Unique Beach Debris Christmas Tree at North Bend Public Library, Dec. 29

For about ten years, local artist Steven Michael has volunteered his time and talent to create extraordinary Christmas trees and other displays at the North Bend Public Library. This year he had special inspiration from the time he spends hiking the beaches with his dogs in the Oregon National Dunes. Steven noticed a change on the beaches in recent years: more litter tossed up on the sand, and a lot of it plastic. At first he thought it might have come from Japan and the 2011 tsunami. But when he decided to do his bit to clean up the beach and pick up this trash, he found very little that could have come from Japan. A lot of it, in fact, comes from fishing and crabbing gear. “As an artist,” Steven says in the statement posted by the tree, “I knew there was potential to do something creative with such colorful trash and debris.” Creative and colorful it is! The tree boasts traditional Christmas lights, and it is festooned with intriguing shapes of floats, ropes, bottles, and all the strange things that wash up on our shores. It is surprisingly beautiful, and is making a big impression on library users. Steven titled this tree “Stop and Take Notice”. In his artist’s statement, he wonders what to expect when the 2011 tsunami debris does come to shore, if he hasn’t seen Japanese jetsam yet. “I think we are in for a big surprise,” he says. While this tree might remind you of the sculptures produced by Washed Ashore, the arts and environment education organization based locally in Bandon, Steven produced this work independently and is not affiliated with Washed Ashore. You can see Steven’s remarkable tree any time the library is open (Monday-Friday 10:00-6:00, Saturday 1:00-6:00). For more information, please call the North Bend Public Library at 756-0400.