Bike Path Elephant

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I noticed the bike path elephant (next to the community garden, roughly behind Brooks Rite Aid) has been tipped over once more. It appears to have been in this state for several days.

It may just be my imagination (I do use that portion of the path infrequently) but poor Mr.(Mrs.) Elephant* seems to be a victim of hazing more often these days.

I am not sure who originally put the sculpture there, but it has been a fixture for as long as I've lived here, and I'm wondering what, if anything could (or should) be done to prevent vandalism? Should it be protected?

Sure, I get many questions from perplexed visitors:

Them: what is that?
Me: Oh, it's an elephant, of course.

Yet regardless of one's opinion of the artistic merit, I think vandalism speaks poorly for the community as a whole.

* Does he/she have another name?

Comments

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

My impression was less "vandalism" and more "has finally fallen apart" -- it looked like some structural bits were maybe no longer attached to one another?

[ron_newman]

We've had a fair amount of violent weather during the past month. Could a storm have done this?

[fangirl715.livejournal.com]

The vandalism has been an ongoing problem for any and all of the various sculptures along the bike path for the last several years--I'm pretty sure that the same artist (Wayne Viens, who used to work at the DS Goodwill), made the elephant as well as the totem-pole-esque figure that now reside at the back of the community garden, and ALL of them have been trashed, some of them multiple times.

My cynical guesses as to who's responsible? (1) Kids in the neighborhood who like to think/claim that they're fighting back against the "yuppies" taking over their neighborhood by trashing anything art-related, but are really just using fears of gentrification as an excuse for vandalism; (2) white hat college-aged yahoos who just want to smash things. Either way, they're assholes IMNSHO.

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

Actually, the Mammoth was made by Smitty

[genevra-mcneil.livejournal.com]

I may be of the minority opinion, but I think maybe it's time for the Mammoth to be retired.

It was lovely and beautiful while it lasted, but the continued disintegration due to both vandalism and weather seem to have turned it from a sculpture into a heap on the side of the bike path.

My toddler used to love to pet it but now I'm afraid the whole thing will topple over on her if I let her near it.

I suppose Smitty -- as creator -- might be responsible for the clean up. If he'd rather not, I'd be willing to pitch in on a "Give the Mammoth a Decent Send off" party.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I agree with your conclusions. They are certainly logical and not cynical at all. I would be reluctant to think their actions are directly tied to yuppie influx, as that would involve way too much thought process. In me experience, when youths or white hat frat boys smash things, the thought process usually is: Art! Smash it!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I agree with you as well. Perhaps the artist could repair it and make it more stable, or allow others to do so. You raise a valid point, in that we can't have it toppling over or parts falling off on people.

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

Um... that was supposed to be a mammoth?

I mean, I didn't dislike it as a work of art, I just never saw anything elephant-like in it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

You never saw the trunk? The trunk made from corrugated drain pipe is the dead giveaway.

I cannot tell you, though, whether t'was meant to be mammoth, elephant, oiliphant, or mastodon.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

My daughter calls it the junkefant, but it has seen better days and is starting to get smelly and moldy. According to my daughter, who notices these things more than I do, someone stole all the metal parts off the junkefant.

[dakotakym.livejournal.com]

Here's a link to an article published last year in the SJ about the sculpture, w/ info about its history and such-> http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/archive/x775323673

Sorry about that...

[fangirl715.livejournal.com]

I thought it was something Wayne had done, since I believe it's the kind of thing he tends to do. Either way, trashing it is still a shitty thing to do, no matter who made it.

[fangirl715.livejournal.com]

Something really should be done soon, whether to rebuild and stabilize it, or give it a respectful yet celebratory send-off. Does anyone here know the artist, and would you be able to contact him to see what his thoughts are?

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

Well, Smitty's leg is still in a cast, so I don't think it would get moved anytime soon. A bunch of us who have plots at the bike path garden pulled it out of the ravine in the spring which allowed him to make the needed repairs....

[davelew.livejournal.com]

If all the metal parts are gone and it's smelly, I think an elephant bonfire is the only honorable way to send it to the spot-behind-the-rite-aid in the sky.

[purpless77.livejournal.com]

I agree with fangirl. While I don't know anybody who has done any vandalizing, at least not since high school, I have heard of kids doing stupid things to fight back at the city about the yuppie issue. So that could definitely be it.
You'd think college kids would be more mature but truth be told, many aren't and will do things like this, "just because". So that could also very well be it.

I think if there is a way to restore it or make it somehow much stronger, then they should. If that isn't possible then it would be best to retire it since it's disheartening to see that some jerks keep vandalizing a positive structures in our city.

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

Well, that settles that. Some mental midget just now set it alight and it has burned to the ground.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Are you serious?!? I just walked past it at a quarter to eleven!!!

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed. I watched Somerville FD put it out.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

We walked down the bike path today, and my daughter started crying when she saw the junkefant's ashes. She wanted to know who would do something like that.

Although I wasn't the biggest fan of the junkefant in a state of disrepair, I felt that the artist should decide how and if he wanted to retire it.

Like a phoenix, maybe the junkefant can rise again from its ashes? If it does happen, let us know. My kiddo would like to help resurrect it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I'm just surprised it burned, considering how damp it's been and how moldy the wood must have been. I wonder if the security cameras behind Rite Aid captured anything.

Michelle the Wooly Mammoth no longer

[obviously4thst.livejournal.com]

Someone burned the mammoth (elephant) out of existence. After surviving attack after attack since it was left on the bike path after "ART BEAST" 2007, Michelle the Woolly Mammoth is out of the way of those she bothered.
The sculpture was made by "Neanderthals for Climate Change" and "Skraeling Scavengers" for the Cambridge River Festival before it was invited to "ART BEAST". It was rewarding to see how children and some adults knew what to do when confronted with the beast; they adorned her with debris: photos, notes, trinkets, and trash, in essence they gave her a coat. "Michelle" was a repository for wishes and hopes. Obviously the sculpture inspired reaction, some deep others shallow. After "ART BEAST" we decided to experiment with the initiation of a small "free art zone". The mammoth would take up residence along the bike path without "state" or "art-expert" permission.
We wanted to see how the area would respond to it. The vandalism came fast. Our response was to repair, which we did a few times. WE regret that it did get shabby with the continual attacks. It was even thrown down the ravine and left for the winter. This spring we went to remove it, but when we picked it up it sprang back into form, so we decided to repair again.
Eventually it was to be dragged up to Tufts on its skis during a winter blizzard. We thought it might be adopted by some fraternity in honor of their mascot, "Jumbo", which coincidentally also was destroyed by fire.
Thank you for your interest and responses.
Skraeling Scavenger

elephant burning

[r-dorissa.livejournal.com]

i'm going to write a post for bostonist.com, so i called somerville f.d. the person i spoke to said the highland ave station responded to a fire behind rite-aid on sunday night, approx. 11:45pm.

since i'm going out of town for a few days, the post will be up monday or tuesday. feel free to email me (rob a--t bostonist.com) or leave comments here, if you want to add any info.

~r

junkefant or junkephant

[obviously4thst.livejournal.com]

either spelling, I love your daughter's descriptive name for what "Michelle" became. In a week or so look for pictures of the beast showing it as it came into existence and where it traveled hanging from the bushes where it last was.
We will leave a nice one for your daughter in an envelope that will say "pearly the bunny".

Re: junkefant or junkephant

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

She spells it "junkefant" because she uses what she calls "sound spelling," which she loves because sound spelling doesn't slow down the furious pace of her writing. I hope it won't be too much of a shock to her this school year when she has to learn spelling rules and take spelling tests.

Thank you for doing this. (I hate it when thugs get the final say.) We will look for the envelope.