I must admit that I’m excited about blogging! Content will not be a problem since I have about six years worth of material I can post. It’s just being patient about learning how to edit and work this system!
Just to get going I’m posting an image of a site specific sculpture I made yesterday. The first image shows the different strata along the river’s edge where water- deposited debris accumulates. I find a lot of materials for art tangled up in the driftwood.
Here’s what I collected on today’s walk along the river. Over time I have developed a vocabulary of materials and forms that I make with them. In this photo are several large chunks of polystyrene, better known by its trademarked name “Styrofoam”. This has become an important material for me and it’s unfortunately all too common. Also shown are various plastic items, mostly toys along with driftwood branches. This is my makeshift studio for today.
For the moment, I entitled this piece “Figure with Life Preserver”. Naturally, finding the orange ring was a big part of creating this sculpture. Everything I make at the Falls is a combination of artificial and natural materials. The body and head are Styrofoam. The eyes are fishing bobbers and the mouth is a piece of red plastic. The nose, arms, and legs are wood. Oh, and yes this figure’s head also sports a pink “pick” comb. My manipulation of the materials is minimal. Except for shortening the sticks I don’t do any carving on the foam…more on that in later posts. I use what the day gives me and try ultimately to create an interesting image that speaks of that day. To judge scale you will need to compare the figure to what is around it…I think of these things as being the size of life. In the case of this figure, the floating tire is a good gauge of scale. The found objects I didn’t use go back into my collecting bag.
Most of the time I leave the work to its fate. I left this guy standing on the riverbank waiting to be discovered by the next park visitor. My photos are the only complete record of my activities here. The first half of my project consists of 35mm drug-store photography and the second half is digital. It took me awhile to warm up to the new technology. I like that my project reflects that change in the technology and the way we perceive our own development and notion of progress. Thus far, I have resisted the urge to manipulate my photos…all the images are straight-up documents recording that day’s work. Most of the time my pieces take less than a day to make. Sometimes I go to the Falls with an idea, but more frequently the materials I find guide my process.
Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog 