The Ohio River is even higher now than my last post. I hope to venture out today and snap a few pictures to share later. It’s sobering watching nature do what it can do. I began the morning looking online at the damage the earthquake and tsunami have wreaked upon northern Japan. Those folks need our help…please contribute however you can.
Back in Kentuckiana, we are safe. The flood gates are up and we are not expecting any heavy rain showers that would further swell the river. Low-lying areas such as the aptly named River Road are under water. Residents who live directly by the water have either evacuated or moved their possessions to higher ground which in some cases is the roof of their homes. For these people, their love of the river is worth the periodic inconveniences it can pose. The Ohio River is expected to crest today and begin falling back to normal pool which will take several days.
Until then, I have had the opportunity to look through images from the past year and put together a few “scrapbooks” This one is of my plein air studio that I extensively used for ten months beginning in June 2010. It’s now gone. I’ll know more when I get the chance to visit. I originally selected this site because it was relatively out of view, but close to where I was finding my materials. Having a somewhat “fixed” location also gave the public who stumbled upon this spot, a chance to interact with the materials I was finding and provided more choices than finding the single figures I made throughout the park. People could make their own sculptures…happily some were made. So, here are a few pictures taken over the course of several seasons or about nine months worth.
Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog 
Al, your work connects “us,” our trash, the river-water, and the earth together. Good record of your work area over time. I love those face on photos of your oddly life like expressive styro people.
With hope…it also points for the need to use creativity to help us with all these issues. Thanks Eva.
Such a lovely collection of tour guides who taught us much about the habits of the river and wildlife surrounding it. Looking forward to meeting the new ones!
Thank you Leslie…coming from a teacher like yourself…this is such a nice compliment. Who knows what the river will bring once it subsides? Wouldn’t it be weird if there wasn’t any Styrofoam to be found!
47whitebuffalo referred me to your blog and I am so glad that she did. I spend a lot of time by a couple of rivers and instead of being dismayed by all of the trash, I will now imagine playful plein air sculptures. Wonderful.
Thanks Lynn and use your creativity next time you visit your rivers!