Artist Stuart Finch carves faces into bricks he finds on the beach. Four years ago, a homeless illiterate, Finch built dozens of intricate sculptures from rocks and driftwood at Ventura’s popular Surfer’s Point. (Stephen Osman / LAT)
Finch’s stacks of rocks seem to defy gravity. In the past the city worried that they could topple on children. (Stephen Osman / LAT)
Finch finds the center of each rock and lines them up. Winds, waves and occasional vandals knock down his creations but Finch said he never meant them to last forever. (Stephen Osman / LAT)
Beachgoers at Surfers Point in Ventura step carefully around sculptures that mark the return of artist Stuart Finch. (Stephen Osman / LAT)
Ashley Sites, visiting from Idaho, examines one of Finch’s sculptures. (Stephen Osman / LAT)
Stuart Finch, 41, creates a new crop of stone spires on the beach at Surfers Point in Ventura. The city, which bulldozed some of his pieces in 2000, has said it will not interfere with the works as long as he doesn’t make them too tall. (Stephen Osman / LAT)
Stuart Finch, a homeless man who travels up and down the coast, balances rocks along the beach at Surfers Point in Ventura. He has recently returned to the area after spending a few years in Northern California. (Stephen Osman / LAT)
