On a drive through the North Kenwood / Oakland neighborhood yesterday, we spotted the Oakland Museum of Contemporary Art, a collection of abstract wooden sculptures occupying several open lots at 41st Street and Berkeley Avenue. The outdoor gallery is the brainchild of artist Milton Mizenburg, a longtime Oakland resident whose nearby front door is decorated with stained glass.
Mizenburg created these works in the late ’90s out of frustration about the trash and drug dealers on his block, according to a short piece in Metromix. Mizenburg’s corner didn’t look blighted to the naked eye yesterday afternoon. A clutch of elementary school kids hopped out of a mini-van; a man walked down the street carrying a vaccuum cleaner. Throughout the neighborhood, there are signs of change. The Lake Park Crescent housing development is in progress nearby, and new construction projects are cropping up among the historic homes that line North Kenwood / Oakland’s streets.
