Where highway commuters once saw driftwood giants rising from the muck.
Years ago, artists would walk around the muck at the edge of the San Francisco Bay in Emeryville, and build loads of sculptures out there on the flats, created from driftwood and found objects that drivers would enjoy as they motored south on the old Highway 17 (known in numerous radio ads as 'Highway 17, The Nimitz'). Grabbing material off someone else’s work was considered fair game and part of the fun, and contributed a kinetic dynamic to the ongoing display. Now the place is a park, and the sculptures are gone, but you can see what it used to be like in this neat and funny documentary by Ric Reynolds, augmented by Erich Seibert’s wonderful musique-concrète/time-lapse sequences. The flashback circus sequence includes Scott Beach and Bill Irwin. Sculptors interviewed include Walt Zucker, Tony Puccio, Robert Sommer, Ron & Mary Bradden, and Bob Kaminsky.
Editing
Seibert's musique-concrète time-lapse is pure hypnotic gold.
Practical Effects
Every sculpture born from trash and territorial artistic beef.
Director
Richard A. Reynolds
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mudflat sculpture was a genuinely unique Bay Area phenomenon: no permits, no preservation, just commuters and competing artists in tidal negotiation.
Bill Irwin went from this micro-budget doc to Tony-winning clowning and 'Fool Moon'—the circus DNA clearly stuck.
US
