Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

Having arrived at the “Falls” of the Falls of the Ohio State Park, I took materials I found along the way and made these two figures.  There is less debris to pick from on this side of the fossil beds.  Sometimes you just don’t find that right twig or element that you think will set the work off.  I remember being in this spot two years before and received a good look at a snowy egret.  The bird had beautiful plumes with yellow feet on black legs. 

Although the scale of this cascade is modest the sound of running water provides a soothing background.  Because the figures I’ve made are small it helps give the impression that the falls are bigger than they are.  I’m not sure what I’ve got going here with these figures?  I don’t have any elaborate narrative that I am trying to illustrate.  I think it might have something to do with being tourists and being awed by the local sights?  I have seen the vintage photographs of people posing at the Falls before the dam when it was a greater natural wonder.

You can walk to Goose Island when the fossil beds are exposed.  It’s just a short walk from the Falls and leads to our end point…the Lower Tainter Gates.  Walking through the sand I made a few contour drawings with a long thin stick.  Noisy flocks of Killdeer mixed with Semi-palmated plovers flank the river’s edge.  The island is sand held together by the roots of willow and cottonwood trees. 

A sight along the beach on Goose Island is this small stand of dead trees that has captured a barrel.  The island is regularly inundated  by water and features are covered and uncovered by the flow of the sand.  An even louder roar of water is present as background noise.  In view is the western limit of where we can go on this side of the park.  A few fishermen are trying their luck in the tail-waters of the power plant.  This is a good place to fish and a pair of present ospreys can vouch for this.

I have been out here for hours and haven’t exchanged a word with anyone.  I’ve arrived at the place where the Ohio River’s waters help generate electricity.  You can see fish trying to swim against the force of the tail waters.  The town of Shippingport, KY used to occupy the location where the power plant now stands.  The corps of engineers bulldozed and scraped the remnants of the town away.  In it’s day Shippingport had its own identity and pride separate from the City of Louisville and now it’s history.  The Lower Tainter Gates are an impressive sight, but I always felt something was missing.  It occurred to me that what’s needed are a few colossal sculptures that could emulate something like the power seen in the Ramses sculptures in old Egypt.  To me, these gates have a temple-like presence to them.  After paying my homage to this spot, I turned and headed back.  Walking over the fossil beds during the heat of the day can fry your bacon.   I’m going to take a slightly different route home to take advantage of some nice panoramic views of Louisville’s skyline.  I did find something interesting on the walk home.  Lying in the sand was this film cartridge for an Instamatic camera.  If the light hasn’t ruined it, I may get some found images from  having it developed.  I better do that soon before they discontinue the use of chemistry in photography.  In my next post, I’ll finish up this hike on the fossil beds.