Driftwood Art in Emeryville Mudflats

Unfinished History

In the 1960s and ’70s, the mudflats between the Bay Bridge and the Powell Street freeway exit from I-80 were an amazingly fertile ground for creative expression. Mostly anonymous locals went into the area at low tide and working with the driftwood that would collect there, erected large sculptures that were often whimsical, poignant, political, satirical, and surprising. Here is a small collection from Seymour Rosen, courtesy of SPACES (Saving and Preserving Arts and Cultural Environments).

Photo: Seymour Rosen © SPACES (Saving and Preserving Arts and Cultural Environments)

Dragon sculpture on Emeryville mudflats.

Photo: courtesy Randy Koger via Facebook

Photo: courtesy Rob Adams via Facebook

Photo: courtesy Carl Griffith via Facebook

Junkopia by Chris Marker, 1981

Codirected by Frank Simeone and John Chapman, JUNKOPIA was filmed at the Emeryville Mudflats outside of San Francisco while Chris Marker was also shooting the Vertigo sections of Sans Soleil.