PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
The METAL ARTIST
When he was a child, Pete Koza always felt best
when creating a piece of art. Now in his early 40s,
this family man has seen the childhood dreams
float into his grasp.
It all began a few years ago while Koza was employed by a
metal fabrication company. As he was working, he dropped
a grinder on a piece of sheet metal and it skittered across the
sheet leaving an interesting mark. Looking at the result, he
said, “This looks like a really neat feather.”
The idea fascinated him and he started playing around
with small pieces of aluminum and tools in his garage after
work. As he practiced, feathers morphed into palm fronds,
then into graceful palm trees and, voila, a career was born.
Koza, a Port St. Lucie resident since age 13, has always aspired
to be an artist and support his family, wife Chrissy, and
children Jordan, Madison and Tyler. He says he feels fulfilled
now that he has been able to flourish as an artist. One glance
at his Facebook page shows his love for the tropical South
Florida themes that are the basis for his art work.
A 1994 graduate of Fort Pierce Central High, Koza says art
class was his favorite time in school.
“My grades were never that good in school, but I would
always point out the A in art class,” Koza says. “That class
was where I felt successful. In elementary and middle school
in Palm Beach County, the teachers always remarked on my
ability and creativity. I especially liked ceramics, where I
could let my creative ideas out.”
His previous job ventures include a number of years working
for the Postal Service (a job he says with a laugh that he
might one day regret leaving), cooking in restaurants, working
with metal fabrication and 10 years servicing swimming
pools. While these helped to support his family, he missed
the satisfaction that art brought to his life.
“I guess you could say I went from a full-time pool service
entrepreneur and part-time artist to a full-time artist and
part-time pool service entrepreneur,” he says.
Now, he says, he is happy creating art in his shop along
Port St. Lucie Boulevard and providing for his family. He
devotes one day to the pool service work and the rest of the
week to art. His schedule is quite full as he sets up sales/display
booths every Thursday night at Jammin’ Jensen on Jensen
Beach Boulevard and every Saturday morning at the Fort
Pierce Jazz and Farmer’s Market in downtown Fort Pierce.
He also sets up his wares at the monthly Main Street Friday
Fests in Fort Pierce and Vero Beach. He sometimes attends
the Food Truck Invasion at Tradition Square in Port St. Lucie.
He has been working some of these gatherings of artists and
vendors for the past five years, hoping to get his artwork
recognized.
Aside from all of the packing and unpacking, loading and
unloading, Koza enjoys the customer contact of the booth,
knowing he will have plenty of solitary time in his shop,
working to perfect various sea creatures, as well as creating
abstracts and working on other themes.
“I have to have the time in the shop to create pieces for the
booth,” Koza says, lamenting a sore knee that has slowed his
production recently. “I need to get to work,” he says, dabbing
paint onto a piece of art as he talks.
52 Port St. Lucie Magazine
JOHN BIONDO PHOTOS
Pete Koza holds two pieces of the metal art he creates in his Port St. Lucie shop. Koza sells his artwork at the Fort Pierce Jazz and Farmer’s Market, Jammin’
Jensen, and Friday Fests in Fort Pierce and Vero Beach.
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BY PATTIE DURHAM