44 FLOURISH • SPRING 2014
expressed a desire to see something new.
In response, "I made this giant Statue
of Liberty," says Amiot, explaining that
he used trashcans for the statue, which
stood more than 12 feet tall.
He installed the statue on September
10, 2001, but after the terrorist attacks
the following day, his children felt self-
conscious, and he decided to remove it.
On September 12, however, he found let-
ters and flowers surrounding it. "For a lot
of people, it became a shrine," says Lau-
rent, so Amiot added a tribute to every-
one who died, and the sculpture stayed.
Other works followed, and the collection
grew, so 25 or so of the whimsical cre-
ations line the street today.
Amiot cuts apart the things he finds
and puts them back together in a differ-
ent way so they will match the aesthetic
of the work he is creating. He finds it fun
to take inspiration from castoffs and says,
"On a good day, I follow the junk." Once
Amiot has done his part, Laurent adds
the colorful paint that brings a character
to life. "Brigitte and I have always been
a team. We understand each other," says
Amiot.
Amiot and Laurent, a couple from
Québec, are currently in the midst of
completing a solar-powered carousel,
possibly the world's first, for a client in
Canada. "Using solar power is just intelli-
gent," he says. "The climate and environ-
ment are threatened."
Florence Avenue put the work of
Amiot and Laurent in the spotlight, and
they're grateful. "I feel this incredible
debt to the community," Amiot says. Any-
one can walk along the street to see the
sculptures and will find a box containing
little flyers with pictures of them. "My
museum is free," says Amiot. "It's the
American way."
The magic of wood
"Never throw away a piece of wood,"
says Michael "Bug" Deakin, a designer
and craftsman, who is owner of Heri-
tage Salvage in Petaluma and likes both
metal and wood. "I'm a huge fan of rusty
Heritage Salvage owner, Michael "Bug"
Deakin, measuring a piece of exotic wood.
