Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

I remember how one drawing instructor I had at the university used to say that “…line does not exist in nature”.  I think about that statement every time I come across one of these tangles of fishing line.  They always catch my eye and on occasion I have photographed them.  It is true that line is a convention in drawing (one of the basic elements of art) used to symbolically translate a three-dimensional reality onto a two-dimensional surface.  Out here on the riverbank, the contour edges on fishing line are so close together that they become less abstract,  symbolic device as they merge and become line as object.

Fishing line comes in just about every color now.  I recently came upon this green line sort of informally gathered around these willow sprigs. In this picture,  I like the way the green compliments the reddish-brown of the trees and conveys an airy and lyrical feeling.  That’s also what I enjoy about “line” as a drawing element…it has the power to suggest emotion.

And now for a wad of red fishing line just thrown down upon the limestone bedrock.  Yes, if you are a fisherman, you are familiar with how “line” can convey emotion in the three-dimensional world.  Few things are as frustrating as having the line on your pole foul up or get snagged in a tree or an unseen obstruction underwater!  Still, it’s no excuse to discard your waste line so casually as though all of nature were your personal landfill.  Roll up what can’t be used and take it out of the park with you.

This has to be one of the champion examples of fisherman frustration at the Falls!  The discarded pack of cigarettes helps give it a needed sense of scale.  There is a lot going on in this tangle and includes a bit of frayed barge cable in addition to several types of monofilament.  This was photographed when the water was low and the roots of this tree were not hidden by the river.  Currents do play a part in helping to ensnare fishing line.  In this case, several lines have come together and coalesced into a mass.  You can say that this form has metastasized and will keep getting larger and become an even bigger fishing line trap.  If you could tease this thing apart and lay it down straight…I wonder how long it would be?

The other day I was working on images to use for my holiday cards.  One of the ideas I have been exploring involves these ornaments I have made with found, Falls of the Ohio junk.  I came across this tree hanging over the water that already had a few “decorations” on it and placed my ornament into this ready-made composition.  If you look closely, you can see there is just enough fishing line tangled up here to add a subtle sense of movement.