FORT PIERCE FOLKS
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RUSTY DURHAM PHOTOS
Growing up in Fort Pierce, Randy Ard’s fishing pole was always at the ready. Now retired, Ard uses his knowledge of local fish and his background as a
ship carpenter to perfect his carvings, like this one of a flounder.
BY PATTIE DURHAM
Life, it seems, has come full circle for Randy Ard. Two
of the things he loved most from his childhood —
fishing and sculpting clay animals — have come
together as the retired ship carpenter whiles away
the hours creating wooden fish sculptures.
Growing up on Beach Court in Fort Pierce, the joys of fishing
on the South Bridge and South Jetty were just a walk or
a bike ride from home. Ard says his memories, refreshed by
illustrations, help him make such realistic creations.
“I remember every day the Parker brothers used to bring
their party boats in to the docks at the east end of the South
Bridge and they would hang up the day’s catch,” Ard says.
“We would always go and look at them. There are differences
between fish, like with people.
“I fished everywhere as a kid,” Ard adds, “Five Mile Creek,
10 Mile Creek as well as the bridge and the jetty. The river
used to be so clear and there were manta rays all over. We
used to catch cobia off the jetty.”
Ard’s family sailed from Long Island, New York, to Florida
when he was 5 years old. They lived aboard their boat at the
city marina for a year before settling in town. Attending Fort
Pierce schools, Ard liked working with clay, sculpting small
animals, even winning an honorable mention for the dinosaurs
he submitted to a junior high school science fair.
After graduating from high school, Ard earned an associate
in arts degree from Indian River Junior College. To pay for tuition
and books, he made surfboards. In those days, he made
less than $100 a week so he traded in surfboards for yachts.
He later returned to school for an associate in science degree
in dental lab technology, but found that he didn’t really like
the work, so he went back to ship carpentry.
Over the years, he has worked at Lydia Yacht Works and
Monterey Marine, among other places, as a ship carpenter.
While working on the yachts, some as long as 65 feet, he
learned the beauty of various woods.
But working with wood, Ard admits, is more difficult.
“I prefer to work with clay,” Ard says. “It is much more
forgiving. If you take too much off, you can put some clay
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