WAYNE ZEBZDA'S ART
Z NATIONAL FOREST
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Z-National Forest was installed in 1982 on a traffic island on Columbus Avenue in San Francisco's North Beach. A bronze plaque and an information box with park pamphlets describing the "geological history of the forest " were staffed by a life size ranger named 'Lou '. The project was part of the 12th International Sculpture Conference.
Ranger Lou ( a painted plywood cutout ) was on guard 24 hours a day . a cement and rock pedestal was topped with a bronze plaque depicting a Utopian forest scene with video dials. The ranger was often attacked in the middle of the night (attempted kidnapping I believe) and would be left listing to the side. I would get frantic telephone calls that "someone is trying to steal the ranger..." but, because of the heavy concrete base he/she remained. The information pamphlets would be replenished every few days (click here to see pamphlet) . I was interviewed by Skip Twitchell of Video West Magazine The video aired on that Bay Area program as well as in Chicago on Capitol Cities Cable, Channel 9.