Taylor’s Artist at Exit 0 Video Link
Here’s a short video interview conducted by Taylor Ferguson on my Artist at Exit 0 project at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. Taylor is a journalism student at the Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, Indiana and was nice enough to be interested in filming my process. Our late March day at the river was a bit windy which the microphone picked up beautifully, however, it washed out the rest of the audio. What you hear me saying is a bit of stream of conscious narrative which was edited into the video at a later date. I previously published a post entitled “Touring with Taylor” that has some of my images and words made about the experience.
Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog 
It is very nice to see you at work.
Glad you enjoyed the video!
It’s very nice to hear you describe your process so well, the whys and the hows. Somehow the video gives a great sense of scale. And it’s nice to put a voice to the artist. too.
The voice does add another dimension to things. I do wonder how people perceive the scale of this place? Does it appear big and wide or is it really a small park after all?
It seems smaller in your blog than on the video. I think it’s because you show many small details and also I think of your stryrofoam people as people sized.
I guess most of the outdoors turns out to be larger than we imagine.
At this point, the park seems small and finite to me. Getting involved with the smaller details helps to enlarge the scope of what is happening here. What I enjoy about the photos I take with the pieces I place in this context is that their scale is ambiguous. You may need to see what else is in the photo to determine a reference that provides a clue to scale. It’s a way of also getting folks to notice elements (like all the plastic pollution) that they may prefer not to initially see. Thanks for your great comments.
So much in this short video. As soon as you put eyes on a piece of Styrofoam it is already becoming a character. And loads of ideas to steal from your commentary! I especially liked the link between the fossils in the park and the trash made from fossil fuels, and the idea of Styrofoam as representing how far we have distanced ourselves from the natural world.
Thanks Clare…I think Taylor did a fine job of compressing a lot of information into three plus minutes. Originally, she had over three hours of video footage to edit down which must have been a daunting task. I do look at the chunks of Styrofoam and driftwood and Ideas pop into my head about what could be done with them. The various shapes and forms suggest things to me like looking at clouds and seeing evolving images in them. What I find interesting about plastics and the like is that they are derived from previous life that had successfully harnessed the energy of the sun millions of years a go. By definition they are organic by virtue of containing the element carbon. I appreciate all your great comments!
The video is a great intro to you and your work, it is always good to hear first hand about the thoughts and processes – hear the voice and see the scale of your studio.
It is a different experience to think of the world as being your studio. My previous art practices took place in the familiar cloistered set of rooms. When I’m walking the riverbank…it’s these types of observations and conversations that I’m having that inform the process.
Great video 😀 Love your commentary and musings as well. I also like seeing things in motion, the river, you working – images don’t quite capture that aspect.
Thanks Isaac…you are right about there being lots of motion between the still images I usually publish. That includes all the back and forth that occurs in my head as I interact with the park. The narrative that was overdubbed provides clues to that. Taylor did a very good job of editing this small piece. When the original audio was washed out, at a later date, she recorded about six minutes of me just talking about some of what I think about when I’m at the river. There are little “stutters” where a sentence or thought was shortened in the editing, but overall it conveys something about my project.
Great video, I really enjoyed it.
Thanks Meg! I could totally see a time-lapse video of how one of your huge limestone sculptures comes into being.