We popped down to Colwood to build a life-size Woolly Mammoth

October 19, 2018 2:25 AM

"I’ve always seen stuff in the driftwood: oh, there’s a dinosaur bone; oh, there’s a triceratops skull" Alex Witcombe launched Drifted Creations after his first driftwood sculpture received a deluge of praise from the public. Today, the artist, who is based on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, makes public art pieces and does commissions for a variety of clients. He also runs workshops to help others learn the coastal craft. More images!
posted by I_Love_Bananas (4 comments total)

Well, hell's bells. I remember when the "Royal Bay Beachpark" was a desolate stretch of land between the gravel pits and a beach few visited. Losing a place of solitude has been slightly eased by the presence of the driftwood mammoth. That's cool, indeed.
posted by Savannah at 7:15 AM on October 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

A real-life Len Tukwila: "First I sand the wood until it is smooth, then I oil it until it is soft. It's usually a bird or a whale or a knotted, twisty shape."
posted by Flashman at 9:06 AM on October 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have a wooly mammoth leg bone fossil that Jack Horner gave my mother back in the 80's (she edited one of his books). It's yours for $2,500.
posted by Brocktoon at 1:18 PM on October 19, 2018

He also runs workshops to help others learn the coastal craft.

which I believe is technically illegal in much of coastal British Columbia.

it’s illegal to remove driftwood from Crown foreshore land within or adjacent to ecological reserves or federal, provincial, regional or municipal parks. It’s also illegal to take driftwood from private land or First Nations reserves. This law preserves a piece of B.C. coast history, and creates a natural museum of the important role that coastal waters played during the heyday of raincoast logging.

I say technically, because I suspect this is more about big stuff, actual logs as opposed to evocatively shaped bits and pieces.
posted by philip-random at 4:32 PM on October 19, 2018