Walking across the closely trimmed grass of Andrews Park you could be in any one of thousands of city parks, until you turn the corner and are confronted and delighted by a 30 foot long multi-hued dragon sculpture undulating through a fantastic play environment. The dragon which is greeted with youthful squeals of joy by neighborhood children is one example of the award winning work of Tom Arie-Donch, sculptor and principal of Interplay Design.

Tom has been creating sculptural play environments for the past twenty seven years. He got his start in 1978, when he worked with young patients at the Fort Logan residential mental health facility in Denver, Colorado to create a lion sculpture.

Since that first lion, Tom has traveled throughout the country creating unique and magical play environments. Dolphins in a park in Davis, California, secret caves in the Rockford Discovery Center in Rockford, Illinois, a 60 foot Right Whale with spout at the Brevard County Zoo in Florida, A dinosaur dig in Chesapeake Virginia or a sculpted tile bench plaza in Kuaii, Hawaii are some examples of his projects. Each design is unique. Tom incorporates children's perspectives as an integral part of the designs. He has conducted over 3,000 workshops, design sessions and classes with children. That childlike view permeates and enlivens his work.

Tom is a founder and board member of the Community Built Association. His work has won a number of awards and helped set new standards for children's play spaces. As a certified playground safety inspector, he creates custom play spaces that are special and unique but that also meet state of the art safety and A.D.A. standards. He also brings many diverse design and building skills to his work. Tom attended the University of Minnesota for undergraduate work in visual arts and community organizing and went to graduate school in community development at the University of California at Davis. Born in 1955, he grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota.