to buy the works, Elwell said.

In recent years, he’s reached out to city leaders at least half a dozen times, talking to various people, including Wayne David Atherholt, former director of cultural affairs for the city, and John Collins, former executive director of the St. Pete Arts Alliance, he said.

The purchase of the sculptures was discussed by the Public Arts Commission, “which has the ultimate decision over those and they declined (to buy) them,” Atherholt, now retired, told Patch. “They would have to have been moved onto city property as per the ordinance, so it was a bit complicated, and in the end, they decided not to purchase them and relocate them.”

The commission rarely purchases public art that already exists at private businesses, he added.

Patch has reached out to Collins and Celeste Davis, the current director of arts, culture and tourism, for comments. This story will be updated when they respond.

Elwell is still hopeful the city might change its mind about purchasing the remaining pieces.

He’s amazed by the number of people who stop to take photos with his sculptures each day. In one single day, while he worked outside Red Cloud, he counted at least 500 people who sat on “Let’s Talk” or took pictures with it.

“It seems there’s a lot of people who have expressed enjoyment seeing them,” he said. “I think somehow the city is missing the boat. It’s kind of a shame. I know so many people that have family pictures with them. I think if the public were given a vote, they’d say, ‘We want these things to remain.’”

For now, his final two sculptures are available to purchase.

“I just want to find a home for them,” he said.