David Pierce, Artist Profile

David Pierce’s mother was an art teacher and his great-grandmother was known to sit at the Louvre Museum in Paris and paint copies of the Masters. David was into sports and didn’t pursue art as a child. Maybe his latent artistry was there all the time, but he was a late bloomer. David is still into competitive sports: golf, pop tennis, and pickleball, but after a twenty-plus business career in Birmingham, Alabama, David and his wife, Gwen, retired to Orange Beach to
enjoy the fruits of their labor.

It was there that David began to explore his artistic side. David had always enjoyed working with wood, building coffee tables, consoles, and dining room tables. He built an outdoor kitchen at his home and wanted to hang a tarpon he had caught on the wall. He thought the tarpon wouldn’t weather the beachside elements well, so he decided instead to create a tarpon out of driftwood.

Setting out in his boat, David began to comb the beaches for just the right pieces of driftwood to make his fish replica. He says, “I like to select the driftwood pieces myself because I see certain aspects of each element of the piece I’m creating. I see the tarpon’s mouth, the neck, and the bill of a pelican, and the shell of a crab or a turtle. People will bring me pieces that they think I can use but I know what will work in my mind, and when I see the right piece, it just clicks” When David had finished and hung his driftwood tarpon, his neighbors took notice. They loved his work and he started getting requests for other pieces. Eventually, a neighbor introduced him to the folks at Duh for Garden and Home in Pensacola and they purchased one of his sculptures. It sold in one day. Duh loved his work and started buying his driftwood sculptures to sell in their store. He also created driftwood pieces for Melanie Martin Interiors in Orange Beach.

David and Gwen now live in Fairhope and David still creates sculptures, mirrors, consoles, and tables made from driftwood. He does some consignments but is doing more commission work these days. David has an incredible eye for detail and proportion and is relentless in creating beautiful works of art.

You can view his gallery at Coastal Creations by David Pierce on Facebook as well as at Coastal Creations Inc on Instagram. His great-grandmother would be proud! We have included a small gallery of select creations below.

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