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If you want to see a sculpture, look no further than the Line Creek Community Center.

Well, maybe just a little further, back behind the community center near a bridge that crosses the creek where mud piles up after heavy rains, just waiting to be moved or molded.

By this bridge you can find the work of Benjamin Roberts, an amateur artist, artisan and southern expatriate from Liberty.

Unlike most artists, though, Roberts uses a slightly unusual if not plentiful material for his sculptures: mud.

"This whole area is just mud and a long time ago I was an art minor or art major, I don’t remember which, and I saw all this mud and thought, now that’s a medium to work with," he said. "I grabbed a snow shovel and figured with a few hours I could make something really interesting."

His latest sculpture, two weeks in the making, is an approximately 25 foot crocodile, which now lays curled up in a half circle guarding the little bridge across the creek; a talisman made of sediment with orange peel eyes and stone teeth soaking up the shade.

He’s not receiving a commission and he’s not looking to sell anything. He just wanted to liven the place up a bit and put some smiles on a few faces.

"This is just a fun thing for people to look at," he said. "People look at this and say, ‘why don’t you do it for a living?’ But if I did it for a living, I’d have to do it."

This also isn’t Roberts’ first sculpture or his first mud crocodile for that matter. Cristi Harmon, assistant director at the Line Creek Community Center, said she’s seen him down by the creek a few times before making sculptures, including last year when he made his first, much smaller mud crocodile, much to the chagrin of the visitors at the community center’s railroad who usually stop by for a glance or two when he’s working.

The little bridge by the creek is Roberts’ impromptu gallery and he regularly makes the trip down to work the mud that gathers into his own type of art.

And, really, it kind of strikes him as odd more people don’t do the same.

"Kansas City just keeps missing it," he said. "Our baseball team can’t get the job done. Our football team can’t get it done. But you know what, the one thing we have perennially is the Missouri River and mud and sand banks ad infinitum. What if, instead of trying to win the world over with sports, Kansas City got a mud sculpture contest?"

Staff writer Michael Westblade can be reached at 389-6636 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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