“surfaced”

From Trash to a Public Art Installation at Lake Tahoe

by WRITER NAME

by BILL ROMANELLI photography courtesy of CLEAN UP THE LAKE, COLIN WEST, LUDOVIC FEKETE and JASON SMITH

It’s hard to imagine anyone leaving a life of traveling and filming documentaries about the world’s wine regions, but Colin West wanted something more. “I was traveling in Belize, saw the litter issues there, and got inspired to make a more meaningful contribution to the world,” West says.

“So I literally dove right in.”

He came home to Northern California and started scuba diving in Lake Tahoe, with a mission to clean up the garbage he found underwater. On his first dive, he collected 50 pounds of garbage, and he knew he was onto something.

He created a nonprofit, now doing business as Clean Up the Lake, and set an ambitious goal: to clean up all the litter from 0 to 30 feet deep around Lake Tahoe, an area encompassing 72 miles of shoreline. His secondary goal was to keep as much of the garbage as possible out of landfills and use it to send a compelling message about litter and the environment.

At the time he had no money, no job, no crew— and no intention of letting any of that stop him.

“Colin came to us in 2020 with his plan and, honestly, we weren’t sure he could do it,” says Amy Berry, chief executive officer with e Tahoe Fund. “So, he started with a 6-mile pilot project (funded by the Nevada Division of State Lands’ (NDSL) Lake Tahoe License Plate Grant), and he really impressed us with his approach to the job, and how quickly he did it. So we laid out a plan to help him fund the entire 72-mile cleanup.” e Tahoe Fund established a goal to raise $200,000, which Tahoe Blue Vodka, upon hearing about the project, agreed to match dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000.

“I founded this company with a mission to draw attention to the impact we’re having on our planet and the need to protect it,” says Matt Levitt, founder, and chief executive officer of Tahoe Blue Vodka. “ is project has honestly been the coolest thing we’ve ever done, and it shows how a team of motivated individuals can really make a diff erence.” e combined effort raised more than $250,000, with support from Vail Resorts, Tahoe Fund Donors, the NDSL license plate program, Martis Fund, Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, Tahoe Mountain Resorts Foundation, the American Century Championship and other grant-making organizations. e cleanup began in 2021 and took one year to complete. Collectively, West and his crew of staff and volunteers pulled 25,000 pounds of garbage—more than 12 tons—from the lake bottom. at, however, was only the beginning. “Fighting back against pollution also means viewing landfills as a last resort and finding ways to re-use the litter in some way,” West says. “I am not above keeping a good pair of sunglasses I find underwater, but we had 25,000 pounds of trash that needed to go somewhere.” e Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation and Boatworks Mall in Tahoe City stored the trash for free, but they couldn’t hold onto it forever. at’s where West and the Tahoe Fund collaborated on an idea for a public art project.

“We’d seen several projects turning ocean plastic into beautiful art, and we shared Colin’s desire to call attention to the issue of garbage in the lake,” Berry says. “One of our donors put us in touch with Building 180 and Joel and Yustina.” the cleanup began in 2021 and took one year to complete. Collectively, West and his crew of sta and volunteers pulled 25,000 pounds of garbage—more than 12 tons— from the lake bottom. e Tahoe Fund commissioned Stockdill and Salnikova on a large sculpture that the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority agreed to install at the new South Lake Tahoe Event Center (recently christened the “Tahoe Blue Center” after Tahoe Blue Vodka became the naming rights partner). e only question left was what they would build.

Building 180 is a San Francisco art production and consulting company known for doing large-scale art installations around the world.

“When the Tahoe Fund first contacted us, they were thinking about several smaller sculptures, but when I showed them the works of Joel Dean Stockdill and Yustina Salnikova, we all saw a vision for something bigger,” says Meredith Winner, Building 180’s co-founder.

Stockdill and Salnikova have been creating recycled trash art for more than a decade. One of their most recognizable works was the life-sized “Blue Whale” at San Francisco’s Crissy Field, made entirely out of ocean-scavenged plastic. ey’re also well known for their “WildLife” sculptures—26 larger-than-life works on four continents—made entirely of recovered local trash.

“We wanted something impressive, beautiful and representative of endangered species in the area, to help emphasize the impact pollution has on our wildlife and environment,” Berry says. “We narrowed it down to three options and asked the community to pick the final design.” ey presented the options—a Sierra Nevada Red Fox, a Lahontan Cutthroat Trout, and a Bald Eagle (clutching a Lahontan Cutthroat Trout) —and asked the community to vote on its favorite. More than 1,200 people voted, with the Bald Eagle/Cutthroat Trout emerging as the clear winner. e sculpture, titled “Surfaced,” is currently in progress, with completion expected in Spring 2023. In finished form, it will stand at 10 feet high and 5 feet wide.

West and his team are excited to see the finished art, but none of them has been sitting idly by since the 72-mile cleanup was finished last year. ey’re diving in other nearby lakes and finding plenty of litter there too so much, in fact, that plans are in development to create a second sculpture (likely to also be created by Stockdill and Salnikova) for placement near Donner Lake in Truckee.

“We’ve found all kinds of stuff, mostly beverage containers and plastic, but also jewelry, guns and even an original Model-T Ford,” West says. “I’m glad to know this stuff is being removed and turned into art. My true hope, however, is these sculptures serve their real purpose: to be powerful and beautiful reminders of the impact humans are having on the planet, and they compel us to be better stewards.”