Any track and field enthusiast still searching for the perfect keepsake of the past two weeks could bring home a long distance runner to stay in the front yard.
Local Eugene artist Tim Boyden has sculpted a runner – and a sprinter, shot putter, pole vaulter, discus thrower and others – out of firewood and tree branches.
All nine of Boyden’s sculptures are on display in front of Fairmount Park on the corner of Fairmount Boulevard and East 15th Avenue. They have been on display for two weeks now, he said.
Boyden hasn’t sold any of the pieces yet, but passersby stop frequently to ask questions and snap photos.
“I’ve got a list of people with interest but I haven’t got a commitment,” Boyden said.
It took him three months to create the life-size Olympians out of downed trees and branches. The sprinter is made of rhododendron wood from nearby Hendricks Park, he said.
The wood is drilled and screwed together with three- or four-inch screws. Steel reinforcements hold the branches together and keep the sculptures secured to the ground.
If a buyer put one on display in a yard, fewer reinforcements would be needed, Boyden said.
“We were worried about them walking away out here,” he said.
During one of the first nights the sculptures were on display, someone tried to help the sculptures walk away, and Boyden has been sleeping on his front porch ever since. He has not had any other problems, he said, because the police are stationed on the corner and keep an eye out for any suspicious behavior.
Boyden makes recycled art and rustic furniture for a living. He’s asking $500 for each statue, including one that he estimated is 12 feet tall named “Long Tall Sally,” who stands across the street from his other works. She wears a sign welcoming guests to the Fairmount neighborhood.
“She’s a little sillier than the other figures,” he said.
Still, he said interested patrons have not complained about the price. Boyden is also hosting an open house each day to showcase his other pieces, including lamps made of bowling balls.
Boyden said any statues that are not sold before Monday or Tuesday will be kept along his driveway and in his backyard until he finds buyers, “so we’re hoping it doesn’t stay this crowded.”
“Maybe I’ll just find where the athletes in town live and throw these in their backyards,” he joked.
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