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 Title:
Oakland Museum of Contemporary Art
Artist:
Milton Mizenburg
Commissioned
by: City of Chicago
Location:
41st Pl. and Lake Park
Medium:
Wood Worked with Chainsaws
Commentary:
Milton Mizenburg is a professional sculptor who moved into Oakland
in 1988, when the area was still dominated by drug dealers. As
he rebuilt his house, he began to clean up the vacant lots around
him. In 1998 he was given some help by the city: dead tree trunks
were set up in the lots for him to do with as he would.
Using a chainsaw he created a garden of sculpture, which he has
gradually enlarged. Frank Duncan, an neighbor of Mizenburg, added
poems to the garden. It became an inspiration for the whole area.
The works are graceful and significant. Done for love alone,
they are truly an outstanding example of community art.
Although the Oakland Museum of Contemporary Art is now just Mizenburg's
work, he envisions building a museum that will display the work
of great African American artists near his no-longer-vacant lots.
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