Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

With ten days to go until the big event, I thought I would share some of the images I’m using on my holiday cards.  Since I began my Falls of the Ohio project, I’ve tried to create a seasonal image out of the junk I’ve found here.  This year I have two series going.  The first features this tiny Santa figure I made and the second involves ornaments I made and photographed in this context.  I’ll show you the ornaments later, but for now….here’s Styro-Santa.

The first two images were shot on a nice day along the park’s Woodland Trail.  The path moves away from the interpretive center before looping back to the parking lot.  I started this piece by finding the bleached out Santa Claus head.  More than likely, this is off of some Christmas candy novelty.  I found the felt wreath, red plastic berry buttons, twigs, and Styrofoam and connected all the parts together.

I moved this small piece around to different contexts.  Here the figure is standing in brown and curling willow leaves.  This Santa is holding a diminutive plastic car.  I photographed this piece not far away from my studio site about two weeks ago.  The last time I visited the Falls,  the river was getting very high and I’m wondering if my spot was claimed by the waters? You can read my previous post for more details about that.

I suppose this picture was influenced somewhat by the whole Keebler Elves thing!  Many of the willow trees have these cave-like cavities at their bases that are perfect for pictures like this one.

This last Styro-Santa features a small, plastic baseball figure I found in the sand.  It too is posed among the driftwood and willow leaves.  Unless you know what the elements in these shots are…it can be difficult to judge their scale.  In this way, they can live large in your imaginations.  The decision to use polystyrene foam to construct a Santa figure seems appropriate on many levels.  For one, during the gift giving frenzy, a lot of this stuff will literally be thrown away.  Some of it may wind up in the river.  In my mind, Styrofoam has also come to embody much of what this holiday now represents…more mass and less substance.  In a way I wouldn’t have originally considered before starting this project, Styrofoam is a fitting symbol that captures the times we live in all too well.