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Archive for the ‘collections’ Category

Beyond the Pail

Posted in Absurd, collections, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 19, 2011| 13 Comments »

I debated what to call or title this post and I had other ideas which included “Bowled Over” and “Kicking the Bucket”, but decided “Beyond the Pail” would work.  I chose my post’s title because as word play, it also suggested something beyond acceptable standards perhaps even implying complicity.  When you see the images perhaps they will “speak” to this?  As it goes, this is a relatively focused set of images.  They were all taken within a few hours of one another in a relatively short expanse of riverbank at the Falls of the Ohio.  I call this area the “Elephants’ Graveyard of Plastic” because it seems a lot of plastic washes up here to die and the scattered remains are hard to not notice.  This post features common containers and I’ve organized them by color.  And now, without further ado.

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Faux Duck and Plastic Bread

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 11, 2011| 9 Comments »

The clock read ten minutes after four, otherwise, I wouldn’t have remembered what time it was when I began my last exploration of the river.  This is one of the world’s largest clocks and once was the pride of the Colgate toothpaste factory in Clarksville, Indiana which is just a quarter-mile at most from the entrance to the Falls of the Ohio State Park.  The company moved to Mexico and now the building is for sale.  The clock’s fate is uncertain as are all the jobs that were lost when the company relocated to another country.  The fire truck happened to be going by at the moment I took this image.

After parking my vehicle, I descended down the wooden staircase and into the driftwood field that was deposited last summer.  It has been a gray and melancholic winter.  I noticed that the river was higher now than during my last foray and my heart lifted a bit knowing that there would be fresh river booty to find!  I was correct and this post has a few of the objects and sights I came across during the hour and half I spent here.

I have observed that many people who visit here never venture far from these stairs.  They may go down to the water’s edge to take a look, skip a stone, or write their names in the shifting sands.  I came across the word “people” written in the sand and recorded the image before the advancing waves erased it. 

After so many years of walking this beach, I’m amazed at how much of the same kinds of stuff I find out here.  This was one of five basketballs I came across.  I wish I had a dollar for every one I’ve seen at the Falls.  The river was playing with this one and its waters would float it to a different location and then cast it back upon the shore before licking it back into the water again.  Here’s another ball I found.  It’s small and looks similar to a plastic representation of a ball of yarn?  I like the contrast between the ball and the willow rootlets that captured it.

I’m always finding dolls and doll parts.  On this expedition I found three dolls.  Here’s a picture of one of them as I found it.  I’m not certain if this is a Barbie doll or a knock off of one?  Doesn’t matter, what catches my eye here is the arrangement of doll and driftwood.  Because there isn’t a lot of color involved…it would be easy to overlook this while walking.

More flamboyant is this cloth and plastic artificial “plant” embedded in the sand.  Now this was easy to find because it’s winter and the eyes are starved for color.  I wonder what these plastic “nuts” are supposed to be?

Now comes the part where this post’s title originates.  For the last couple of weeks the Falls has been home to many Mallard ducks.  I was walking along the shoreline when from a distance I spotted this next to a large log.

My first reaction is why is this duck  just sitting there and not trying to get away?  Is it hurt or sick?  Did it narrowly escape the talons of one of the local Peregrine falcons?  It took me a moment before I realized that it wasn’t real!

This is the first decoy that I have come across out here and thought photographing it next to tracks left by webbed feet was appropriate.  The indigenous people of this country were the first (as far as we know) to make decoys to lure prey species closer to the hunter.  There is an aspect to some of my Styrofoam sculptures that takes a page from them.  I want people to come closer and check out what I’m doing and come away with a greater awareness of what’s happening to the environment around them.

My subconscious must be scanning this stuff as I move along, because I don’t know how I found this!  It’s a plastic slice of bread or toast and not much different in shape or color to the other forms that were around it.  Naturally, it went into the collecting bag and joins the other artificial food items I have found out here over the many years.

After hanging out at the water’s edge, I cut up the beach to my open air studio in the willows.  The so-called “Choir” grouping had been smashed to bits since my last visit.  All the figures have been beheaded, but things weren’t a total loss.  I did find this to cheer me up!

Some other creative soul left me this next to the plank I sit on when I make my Styrofoam sculptures.  This small figure looks surprised like it’s caught in mid slip.  Perhaps there was ice and one foot flew out from under it?  All the materials were on site and I’m glad that someone else took advantage of them to make something no matter how silly.  Whenever I’m out here it’s easy for me to lose track of time, but I knew it was time to go because I was cold and getting hungry.  On the walk back to my car I took this photograph.

I call it the “Staircase to Heaven” and yes it’s a wooden set of stairs that was snagged by this willow during a flood two years a go.  I once found a refrigerator stuck in the top of a tall tree and the river put it there during another bout of high water.  The river level can surprise you and with all the snow that has fallen this winter north of here.  It’s very possible we may see high water again and soon.  This weekend, (can it be true!) it’s supposed to be sunny and warmer.  I definitely will plan another trip and maybe make something of my own from all this river junk.  Until then…

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Confession of an Obsessive “Potentialist”

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, Originality, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 6, 2011| 12 Comments »

I debated with myself about going down this road in this post and decided it would be okay.  I did solicit opinions from fellow artist friends on the topic of obsessive compulsions and hoarding in an attempt to come up with a self-diagnosis.  Opinions varied.  Since photographs do a good job of describing things… I will start with images from the basement of my house and my dilemma (and subject of this post) will become clearer.

I have been doing my Falls of the Ohio project since 2003.  During this time, I have made many sculptures from the materials I found deposited in the park by the Ohio River.  Most of those materials and sculptures were left on site, but not all.  I do have a desire to remove the trash I find from this environment even if I realize I can’t get it all.  The result is that I have brought a lot of it home with the notion of using it in my art, sometime in the near future.

I “maintain” a small studio space in my basement where I store materials with the aim of making something from them.  One issue I have is that I see “potential” in so many things and I’m reluctant to give up on materials that could become art.  I am plagued by seeing all the possibilities which on occasion out strips my ability to realize all this “potential”.  Part of this is economic in nature.  I have never ever had any money and as many of you know, art materials can be very costly.  With this Falls project, I have spent the bare minimum since what I’ve been picking up is free.

These are my “rainy day” materials from which I’ve made many birthday gifts, Christmas presents, and donations for not for profit fund-raising events.  Over the years all this material culture has built up and it’s getting hard to move around my basement!  So, I ask myself…am I a hoarder?

I have to admit looking at this image…things look bad!  It’s nearly the classic picture of the hoarder house that has paths of stacked newspapers and magazines with little paths running through the spaces.  I assure you that the rest of my house is quite normal…for the most part.  We have what seems like thousands of books and I have more art hanging around than the “average” home.  The men of my family have always been drawn to collecting things (coins, medals, old photographs, etc…), but I think I came down with a more serious case than most.  I will say the books are in their cases and the art is hung on the walls with some care.  I try to take care of the objects I seriously collect, but not with the art materials and their as yet unrealized potentials.

There has never been a time that I wasn’t making something.  That sense of thrift and trying to recycle and reuse I see as being virtues of my creative process.  Years a go,  I once found employment as a picture framer and I was disturbed by all the waste in that profession.  I couldn’t see throwing away perfectly good picture frames because they were old.  And, all those scraps of 100% cotton rag matboard…are too hard-won to be thrown in the dumpster with impunity.  So, naturally much of these materials also found their way into the basement.  In my defense, I will tell you that this stuff does eventually get used.  For many years, I supplied all the neighborhood kids with all the free matboard they could draw and paint upon.  Because the matboard in particular was quality material, there are many childhood drawings and artworks that might actually survive to say something about the ephemeral experiences of being children.  Although I have vivid recollections of the art I made as a kid…nothing from my childhood survives and that does bother me a bit.  I have saved most of my sons’ childhood art.  Perhaps that’s another sign of a hoarder!

So, what am I going to do with all this “river treasure”?  I have resolved to use it this year and get it out of the basement!  I have a few upcoming exhibition opportunities and may pursue more.  To help with this goal, I have rented an additional studio space in a local church where several other artists keep spaces.  The enigmatic image I began this post with is from that church and it’s from a small library/study area used by the congregation.  Here is a partial view of my new studio room in this church with the beginnings of me moving materials out of my basement.

The church (whose name I will keep private) dates from the turn of the 20th century.  The current congregation is small and aging and I wonder how long it will remain a viable church?  To help bring in income, the vacant spaces are rented out.  I’m sharing my space with two good friends of mine both of whom are primarily painters.

Although I do think of myself as a spiritual person, I wouldn’t describe myself as being traditionally religious.  My sacrament is my creativity.  I do, however, find the idea of redemption interesting.  With my project, I am trying to redeem these poor materials I find by our river and maybe point to something that is within all of us…a univeral creativity that I feel is the hope for our planet. 

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Frozen in Ice

Posted in Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, fresh water, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , on January 17, 2011| 6 Comments »

These are all common objects photographed at the Falls of the Ohio on a single cold day in January 2011.

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Recent Found Orbs

Posted in Absurd, Art, collections, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio River, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , on December 10, 2010| 7 Comments »

On my last walk at the Falls of the Ohio I came across so many found round objects that I thought a few photos of them might be fun or interesting so what the heck. I’ll start with the first orb I came across which was an  osage orange fruit also called a hedge-apple around here.  It looks somewhat brain-like because of its texture.  There are also a few genuine and fake baseballs in various states of decomposition thrown in for good measure.  I also found another plastic orange…that one will go into the Fake Fruits and Veggies Collection which keeps growing with each trip to the river.  The day began cool and frosty, but warmed up with some sunshine after noon.  Alright now and without further delay, here are the photographs.

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Recent Found Objects

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, Louisville, Kentucky, recycled art, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , , on September 8, 2010| 7 Comments »

It’s not everyday that you come across a conceptual hot dog and so I couldn’t resist recording this image.  What follows next are some recent river treasures I’ve discovered on my wanderings throughout the Falls of the Ohio State Park.  We haven’t had any flooding recently which is the easiest and quickest way to find stuff.  I still subscribe to the theory that the objects you are meant to find call you on a subliminal level.  I will happen by some spot and for some unvoluntary reason  will look down and there “it” is!  Here are a few more lucky finds courtesy of the cosmos. 

The majority of what I’m going to present in this post are toys.  Take for instance this bright yellow toy truck that rode in with the river’s waves and nearly buried itself in the sand.  The yellow color practically screams!

For those of you who occasionally follow this blog might recognize that I have photographed many of the petrol containers that I have come across.  Those images can be found in my special collections area under the About section. To me, gasoline is one of those substances that define the times we live in.  By far, this is the smallest such container I’ve come across and has a treasured place on my windowsill with other favorite finds.

For awhile there was this pirate craze inspired by the Johnny Depp movies and I can recall my sons and nephews being enamored by the Jolly Roger.  I came across this plastic skull mixed among the driftwood and after taking its picture…picked it up and dropped it into my collecting bag.

There’s a nice patina forming on this Tasmanian Devil character head.  The use of popular cartoon characters to sell stuff is a tried and true marketing strategy.  I will guess that this is the screw on cap to a bottle of children’s shampoo?  I’m surprised that I found this mingled with the neutrally colored driftwood since it doesn’t possess a color that screams at you.

Honestly, I’m not sure what this is?  Yes it’s a toy, but from what cartoon series?  For now, I’m just calling it a yellow plastic “star” toy.  It’s quite small and the grains of sand speak to that.  Anyone have a guess?

I have a collection going of these small plastic figures meant for the smallest among us.  After so many years, it still disarms me somewhat to find toys meant for toddlers and babies mixed with the driftwood.  It makes me feel as though there are unsupervised kids playing by the river which in our hyper fearful times seems inexplicable.  Here’s something else…

I find many toys meant for infants such as teething rings.  This one features a leaping happy cow with colorful plastic keys.  Now all this stuff is what can be found on the surface of the driftwood.  In places the deposited wood can be several feet thick and you just know that scattered in between those layers are more potential discoveries.

I also have a penchant for photographing lost footwear.  I believe this is one of the two smallest shoes I’ve come across thus far.  I nearly saved this one for “The Shoes You Lose” collection, but couldn’t wait to post it!

This could be either some exotic blue fruit or seed pod…or potentially a prickly chew toy for your dog?  I’m leaning towards the dog toy idea.

As doll heads go…this one isn’t as frightening to me.  It’s very cheaply made and the painted blue eyes aren’t very convincing.  Over the years, I have found many, many dolls and doll parts.  Practically every time I visit the river I find a doll arm or leg.  The frequency never ceases to amaze me.  To end this post, here’s the latest image.  I found this plastic hubcap for an expensive and real truck and liked the play of light over its surface.  Seems like it should be made of metal?  Well, dear readers…where ever you go…happy finds to you!  I’ll bet you have found a few interesting items in your corner of the world?

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More Fallen Footwear

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, unusual collection, tagged , , , , , on August 20, 2010| 5 Comments »

I have made a recent addition to my Pages section that continues a theme.  The Shoes You Lose 2 builds upon a previous photo collection.  All the images of lost footwear were found in situ at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.  Shoes are objects I frequently come across as the Ohio River carries them far away from the feet they were intended to protect.  I have seen many more shoes than I have photographed and I can’t always tell you why I select the ones I do?  When I download my pictures from that day’s river adventure, often there will be an image of a shoe or two in the mix.  They belong in the context of that day’s experience, but it is also fun to revisit and group them together later. 

 There is that saying about spending time in some one else’s shoes that is meant to be an expression of empathy that I feel has an element of truth to it.  Shoes are partly intended to shield us from the rough aspects of the environment that could hurt our feet…and so it is interesting to me to see how the environment will treat these objects when they are no longer in our care.  Shoes are just expressive objects and prone to pathetic fallacy which is probably another reason I enjoy snapping their likenesses.  To view this latest collection, just find and click on The Shoes You Lose 2 under my Pages header and it will take you there.

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Contents Under Pressure

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , on August 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

It’s been so hot and busy here that I haven’t had the chance to visit the river.  That will have to wait until this weekend.  In the meantime, I’ve added another exhibit to my unusual collections pages.  It’s perhaps a bit of a head scratcher since it consists of pictures of aerosol cans.  Looking through the archives, I noticed that I had enough can pictures that I could present them as a body of work. It’s just interesting to see what kind of package we can design around a product we can’t live without.  There’s also that hint of danger…”contents under pressure” that speaks of living life close to the edge.  And then there’s the old familiar stand by that this stuff regardless of its original purpose should not find its way into the watershed in the first place.  All these cans were photographed on location at the Falls of the Ohio State Park over the course of a few seasons.  To see this collection, check out “Contents Under Pressure” in my Pages section to the right of this column.  Thanks!

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Sand Lions and Driftwood Flowers

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, collections, Falls of the Ohio, nature photography, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , on July 24, 2010| 5 Comments »

The last several weeks at the Falls have yielded many favorite images that don’t always make it into my posts. Until now.  Here’s a collection of found objects photographed in situ at the moment of discovery.  Most of the items are lost toys that have travelled with the Ohio River to be washed up here and mixed with wood chips and fragments of our material culture.  An example of this is the so-called “Sand Lion” I discovered on the riverbank.  It’s rubbery and sticky and the sand clings to it easily.  It’s meant to be inflated by blowing through the mouth piece located at the tail.  Reminds me of a horned toad the way it lays in the sand.  I also came across this variant of a sand lion with its punkish hair style.

This sand lion is hardly fearsome with its child friendly smile.  I later found another animal object on the driftwood.  It’s a bear with a twist having been formed with polystyrene foam.  This was premade and I didn’t have to do anything else with it except to take its picture for my collection.

And now for a series of images of circular and spherical objects.  These are the things that catch my eye.  Of course the artificially colored plastic stands out nicely against the natural tones found at the river.

One final image before eye fatigue overwhelms you!  More flower images, but this time its decorations on the side of a plastic Barbie cup found on the riverbank’s mud and offered as “Cheers!” to you.  I’m looking forward to this weekend to see what is different at the Falls since my last adventure.  The forecast, however, is calling for temperatures around 100 degrees fahrenheit.  I don’t expect much will be moving quickly on this day.

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Plastic Bottle Color Spectrum

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, Originality, recycled art, unusual collection, tagged , , , , , , on July 17, 2010| 2 Comments »

This post is actually to announce a new collection that I have added to my pages section.  It’s more of an experiment…an idea that I have had for a while and only just now put it together.  Plastic bottles are objects that I have been photographing at the Falls of the Ohio for a couple of years now.  I see so many of these that I decided to order my image collection roughly by what color the bottles are.  I remember seeing works by Tony Cragg that were made with fine gradations of colored plastic in fact our local Speed Museum used to exhibit one in their permanent collection.  So, I guess I’m counting his work among the influences for this piece along with your standard box of crayons!  Most of these bottles originally contained soap solutions (laundry detergent, shampoo, dish washing liquid) or various car care products (oil, anti-freeze, gas treatments, etc…).  Of course, since they are all made of plastic, they are also derived from petroleum.  I think the best way to view this collection is to stroll down fairly quickly.  I think I will try to add to this collection as I go along throughout my Falls of the Ohio Project and see where it goes.  Look under my Pages section and look for the Plastic Bottle Color Spectrum tag.  Thanks!

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