Just to the west of Las Cruces New Mexico, along the I10, is this ginormous statue of a roadrunner. It is built out of completely found materials — stuff like shoes, cell phones, old wire, crutches, headlights, and old toys. Artist Olin Calk created the recycled bird in 1993 to examine “consumption, recycling, and just looking at stuff we throw away.”
It’s really a local attraction nowadays. The roadrunner is New Mexico’s State bird, so it seems appropriate that the 20-foot-tall and 40-foot-long sculpture would oversee such a major thoroughfare. Originally, he put the roadrunner at a local landfill, but the rest stop I10 has a perfect view from above Las Cruces, so that people can see and admire it from far away.
Sources: Roadsideamerica.com, “Recycled Roadrunner.” Atlas Obscura “Recycled Roadrunner Statue,” Jane Weinhardt Goldberg, Sept 8, 2019
