When words fail me, my pictures often bail me out. I’m certainly not much of a philosopher or poet who can consistently turn just the right phrase. I suppose this is one reason I gravitated towards the visual arts. I do, however, try through words and images to create some kind of synthesis that touches upon how human nature intersects with nature at large. The Falls of the Ohio State Park continues to provide that stage for me and the river offers up many examples where the natural and artificial routinely bump into or meld with one another. This happens most commonly when we carelessly set free our man-made detritus into the environment. Following are a few examples I encountered on this outing.
Looks like a rock or a piece of wood, but on closer inspection, it’s what’s left of a synthetic deer head used for archery practice. This head probably once attached to a life-size foam body. The river has eroded the neck and muzzle away but you can still see an eye spot, ear stub, and a location where artificial antlers could attach. Once upon a time, this archery target was convincingly realistic. It’s what’s left of a fake deer where real deer exist. In the mud very close to this find were actual deer tracks. Deer have moved into Louisville and it is becoming more common to encounter roadkill within the city’s limits.
It’s Kentucky Derby time in the Bluegrass so it is fitting that I find a horse image by the river and what a horse it is! Shockingly pink with a long flowing mane that cockle burrs and other wayward seeds have become entangled. How long will it be before our Wizard of Oz science creates real horses of different colors? I’ve seen that we can already do this with some fresh water aquarium fishes. Although this toy’s inspiration is the horse…this isn’t a very naturalistic example and was designed to appeal to children. I bet I could take this horse and plant it in the ground and have some of the attached seeds germinate.
Because this is tiny, it would be easy to walk over this “prize”. This plastic ice cream cone compliments the small plastic toaster pastry I came across a couple of weeks a go. I think this might emulate chocolate covered mint ice cream in a wafer cone? I’m still finding plastic fruits and veggies, but I’m also encountering more plastic fake “processed” items including fast food standards like cheese burgers and the occasional petrochemical french fry.
Flying by at great speed and requiring a camera with an extremely fast exposure is the Swept-wing Dove. This is my latest avian creation. It’s another fake bird that came together in the context of where Audubon left his footprints. I casually put this together using found materials which includes plastic, Styrofoam, insulating foam, and I’m not sure what the brown body is made of but it’s some kind of foam as well. The bill is a pen cap found along the trail. The forms were shaped by the Ohio River and I used them as is.
Coursing over the bottom land near the river’s edge is my fake bird which is also the habitat of many real birds as well. The spring migration of neotropical birds heading northward is one of my favorite times of year. It’s a chance to see species passing through that normally don’t hang out for very long.
The insulating foam that forms the right-wing is practically the same value as the river in the distance and causes it to nearly disappear.
For thousands of years the river has been a baseline supporting life in the way nature intended. Now I see a more complicated scene where dislocated images, objects, and substances blur along the shoreline of the conventional. It’s also an odd feeling realizing that much of this trash can also possess a natural beauty of its own.
Along this stretch of the river I had these two guys tagging along and asking me questions such as “What are you doing?” and “Mr. did you make the bird and what are you going to do with it? I asked them if they were artists too and one said yes and the other didn’t believe he was. I later observed them swinging from a stout vine growing along a sycamore tree and playing in their fantasy world. Their fathers were nearby fishing at the water’s edge. I will leave now with a fuller look at the tree I often use to gauge how high the river is.
Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog 
Love the bird and all the photograps Al, what a beautiful creation, perhaps one day – you will publish the great encyclopedia of Al’s river wildlife world … i will be the first buyer. howl! d.
Thanks Daniela…I have had other friends also tell me recently that I should consider creating a book. There are so many directions going in this blog that the challenge would be trying to bring it into some kind of focus and then there is the issue of who the audience would be for this kind of book? It might be several books…who knows?
The audience for such books would be children of parents concerned about the environment–and their teachers–and anyone wishing to study the flow of trash in the waterways. And those who enjoy a good unconventional story based on what’s going on in the “real” world you explore with such grace.
Seriously–there’s a market waiting and growning for this sort of artistic educational material. Perhaps those boys would be interested too.
Hi. We’ve got summer here for a few days in the midwest–with a drop from the 80s to the 40s forthcoming tomorrow. Even snow is on the docket.
cheers
Eva…you have always been a big advocate for the book idea! Just so you know…I did try researching publishers, but didn’t come across any that sounded promising. Of late, I have heard that the University of Kentucky Press might be looking for art related works. We are expecting a cold front as well following temps in the 80’s
Again I love your fake bird! Thanks for bringing attention to the very small details, the fake eroded deer head next to the actual deer tracks, the idea of planting the fake horse and sprouting its entangled real seeds.
Again nice photos and thoughtful comments, making a story, reminding us all to take better care of this beautiful earth.
There’s a lot of self-interest (as a species) in taking care of the earth. With the rapidity that the world is being consumed and changed in the process that blurring line between the artificial and natural is fruitful territory for an artist. I’m not sure I understand as clearly what the word “natural” means anymore. Can bad or contradictory human behaviors also be considered “natural”? I struggle with the idea that all this ecological damage is a natural consequence of who we are? Don’t know how I got off on that topic, but thank you for liking my post!!
Your words didn’t fail you, they are just as good as your photo’s. I always love reading your stories, I agree with Whitebuffalo you should create a book with these stories and photo’s.
Roos…I appreciate your support!