A porcelain doll, its hands and feet wrapped in plastic. An old-school answering machine. A denture mold. These are just some of the 175 pieces of strange debris that members of the neighborhood cleanup group, the Trash Falcons, have found and catalogued over the years while cleaning up around Lake Merritt, including its shores, its lawns, and its paths and surrounding areas.

These fascinating items are now on display as part of the “The Falcons Trash Museum (of Trash)” at the Junior Center of Art and Science at Lakeside Park through March 6. The falcons also teamed up with Cybele Gerachis, the center’s executive director, for a second exhibit at the space, “What We Sow.” For that installation, on display through April 10, nine volunteers transformed a collection of flotsam found by the falcons into whimsical sculptures. The installation also includes a selection of black and white photographs of the group’s cleanups, a trash zine, and other art work.

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Volunteers with the Trash Falcons have gathered every Sunday morning since 2020 to pick up trash around the lake and along Grand Avenue. A pair of bandmates, Richard Shirk and Dana Berry founded the group during pandemic lockdown as a way to spend time together outdoors. In the years since, the group has expanded — to 50 volunteers in 2022, and 100 as of this year. 

A bird sculpture by Rachel Beth Egenhoefer part of the “What We Sow” exhibit at the Junior Center of Art and Science. Credit: Azucena Rasilla/The Oaklandside

Lost photographs are one of Cybele Gerachis, the center’s executive director. Credit: Azucena Rasilla/The Oaklandside

Since the group’s inception, the Trash Falcons estimate that their volunteers have collected 15.6 tons of trash, averaging 20 pounds every time they meet for a cleanup.

But the amount of junk they pick up ebbs and flows with the weather and what public events are happening at the lake, said Nick Berger, who became a falcon in 2021. When it’s sunny out, they find a lot more trash. After a gender reveal, Berger said, there are piles of pink or blue confetti to pick up. But each storm washes debris into the lake, so during low tide, the group treks farther in from the shore to collect discarded items. 

“On your own, you can fill up a trash bag, but with 29 of your best friends, you can move a trash mountain,”  Shirk told The Oaklandside. 

Every piece of trash has a story to tell

This isn’t the first time the Trash Falcons have teamed up with the Junior Center of Art and Science. The center, run by a nonprofit formed in 1954 that provides arts and science programming for youth, burned down in 2021 and was shuttered for almost four years. In September 2024, the falcons hosted a one-day pop-up display as part of a benefit to support the center’s reopening. 

“It’s special to have this hosted by the center,” Rachel Beth Egenhoefer, the curator of the trash museum, told The Oaklandside. “We’re neighbors, and a lot of the stuff on display came from right out front.”

Some of the most striking pieces in “What We Sow” are a collection of bird sculptures created by Egenhoefer that pay homage to the shore birds who spend time at the Lake Merritt Bird Sanctuary, next door to the center. One is a dazzling, statue-like egret; another is a blue-eyed seagull wearing glasses.

“Sometimes we find stuff, and it becomes part of the growing collection, and it almost brings on a life of its own,” Egenhoefer said. “That’s where the storytelling aspect comes in, trying to reimagine what these things were, what they are, what the story behind them is.”

upcoming events with the trash falcons

Junior Center of Art and Science
558 Bellevue Ave.
Open Tuesday through Saturday,12 to 4 p.m.

Launch party for “The Point,” issue two, the Adams Point neighborhood zine, plus guided tours of both exhibits
Feb. 28, 6 to 8 p.m.

“The Trash Falcons Trash Museum (of Trash)”
Up through March 6
Closing reception, March 6, 6 to 8 p.m. 

“What We Sow”
On display through April 10
Closing celebration, April 10, 6 to 8 p.m.

Berger, the falcon in charge of documenting the group’s more unusual discoveries, said one of his favorite items is a kid’s fanny pack found in early 2023, filled with small plastic dinosaurs and a “Paw Patrol” cartoon watch. 

“You look at them and you can’t help but imagine the life of the person who lost it,” Berger said. “The fanny pack, we found it intact. It is this whole kid’s life and personality.”

Shirk’s favorite is a set of teeth in a plastic mold the group found in the lake in 2021. 

“One of the things that we talked about a lot is that everything that you find, whether it’s quirky, whimsical, or just straight up, ooey gooey squishy trash, has a story,” Shirk said. “This one is part of a trail of artifacts that we found over maybe just two, three weeks, maybe a month, that were all dental related. Our hypothesis is that the items belonged to someone who just burned out in dental school. And as they would trudge their way home after another bad day, they would take one thing that really signified the burden of their journey, and toss it into Lakeside Park.”

A denture mold is one of the weird finds part of the exhibit. Credit: Azucena Rasilla/The Oaklandside

A kid’s fanny pack the group found in 2023. Credit: Azucena Rasilla/The Oaklandside

Egenhoefer’s favorite is an eerie porcelain doll found in January that is part of the display — the group named it Anabelle Goodwin — dressed in a blue dress with its hands, legs, and feet wrapped in plastic.

“I believe that Annabelle Goodwin came to Oakland with the Goodwin family during the gold rush, and she fell into the lake and drowned,” Egenhoefer said. “Anabelle had four brothers, and each tried to save her with their pickaxe. Her spirit lay at the bottom of the lake until one day in January, when she chose to emerge in the form of this doll.”

Gerachis, the center’s executive director, especially loves the found photographs. 

“Being able to tell a story about all these different objects is remarkable, and also the amount of humor and creativity that they put into it,” Gerachis said. “I was here before the description of each item was put up, and the descriptions add a whole ‘nother layer.”

The answering machine on display still functions, and you can listen to a recording in which a caller is asking to borrow a car battery charger. 

A closing reception for the trash museum takes place Friday, March 6; the “What We Sow” exhibit will remain up through Friday, April 10, with a closing reception that night. 

“The gallery show felt like a great way to showcase both the artwork that the falcons make, and the way they’re inspired by collecting the trash,” Gerachis said. “Also, as a way to talk about conservation at the lake.”

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