He goes by “Tiki.” And that nickname, for Peninsula woodcarver Dan Bialk, is entirely appropriate.
Chainsaw in hand, “Tiki” Dan Bialk loves sculpting wood out of the remains of palm trees. He sculpts bears, mermaids, lobsters, dolphins, and pretty much anything else a sculptor sculpting figures out of palm trees can sculpt.
“I always knew I had a talent,” noted Bialk. “I’ve always been real artistic. I’m a chainsaw carver: That’s what makes me unique.”
Tiki Dan has been chainsaw woodcarving since the late 1990s. Times have changed. He hasn’t.
Tiki carving is the traditional and modern art of sculpting human-like figures and masks out of wood or stone, rooted deeply in Polynesian culture and island deities. Key concepts include sacred ancestry, popular tools like chainsaws and chisels, and iconic cultural designs.
With a degree in marine science from the University of San Diego, Bialk worked at SeaWorld and was also a math teacher for a school district. Woodcarving is a far cry from where he started out.
Noting he’s been tree carving for a “long, long time,” Bialk started his chainsaw art as a hobby on the side “just to make extra money.”
But as he got immersed in the tree-carving craft, he became more serious about it. Bialk saw tikis in Hawaii and totems in Alaska, both of which inspired him to make his hobby an occupational pursuit.
“Every time I’d travel, I’d see these guys in Northern California carving on the side of the road in Monterrey and Lake Tahoe,” he noted. “It always fascinated me to see how they carved with a chainsaw. And Big Bear, too, when we went there as kids. We’d see these big bears in front of these restaurants. And I said, ‘That is the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life.’”
Being a woodcarver is more than just a job for Tiki Dan. It’s become his calling and his destiny. “I realized, after doing street fairs and art shows, that so many people just don’t do what they love to do,” he said. “They just do it because they got locked in.”
Bialk didn’t want to get locked in. Today, he continues to remain open for woodcarving requests, but he noted, “Right now, I’m swamped.”
Asked how he chooses subjects to carve, Bialk said: “I do anything, but mostly tikis.”
Tiki Dan owns at least one other woodcarving distinction. “I cut ‘em (palms) down too,” he said. “I’m one of the only Tiki carvers – if not the only one – who also is the guy that climbs the trees and cuts them down.”
Bialk guessed he’s been doing Tiki carving for over 30 years. Asked how many wood carvings that has translated into, Bialk hesitated before answering, “I can’t even give you a number. Thousands.”
With a chainsaw in hand, ‘Tiki’ Dan Bialk carves up the Peninsula
