Bob Rust – Worth A Dam

Over the years I’ve learned that every beaver festival has a different mood or vibe. Nothing is permanent and everything changes. Some seem full of children, some seem full of impatient parents and some are packed with die-hard martinez beaver defenders. This one seemed thick with passionate naturalists. Many younger and older adults who were drawn by the movie, the book, or the promise of learning more. The adult-heavy crowd meant that fewer children completed the sticker program this year but the ones that did clearly loved it. One child in particular collected all the stickers but patiently kept them because she wanted to put them on herself, carefully, at home.

There were still plenty of children though, fully engaged and eager. Here’s the proof:

I don’t think its possible to over-emphasize how meaningful it was to Amy in the middle creating such a magically wild world. It was a constant reminder to everyone there that in a very real way we are all responsible every day for the nature around us, and for the wilderness we allow underfoot. Once when Suzanne Fouty asked Amy if she minded how temporary all her work was, and how subject to erosion, Amy said that’s actually what she loves about chalk art.

It was a constant reminder to “Live in the moment“.

And what a moment it was! I called our child winners of the raffle yesterday who were so excited to be chosen! 28 children completed the post test and 19 of those got the answers correct. (Many were thrown by the idea that humans were ‘animals’ too.) Today we’ll send off the beaver puppets as a reward for the winners hard work, Then we can focus on closing out the remaining silent auction items. There are about 25 transactions left to complete.

This was one of my favorite parts of the mural. I’m so fond of the ripples made on the water by beaver movements, To my way of thinking they’re kind of like a living dynamic canvas that constantly records his/her movements on the watery medium..

Of course there were other favorite parts. The exciting myriad of bees and ladybugs. The curling and popular snakes. The glorious peregrine and the constantly evolving musicians.

But the famed beaver mobile remains a perennial favorite of young and old alike. My engineer brother in law was fascinated and wanted to know at once how it worked.

There was one last amazing thing that happened on July 30th and it had nothing what so ever to do with Worth A Dam or the beaver festival. Illuminaries artist Tim Hon created this downtown about three blocks away from the park on ferry street. The talented graffiti artist known for his promient Oakland Warriors pieces happens to live in Martinez, and wanted to memorialize the beavers he personally watched with fascination when he moved here.

Eye on the East Bay: ‘Beaver mobile’ turns heads at Martinez festival

IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST: Beaver sightings are not all that uncommon along Alhambra Creek in Martinez — especially during the city’s annual Beaver Festival, which took place last weekend — so it takes something larger than life to turn heads. Leave it to Bob Rust to answer the challenge.

Rust, an environmental scientist by trade, has been moonlighting as the festival’s unofficial artist in residence for several years, surprising audiences with his whimsical creations that have ranged from beaver-shaped loaves of bread to a mechanical beaver tail to a giant inflatable beaver reminiscent of a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon.

For this year’s festival, Rust made a grand entrance on what might best be described as a “beaver mobile.” He started with a low-slung adult tricycle that he picked up used, then covered it in a papier mâché shell that he painted in appropriate shades of brown, attaching a huge tail that dragged noisily on the ground as he pedaled around the festival grounds, all while hidden within the faux beaver’s mighty belly.

Rust, who last year crafted a beaver out of wattle and daub as the festival was in progress, is no stranger to taking his creations from concept to completion on short notice. He spent about a week on the beaver mobile, and was still putting the finishing touches on it that Saturday morning. He said he was painting the critter’s white teeth at 10:15 a.m. and needed to get it to the festival by 10:30.

Rust has more than a passing interest in beavers. An avid kayaker, he usually tries to take his boat onto Alhambra Creek prior to festival weekend to remove trash or other unsightly debris.

No telling what he might do for an encore at next year’s festival, but he is intrigued by the idea of bringing back his beaver bread — baked in a beaver-shaped oven. Stay tuned …

The beavers are SO lucky to have a hero like this working for them! Thanks Bob!