Essex County

Be your own boss: Plum Island drift

PLUM ISLAND, Mass. — One man’s trash is another man’s treasure for one local man who scours the beaches along the North Shore. Eric Steeves of Plum Island decided to leave the corporate world behind and follow his passion — creating art out of driftwood.

At Eric’s office, he transforms old driftwood, into whales. He’s not working on some Caribbean island, it all happens right outside his Plum Island home.

“You find this piece of driftwood and it’s really just beach trash with all nails and screws all rusty poking out of it and then looking at that to see what the ocean wanted it to be,” said Steeves, the founder of Plum Island Drift.

Steeves grew up on Cape Cod and was always walking the beaches, collecting driftwood. At the University of Rhode Island, he wanted to major in art until his professor told him:

“If you’re not making a million dollars a year, you’re not making any money,” Steeves recounted.

With his dreams dashed, he took on a different career path and for 30 years, did marketing for startups and big companies. But the ocean kept calling.

“Hiking the beach looking for driftwood and making sculptures is way more fun than staring at spreadsheets,” said Steeves.

Steeves started making small sculptures.

“There was a craft fair so a friend had a tent and I put a couple in and they sold and then started building from there,” said Steeves.

And Plum Island Drift was born. He started selling his whales and mermaids in stores — and sales really took off when COVID-19 hit.

“Everyone was online and my website got discovered and things really started moving from there,” said Steeves.

Every day, Eric goes out on beaches and marshes along the North Shore in search of driftwood. He says its easily the most demanding part of his job.

“If you want to be a driftwood sculptor, it’s a bit of a cross-fit workout because you might find a 100 pound piece that you have to carry for two miles, or three or four pieces and it’s raining and snowing because it’s all year round,” said Steeves.

His stockpile is also courtesy of his daughter, Isabelle, who scours the shores for sculpting gold.

“Seeing the end result on what it was before and what it was after, it’s pretty cool,” said Isabelle Steeves.

Eric says he can usually tell 50 yards out if it’s a future art piece. Each is unique and one of a kind, and each gives back. A portion of all the sales are donated to marine education and preservation societies. Eric says there’s no shortage of supply, but there is a fear that demand for his creations someday, won’t last.

“There’s always that concern but so far that hasn’t happened, knock on driftwood, and I’m going to keep going as long as I can,” said Steeves.

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