The debris art on the Emeryville Mudflats
first appeared in the early 1960s
among the memorable sculptures:
Medfly Man waving from a giant chair.
Heffalumps
Prima ballerinas
The Driftwood Five playing flotsam and jetsam
a full size train
the Red Baron frozen in flight
dogfighting with the Sopwith Camel,
a huge Viking,
and a boy mummy
steering an Egyptian canoe
with a gold casket strapped to the deck
Yet, this shoreline is home to 90 species of birds
such as the clapper rail
barn swallow
and black phoebe
In 1998 Caltrans used a helicopter
to haul about 80 Dumpsters full of art/trash
from the mudflats
including…
plastic and glass bottles
foam
rotting wood ties
utility poles treated with creosote
and the ubiquitous shopping carts.
Today
the artwork is gone
maybe an occasional rogue piece appears
the driftwood and trash
continues to wash up on shore
