Salty the seahorse isn’t the only sea creature in town anymore.

Ollie the octopus, a “junk art” project created by patrons of the Mattapoisett Free Public Library, is now on display in the front yard of the library.

Ollie is the result of a summer-long effort to turn recyclables, chicken wire, plywood, a trash barrel, and a little ingenuity into a work of community art.

“We just wanted a project for teens and kids to work on over the summer and thought it would be fun to do a junk sculpture,” said Elizabeth Sherry, adult services librarian. “The theme for this year’s summer reading program was the environment, so we decided to use something that would incorporate recycled materials. We spent every Tuesday all summer collecting junk and making an octopus.”

Ollie has all kinds of junk for a body: Aluminum cans, old toys, candy dispensers and food containers. The trash gives the octopus a spectrum of colors.

“We really appreciate the help,” Sherry said. “A lot of our patrons were really into it, and the kids loved it. It was a fun time over the summer. We’d love to do more art projects in the future.”

The octopus has already turned a few heads.

“I think people have accepted that there’s an octopus in the front yard now,” Sherry said. People like it. I’ve seen a lot of laughs.”