As a family, we took annual summer trips out to the Gold Country when I was a kid. The drive took us out east toward the state capitol of Sacramento and up into 'Big Trees' territory where we camped, swam, fished and got regularly sunburnt. The four-hour drive to our destination was fairly unrewarding save for seeing a series of driftwood sculptures dotting the mudflats along the 80 freeway near the Bay Bridge.
We kids always marveled at them. Ooooh, Snoopy and the Red Baron! King Tut! A mummy in a canoe and a giant hitchhiker's thumb! What?! Why?!
The sculptures were dismantled sometime in the late 80s. In an art 101 class around the same time, I read a passage in our text book on Found Object Art with an accompanying image showing the mudflat scuptures. I thought, Oh, that's what you call it!
Someone brought them up the other day in conversation and I was inspired to do some digging on the interwebs to see if I could find any of the pieces I thought I'd remembered. I found King Tut (see above).
And I found Don Quixote fighting a windmill---
And this guy as well---
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| Native American on horseback |
I imagine that while we kids thought these constructions were 'neat', many adults might have thought them 'junk'. Perhaps that's why they were ultimately dismantled. -shame, really.
Interestingly, if one ever watches the Hal Ashby movie Harold and Maude, then one can see shots of the two title characters enjoying the view at the mudflats.
Here's a still from the film---
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| Harold and Maude, ca. 1971 |
Talking to most folk my age who grew up here, you'd think these structures were almost something mythical. Were they really there? Did we really see Snoopy fight the Red Baron? Thanks to the internet, I can say that, yes, they were there and they helped make my family's road trips across the bridge something magical.
My favorite movie. Love outsider art.
ReplyDeleteA definite fave film of mine as well. Most of it, if not all of it, was shot here locally. :D
DeleteI am a huge fan of found object art. And indeed any public art. I love that it is there, even when I don't like the individual pieces.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
DeleteI bet we all have childhood memories of iconic roadside installations. We had burma shave signs. I can almost remember the true "art", and all those interestingly named, decorated and painted motels.
ReplyDeleteI will now look up Burma Shave road signs. :)
DeleteThat's right, Maude was a bit of an artist in the film. (It's been a while since I saw it.)
ReplyDeletePeople have a different appreciation of things like that nowadays. I'm sure there are all sorts of pictures from back in the day. Someone just needs to collect them.
I suspect that the sculpture were in constant need of repair/upkeep. I do really think it may have been regarded as junk as I think it was probably an unsanctioned move on the part of the artists. -good that pics still exist out there in the ether (and in that film).
DeleteHow well constructed and so recognizable! Really nice.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite trendy these days, making things out of driftwood, old iron or other metal objects, 'claen' rubbish etc. Not always to my liking I have to admit.
I only remember Harold and Maude as a long-time-ago-play and when I looked on the internet I learned that it is still performed, e.g. in the Charing Cross Theatre in London last March.
clean I mean….
DeleteI didn't know that the film had been adapted to the stage. I should like to see the stage version!
DeleteAs someone who doesn't live in the area, my opinion certainly doesn't carry much weight but I think it would be nice to see the mudflat sculptures still around and entertaining a new generation.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It would be amazing to see structures out there again.
DeleteThanks for visiting. Those sculptures were incredible and magical. I forgot that scene in Harold and Maude included them. I'll have to watch it again.
ReplyDeleteYeah, if we can't see them along 80, then we always have Harold and Maude! Also: views of the old Dumbarton bridge, bits of the East Bay and elsewhere local in the film as well.
DeleteDear Bea, those road trips certainly were magical. I can remember only the Berma-shave signs that were posted at intervals along the roads and highways. We had such fun reading them. But the found-art sculptures are a marvel to me. I wish someone would begin to do that again. Peace.
ReplyDeleteYou and Joanne both have mentioned the Burma shave road signs. They really must have been something!
DeleteHappy Friday!!
ReplyDelete:)
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