'Aquatic Graffiti' Art Exhibit Floating in Montclair Park Pond

By Bay City News Service 

A nationwide aquatic graffiti art project, making stops at some of the country's most iconic bodies of water, is now floating in a duck pond at an Oakland park. 

San Francisco native Jack Durnford, 56, will feature his "unique art exhibit" in the pond at Montclair Park, at 6300 Moraga Ave., for 30 days, Montclair Village Association spokesman Daniel Swafford said.

The exhibit in Oakland culminates with the 38th Annual Montclair Fine Art Festival, featuring more than 80 artists from Northern California, including Durnford, from June 28 to 30, Swafford said.

Durnford, now living in a former volunteer firehouse in Hood, Calif., along the Sacramento River, turned to art as a full-time occupation about 15 years ago, the artist said.

"I wanted to do something no one else was doing," Durnford said.

He stumbled upon his niche about four years ago while attending an art show in Tahoe.

"I was watching people water ski, and wanted to do that," he recalled. "I decided to use my art. I put it in the water, and have been putting my work in the water ever since."

And now Durnford's goal is to take his work and float it in bodies of water throughout the country, he said.

Beginning at Montclair Park, Durnford said he plans to take his work to Seattle, St. Louis, Miami, Boston, New York, Mystic, Conn., and Martha's Vineyard, Mass., ultimately ending in the pool at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

"I'm comparing it to the movie Forrest Gump," Durnford said, referencing the scene in the 1994 film where the title character runs across the country, picking up followers along the way.

While he doesn't expect people to follow his journey physically, he said he hopes to "generate interest online as I go farther and farther."

Durnford said he doesn't care if he loses the art during his journey.

"Ultimately, the reaction of the people is what I'm looking for," he said.

Durnford creates his art on up to 80 percent repurposed, recycled materials, and has been doing it for about a decade that way, he said.

The surfaces he works on are two-inch rigid foam squares, which he cuts out, and are completely waterproof, Durnford said.

And all his works are created using water-based stains, or acid stains, he said.
The materials used allow light to reflect, refract and dance across the surface, he said. They are completely safe in the water, and cause no harm to the environment, or any water-dwelling creatures.

The exhibit is "the first of its kind in Oakland," Swafford said.

All the works will float atop the duck pond at the park, and will remain anchored at the bottom of the pond, about four feet in depth, throughout the month-long exhibit, Swafford said.

Swafford said the launching of the exhibit will serve as an "opportunity to get people out to the incredible parks in Oakland."

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