Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

April was a busy but mostly productive blur.  Lots of balancing went on encompassing family, work, loss, art, birthdays, and spring transitioning to summer.  We had an issue with our family computer that kept us quiet for a while, but hopefully that has been resolved.  At this point, I have thousands of photographic images scattered everywhere and if by chance I happen to lose something…well, chalk that one up to the will of the digital gods.  I had this strange realization about being a  survivor of a by gone analog era that my sons don’t understand or have much experience with.  These digital images I have been creating at the Falls of the Ohio can be as transient as the artworks they document.  Fortunately, for my sanity, I was able to get to the river on a couple of occasions in this month, breathe deeply, and relax with my art.  The last two visits I made to the park in April were gorgeous days and productive.  Here are images made from that day’s project.

I have been having fun gathering up the different plastic bottles and containers that I have been coming across the last two years and making something with them.  The arrangement I made today was composed of black and white plastic junk I came across after a few hours of work.  All the black and white containers were found in the general area of where this piece eventually came together.  I moved around a center location and after fanning in and out found enough stuff to bring back to “base”.  I had previously picked out a place where I wanted to make something because I liked the view with the railroad bridge and the City of Louisville behind that.

I found a couple of nice plastic buckets and a nice fairly straight wooden plank and set the arrangement up with its back shielded by a huge log.  There was an even larger log that had an end on it that had been scorched by fire, but it worked with the scene.  First, I arranged all the black bottles up and moved from left to right and kept the large containers on the bottom row.  I set the three “grayish” containers up next and that including the two silver jugs I came across.  At least they seemed to represent some value between black and white and I took several photos with them in the configuration.  Later in the day, I did return back to this spot and shot a few without the gray containers in the pictures…just the black and white ones which I liked too.

Here’s an image with a train crossing the tracks.  Unfortunately, I did not get a shot before my piece was set up.  Now for a progression of other work in progress photos documenting the brief peak of the “Arrangement in Black and White Plastic”.

While I was working out in the driftwood, new friend and fellow artist Chiel Kuijl came out looking for a few choice pieces of wood for his rope installation.  Chiel has been the Artist at Residence at the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest and is originally from the Netherlands.  We have crossed paths out here at the Falls of the Ohio as well as socially with mutual friends.  He has returned to Holland, but is due to return to Louisville this year to work on a recent commission.

Chiel later built a beautiful rope installation over water as well as distinctive “furniture” from ropes and driftwood.  Park of this busy April included visiting Chiel out in Clermont, KY to see what he accomplished during his residency.  I look forward to showing you a few images of his work in a later post.  First!…let’s get through this one.  I did remove the “gray” containers so it is just black and white butting up to one another.

I week after I made this piece, I returned to check on it and inspect my base studio.  Here is an “after” picture.  I already have plans in mind on how I can reuse this black and white plastic.  One other fun development…I am working towards my show at Bob Hill’s Hidden Hills Nursery in Utica, IN.  That will open on May 22 after some of the Kentucky Derby madness has subsided some.  I have three very large figures I have been working on and you will see those soon.  Have a wonderful Sunday…from the Falls of the Ohio and the Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog.