Happy New Year everybody out there in blog land! I want to thank everyone over the past year who have dropped by to check out the latest from the Artist at Exit 0 at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. This year is shaping up to be much like the previous one. Which means both man and nature are predictably unpredictable with a sense of timing not easily plotted. Since the holidays, the Ohio River has been up and much of the park that I access has been underwater. That in itself is not news, but the length of time the water has been high has been. It all points to heavy rains and snows in the northern part of the Ohio River Valley and water flowing downriver. The forecast at the time of this writing is not encouraging with showers turning to snow today followed by a precipitous drop to sub-zero degree temperatures. This cold could be historic for us and so far we have received more snow than in recent winters. I think I will stay indoors today! Since my last post, I have been to the river twice (including New Years Day itself) to see what there is to see and experience. Here’s a synopsis so far.
Between rising and falling waters I have been able to skirt around the edges. One thing that unfortunately hasn’t changed is the junk in the river. I’m always interested in what gets stranded in the trees like this wooden pallet that has a corner delicately balanced on the surface of the river. It’s cold out here and despite being warmly dressed, my eyes and nose water from the bit of wind that is also present.
At the water’s edge is a mix of debris. Most of it is natural with driftwood, wood bark and bits being the most prominent. Trees that have surrendered to the river are rolled against other logs by the waves and the grinding (which can be very audible as well) knocks the limbs off with a loud crack and chews the bark away from the trunks. Intermixed is various man-made and colorful junk that is mostly plastic in composition which also gets masticated by the river. The above photo is fairly typical with lots of polystyrene fragments which also make up the core of my art materials. Most artists have positive feelings for their materials, but I have a love /hate relationship with mine. Let’s move on and see what other sights are along the river in this new year.
Floating tires always catch my eye. Their blackness and circular perfection contrasts sharply with the rest of the objects on the river’s surface. A short distance away from this wheel I find a dead steer at the water’s edge.
I debated with myself whether to include this distasteful image in this post, but decided to do it since it represents some of the truth that is in the river. Pictures of man-made trash are one thing and have an almost benign aura to them by now, but something that was once alive registers in a different way. The gravity is far heavier. This poor cow is the largest dead animal I have encountered in the park. Dead deer and other smaller animals are not too unusual in the river. No telling how far this unfortunate animal has floated to arrive here? Rising high waters could once again carry it away. I take this picture and walk on.
There are other objects that the river has delivered to the park like this plastic turtle sand mold. Having gone through my river collections recently I discovered that turtles are among the most common subjects for sand molds. Who knew? I have found six or seven of them and they are all different like the plastic hamburgers from a recent post of mine. Here’s something else to add to a growing collection.
I have a Rubber Duck Collection as well and all found within the park. Truthfully, none of them are actually made from rubber and are of course composed from plastic. This is a hunter’s decoy of a pintail duck and would have been cooler had it been made out of wood…alas. I haven’t seen much of actual bird life in the park except for a few hardy species that are around all year round. I noticed that the ring-billed gulls that come here for the winter are not present. I wonder if the cold has them migrating further south this year? To mark how exceptional this winter has been, our area has seen a rare migration of snowy owls from the far north. The snowy owl is listed on the official Falls of the Ohio bird checklist as extremely rare and accidental. For me, this would be a good enough reason to journey here and this just might be the year to see one, but I haven’t heard if any were actually seen in the park? A short distance away from here, a snowy owl in a weakened condition was rescued by our local raptor rehab folks and is being nursed back to health.
Here’s a test for you. Do you know what this is? Time’s up…this is the plastic body of a Mr. Potato Head toy! I count Mr. Potato Head as one of my artistic influences for my Falls of the Ohio Styrofoam projects and this is the first one of these that I have found out here. According to Wikipedia, Mr. Potato Head has been in continuous production since 1952 (that’s a lot of plastic) and was the first toy advertised on television. I can remember as a kid…using actual potatoes to make funny faces and now I use Styrofoam.
I walked up the riverbank to access my outdoor atelier and discovered that the river has swept over it. All the materials that I had cached here over the last couple of years have floated away and the large logs that defined my space are rearranged. I will need to create a new studio if I continue here. I suspect, however, that the river is far from being done and would wager we will experience more flooding in the near future. I picked up a few small pieces of Styrofoam and willow sticks and made my first figure of the new year and posed him at the river’s edge as waves lapped the shoreline.
He is not a large figure and the expression on his face is one of amazement. I first posed him near the river in an old life-preserver that washed up. In addition to being expedient on a cold day it also seemed symbolic. For me, it always comes back to the river and its waters. The quality of our fresh water remains our number one vanishing resource and the river’s course is the journey we all take through life. I will continue to use my creativity at this one small spot on a large river and publish my results on this riverblog. Thanks for checking it out every now and then. As the year progresses, I hope to be like the river by being predictably unpredictable. May we all have a wonderful 2014!
Here’s to the floatsam and jetsam of a new year. Cheers.
I hope you have a great year as well!
Seeing the Mr. Potato head brings back great childhood memories! I played with that thing for years. :0) I’ve always been drawn to “river trash” [no comment!]. Really though, there’s something about finding the water’s plastic and metal “offerings” that’s very much like being a kid on Christmas day. To this day, fewer things can bring me as much joy than finding a line snagged in a rock down at the river, with a home made weight & sinker attached to it.
By the way, Al, when is your exhibit? (Exact date and time.) Will you make a post about it a day or two beforehand? (My Mom wants to come along.) Thanks! x
Hi B. I hear you about the Potato Head and did the same thing as a kid. I wonder how much of the art I currently make is based on some childhood experience? I love finding things and it seems wherever I go, river or not, I find stuff. The name of the show is “The Potential in Everything” and features my work and R. Michael Wimmer who is an artist that lives and works in New Albany. The exact dates are January 24 – April 5, 2014 with an opening reception, Friday, Jan. 24 from 6:00 till 8:00PM. The exhibit will be at the Carnegie Center for Art and History, 201 East Spring Street. I look forward to meeting you and your mom and introducing my family to you. I will do a post about this show. Hope you and yours are staying toasty during this cold spell!
Awesome. :0) Yes, my mom and I are both looking forward to your exhibition very much. I have great memories of walking to the Carnegie Center as a child and studying all of the rocks, gems, etc. in the gift shop they had there then, and, they still had the small hand-carved villages behind the glass display cases- even 35+ years ago! Great childhood memories there, so yes, that place is very special to me. (I lived on Cherry street back then, in New Albany. That’s where I grew up.) Anywho, my next semester is upon me already and so I’m working like mad compiling all of my folders/syllabi/rubrics, etc. (I like to work a week ahead so that everything eventually falls into place nicely.) My pipes are all frozen solid but my youngest brother was kind enough to bring me 2 gallons of water. :0) Yesterday’s necessity is today’s luxury! I’ve been through much worse than this. x See you soon!
Happy 2014. Yes, I remember Mr. Potato Head when he was made out of potatoes too. All the extreme weather is sad, but not surprising. Thank you for continuing to document the changes, your wit, and wonderful stories. And congratulations on your upcoming exhibit.
Thanks Lynn…I really have appreciated your visits, comments, and well wishes over the years!
HAPPY new year, here the rains keep on coming down and many canals are overflown by rivers. When the waters steer it takes more than what we expect, many animals can never swim against it. Humans and nature we can flow together in we can tear apart, it is a thorny issue.
looking forwards to the new stories along the roaring river from you.
One never knows what will happen next to the river ( and it would be foolish to take it for granted). At one moment everything appears benign and the next its flowing over the dam! Thanks for tagging along on my adventures and I look forward to your journey as well.
Hi again Al.
Well, I thought I left a comment here a couple days ago –because I recognize that dead cow–but nada to be seen. I think there’s a very busy gremlin in a certain pc at my end of the cyber swamp. LOL.
Suffice to say–a very hopeful New Year to you, yours and the river.
Though–cosnidering there is no lack of trash in the river I think you’ll be busy there for a very long time to come.
No, this is not what I originally wrote–but that’s okay.
I really like the connection you made between Mr Potato Head and what you do with Styrofoam, now. I never thought of that. Wow!
The steer. Unsettling only because I know there is a story that came before. It would be the same with deer or anything. However. It is not Plastic!
Good post, as always, Al.
Thanks Leslie…the river is life and it captures a bit of everything happening around it both good and bad. The recent chemical spill in West Virginia illustrates how an event far from here can have repercussions elsewhere. Although the chemical used to clean coal is expected to be diluted by the time it flows down to us…does anyone really trust that it affects will be benign?