Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

It’s the day after Christmas at the Falls of the Ohio on an admittedly nippy day.  I stopped by my trusty site under the now bare willow trees to see how this latest group of sculptures and artworks are faring? Each time I come out here, I’m just as likely to find things knocked down and destroyed.  A couple of posts back, I documented my site and the figures that were created there beginning in May of this year.  I initially called the Styro-figures “The Assembled” and after they were vandalized they became “The Re-Assembled”.  Well, even this group is now history after every standing figure was decapitated and speared!  Here are some before and after images.  I used this final image of “The Re-Assembled” with the peace sign on my Christmas cards this year.

Every head was destroyed and that is where much of the personality of each figure resides.  I gathered what remained of the heads and bodies and added them to the pile.  I picked up what loose fishing floats that I had adapted for eyes and other plastic parts I used that were still in the area and placed them in my collecting bag.  The found flip-flop peace sign was obliterated.  It wasn’t up a week yet!  Interestingly, the colorful plastic container arrangement I have on site has survived three attacks!  It has essentially remained intact with me adding to it every once in a while.

Of course we can’t leave things there!  I visited my site in early December with Jason Moore, an art student at Murray State University who came to my presentation there last October.  He was in town on winter break and asked to tag along. Together, we started the process of straightening things up and beginning some new pieces.  I put him in charge of the flip-flop pit which was a very new medium for him.  The only guidance I gave him was that he needed to use every sandal on site!  He had one false attempt before arranging the flip-flops in this design.

As Jason tries his hand at this site specific piece, I set to work on creating what turned out to be an imposing figure that towers over you on site.  After pairing a new head with a new body I began creating this figure’s features.  As I’m doing this…I’m also aware that I am now re-re-reusing many of these materials.  Some of this stuff has played a part in multiple figures.

This is where a new work begins.  I searched through my collecting bag looking for the found components to make up the eyes, mouth, nose, and ears.  I then find a stick to attach the head to the body and then look for driftwood, tree roots, etc…to make the limbs.  Here is how the head eventually presented.

I thought the toe thong “thingie” from an old flip-flop made a decent mustache!  Let’s pull back a little to take a wider look at things.  This image shows the new figure dramatically illuminated as the sun sets.

Jason created the small figure with the plastic squirrel and I added the round-headed, portly figure.  Another week later I would add a fourth this time blue-bodied figure to bring us to the present.

It has been a very interesting year and as it ends it’s good to reflect a bit.  Perhaps creatively… this has been one of my better years.  I think the work overall has taken on a more formal look as I continue to work with different materials.  I’m out here as often as I can get away.  A big change is in using other social media platforms to “publish” what I’m doing which was something I once reserved exclusively for this blog.  I’m on Facebook and Instagram regularly which has been a fun way to share pictures.  I’ve had a couple of exhibition opportunities this year which was great and unexpected.   I’m even ending the year and this post…with some very positive press which also serendipitously came my way.

Here is a link to a lot of content that the News and Tribune, a southern Indiana newspaper, put together about my Falls of the Ohio Project.  Albertus Gorman News and Tribune Article  This link has a video shot at the Falls of the Ohio as I demonstrate what I do.

I will leave it here for this year and hope that everyone out in the wider world has a very Happy New Year.  See you at the river during 2018.