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Welcome to 2018…Artist at Exit 0!

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, assemblage art, driftwood, flip-flops, found materials, Found objects, lost and found, lost sandals, material culture, nature, nature photography, Ohio River flooding, plastic, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, sense of place, Site specific art, Styrofoam, tagged Art, art and nature, nature, Recycled Art Styrofoam Art, sense of place, site specific art on July 4, 2018| 4 Comments »

I will admit to being shocked to see that this is indeed my first post of the year on the old riverblog! My only excuses are that I’ve prioritized my time to be in the field as much as possible and much of what I’ve documented has also appeared on other social media outlets. I am very appreciative for those who continue to visit the riverblog and I will try to be more regular with my reports. Here is our story thus far. The new year began well enough and we had our first snow in January. The Styro-sculpture group I had dubbed the “The Re-Assembled” had survived all kinds of abuse and managed to hang on and grow.

The "Re-Assembled" in the Snow. Jan 13, 2018

The little high spot on the riverbank that I call my outdoor gallery and atelier under the willows was looking good. Naturally, we expect to see some minor high water issues in the park during late winter and early spring as snow melt throughout the extensive Ohio River Valley watershed moves downriver. I continued to visit the park when I could and made new figures and projects from materials I had collected and recycled many times before. Our area and the Ohio River were soon to experience a big change and naturally my driftwood atelier would be in the way. Here is the last image I have of “The Re-Assembled” intact among other projects before the Ohio River eventually claimed them all through flooding events that happened from mid February through April. The first flood of 2018 would be one for the record books, but it was quickly followed by two more minor high water moments that continued to rearrange the landscape under the old railroad bridge.

Outdoor studio view with the last of the "Re-Assembled" Styrofigure group with plastic assemblage and flip-flop pit. Falls of the Ohio State Park

After all you see here was swept away…and then swept away again. I continued to skirt around the wide margins of the river documenting my river finds and adding to my various found object collections. Here is a little taste of the high water we experienced from the observation deck of the Interpretive Center. At my site, I watched the river move up the bank ever so quietly. I marked the water’s advance with little sticks in the sand just to keep an eye on things.

As the river rose and then receded, I kept filling my collecting bags with materials and my camera with images. It’s funny how each high water moment seems to bring its own kind of debris. Among the found objects and materials I sifted from the sand and driftwood included hundreds of cigarette lighters ( I have removed more than 500 of them this year) and lost flip-flops. Here is a good sampling of some of those projects that I made with those river finds.

Found cigarette lighter oval on washed up picnic table with Louisville in the distance.

The above image is that day’s found lighters arranged on a picnic table that washed into Ashland Park which is contiguous to the Falls of the Ohio State Park. The skyline of Louisville, KY is seen from across the Ohio River. Here is another lighter piece arrangement at my ever shifting outdoor studio.

That day's found lighters arranged by color on a wooden beam that washed up in the Falls of the Ohio State Park. 2018

This lighter arrangement on the wooden beam proved tempting for someone who needed all these lighters because they all disappeared. One more lighter project before moving on to flip-flop projects. I know, that sounds real tempting!!

Found lighter spiral arrangement on a stump, Falls of the Ohio State Park. 2018

Simple but colorful design created on a found stump using brightly colored plastic lighters collected on that day’s adventure. As this year has developed, I have looked more upon creating images utilizing these micro sites.

Improvised found flip-flop piece on wood panel on a high Ohio River with Louisville in the distance. 2018

The river is still very high for this found flip-flop arrangement. I am also continuing to enjoy using these lost sandals as a stand-in for our kind. So much can be implied through the idea of a foot print.

Found wooden john-boat with flip-flop arrangement, Falls of the Ohio, April 2018

Detail, Found Flip-flops in Found Wooden John-boat, Falls of the Ohio, April 2018

We had another flooding moment in late April which again changed the character of my outdoor studio and the area around the old railroad bridge. In its aftermath, an immense and impressive mound of driftwood and other river debris has been left behind. My old site is history and both the UFO (Unidentified Floating Object) and the recent john-boat project were affected. It’s only been since May that a sense of the routine, seasonal environment at the Falls of the Ohio State Park has begun to settle in. I’ve compressed a lot in this post and it breaks my heart to leave anything out, but that seems to be the way to go here. As the debris mound begins to settle and new junk works its way out, I will continue to show up and document what I find and how I used it. From the Falls of the Ohio…the Artist at Exit 0.

Styro-figure with Bullhorn with Meandering Found Lighter Arrangement, Falls of the Ohio, April 2018

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Rare Winter Birds

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, birds and birding, driftwood, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, lost and found, material culture, nature, nature photography, Ohio River flooding, photography, plastic, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sense of place, Site specific art, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, at the intersection of nature and culture, driftwood, eco-story, Falls of the Ohio, Genius loci, material culture, nature, nature story, photography, plastic, sense of place, Styrofoam on March 7, 2017| 5 Comments »

A late winter landscape at the Falls of the Ohio and what has to be one of our warmest February’s ever! I can’t recall ever having an 80 degree day in winter before…not in Kentuckiana in mid February to boot. We had just a trace of snow to speak of and while nobody missed living through the freeze and gray monotony of winter…somehow we know “pay backs will be hell”. The cost will come in more insect and weed pests at least. It will be interesting to see how many and how severe our spring storms will be. Will they be full of energy violent and remembered for deluges of rain?

With a name like the Falls Pheasant, you would expect to find this bird here. Alas, our only native pheasant started disappearing when stands of river cane became less numerous. Once thought extinct, this colorful pheasant has started reappearing in once familiar places. I wish I could also report that the river cane is also coming back, but it hasn’t so far. Perhaps what’s left of these pheasants are the ones who will accept other habitat? It’s all about being able to adapt with the changes? Some birds pushed to the fridges of their comfort zones found new areas to live.

This is a young male of the species. As an adult, the center tail feather becomes twice as long and the head becomes a bright shade of turquoise. I chanced upon it during a period of high water investigating small islands of trees and driftwood where potential food would become concentrated by the rising river. The females are so cryptically colored that you can’t see them when they sit on their nests. The Falls Pheasant produces a small clutch of four white eggs with brown speckles on them.

From his driftwood mound vantage point, the pheasant sees noisy Canada geese he would rather avoid. Hopping from one bleached and weathered log to another it was soon on the ground. Reaching a stand of weed stalks, I was so surprised at how quickly the pheasant could completely disappear. I doubt this bird decided this area was a good place to stake a claim. The Canada Geese here are aggressive and then there are all the other predators too. Stray cats, dogs, compete with coyotes, foxes, raccoons, minks, humans, and birds of prey from the air patrol this space. Better to keep moving on.

Our story doesn’t end here. Just a few weeks later and at a spot not too far away from where I saw the pheasant…I came across another great rarity. I have always maintained that “chance favors a prepared mind”. I think subconsciously, I am always looking around for something different or out-of-place.

It was late in the day with the sun slipping quickly to the horizon line, when I spotted this distinct red color moving through the willow trees. Hiding behind the trunks as best I could, I was able to get close enough to snap four or five images. I would need to wait until I got home to make the identification which was a personally exciting thing to do! This was one bird completely unfamiliar to me and a new Kentucky and Falls of the Ohio record. This is the Elfin Flycatcher or Sugarbill as it is better known in Northern Quebec. This bird can truly be considered an “accidental” because it is so far away from its usual home range. In its winter home of Cuba…it is an insectivorous bird known for its aerobatic hunting of small flying insects that live in the warmth of the tropics. During the spring breeding season, the Elfin Flycatcher undergoes a long journey along the Atlantic coastline until it crosses over into the coldest reaches of Quebec. It arrives before the northern insects have hatched and to supplement its diet, it drills into hardwood trees (similar to our Yellow-bellied Sapsucker) to collect the nutritious sweet tree sap that pools in the drill holes. It feeds on sap until clouds of mosquitoes and midges arise from the waters of the north to change this bird’s diet.

The bright yellow tail and the purple crest mark this as an adult male of the species. The brown wings were continuously flicking like some nervous tic this bird was experiencing. How this bird got so far off track is a mystery. Sometimes large storm events along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Coast will cause birds to travel great distances to get out-of-the-way. There is another concern, less with this bird, but more so with other migratory species. As climate change scrambles the natural clocks, timing is crucial to migrating birds. Routes have developed over time to source food when it appears and if it doesn’t…what happens to these long distance migrants?

This is what has so many biologists concerned. What happens to all those species that find the changes too challenging and can’t readily adapt? For now, I will keep making my anecdotal observations from the Falls of the Ohio State Park and work my best to try not to get too depressed about it all. Drawing a deep breath of fresh air, I picked up my collecting bag and that day’s trophy river finds and turned for home.

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Fish Stories from the Falls of the Ohio

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, fresh water, lost and found, Louisville, Kentucky, material culture, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, Photograpy, plastic, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sense of place, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, creativity, Culture, earth, environment, fact and fiction, Falls of the Ohio, fishing, Fishing tackle, found fishing lures, Kentuckiana, life, material culture, nature story, photography, plastic, sense of place, short stories, storytelling, Styrofoam, White Bass on December 31, 2016| Leave a Comment »

The Falls of the Ohio offers a variety of fishing opportunities throughout the year. Whether you prefer light tackle action in the shallows or the pull from a fifty pound catfish while sitting on a boat…you can find that on the Ohio River flowing by Louisville. I always check out what’s happening on the riverbank when I come out here. I am especially interested in seeing what species are being caught and what’s being used to catch them. On this warm December day the action was happening in the shallows. Fisherman were using soft-bodied jigs to catch Sauger (a smaller relative of the Walleye) and this nice White Bass.

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The White Bass, (Roccus chrysops) was first described by the eccentric naturalist Constantine Rafinesque who was familiar with the fish life at the Falls of the Ohio. The White Bass is a big river fish that is also found in impoundments. This fish can get to be 15 to 18 inches long and a maximum of around five pounds. We also have a smaller relative, the Yellow Bass that is also found in the Ohio River. Both species are related to marine sea basses and scatter their eggs without further care of their young.

Since there is a lot of fishing activity on the river, I also find a lot of lost fishing gear. Broken poles, snagged line, and lots of plastic fishing lures like this recent example. It’s very easy to snag and lose a lure in the rocky bottom out here. Usually, when I find a lure, it is minus its hooks which either have broken off or have dissolved away. I also pick up lost fishing floats and have been amazed by how much design variety that fishing tackle can encompass. On the negative side, I also have a fairly full sandwich bag of lead fishing weights that I have accumulated over the years. When the river is down during the height of summer, I will check out the dried holes in the rocky bottom that catch and tumble lead and other metals.

If nothing else, 2016 will be remembered by me for the quality of the fishing. I was able to catch three species new to me to add to a growing list of species I have documented at the Falls of the Ohio. Check out the next couple of images of a rare Ohio River Bowfin (Amia ohioensis) I angled from under the railroad bridge.

The Ohio River Bowfin is only marginally related to the better known Bowfin, (Amia calva). The Ohio River Bowfin has adapted its life to living in shallow rocky streams where it ambushes other fish, frogs, crayfish, and other river invertebrates. Uniquely, its anal and caudal fins have fused into one large fin that comes in handy for scraping out nests in the gravel bottoms it prefers to breed on. After the male entices the gravid female into his nest and with a little luck and persuasion, a clutch of about fifty eggs is deposited and fertilized. The male assumes all parenting duties. Can also be distinguished by it long slender body and bright orange-colored eyes. After a few pictures and measurements the fish was released unharmed back into the river.

On another river expedition in November, I visited a different Falls of the Ohio location near the Interpretive Center to sample the fish life there. Within a minute or two of my first cast I caught this near world record Copperbelly Suckermouth, (Catostomidae cupricana). I was using a hook baited with clam meat which is the principle food of this Ohio River oddity. The boats anchored in the river are probably going after large catfish. This view gives you a good indication of the body type that evolved with some fish that inhabit swift flowing water. Drag has been minimized and the pectoral fins are strong enough to anchor the fish in place as it hovers over the clam beds it prefers.

Here’s a symbiotic side note…several fresh water clam species use the Copperbelly Suckermouth as an intermediate host during part of their life cycles. The nearly microscopic clam larvae attach themselves to the fish’s gills where for a short time, the larvae suck blood and grow before dropping off the fish to complete their life cycles in the gravely bottom. The host fish are left unharmed during the process.

A sneak peek on why this species is called the Copperbelly Suckermouth. It’s undersides are a deep, rich, red to orange ochre color that is particularly intense during the Spring breeding period. The strong sucker mouth is located on the fish’s ventral side and is flanked by barbels that help it locate food in the river’s bottom. This was also strictly catch and release as was the case with my next fishy find. As with most bottom dwelling fish at the Falls, one should limit how big a meal you make from your catch. Toxins are more prevalent in the lower reaches which then are ingested and stored in the fish’s fatty tissues. This particular species, however, has minimal food value.

Another day and location at the Falls of the Ohio and another unexpected catch! Using a grasshopper I caught on the bank and a beaver-chewed willow pole I found nearby, I fashioned a rig with an old line and a hook and caught this Kentucky Killifish, (Cyprinodontidae gargantua) by jigging the grasshopper around the shadows cast by the fossil-loaded limestone. I dropped the grasshopper into just the right dark hole and pulled out this beauty.

This is a giant among the killifishes as most are under a few inches in length. Its blue eyes are distinctive. Small invertebrates in the form of insect larvae are its main food item, but experience has shown it will go for whatever it thinks it can swallow using its relatively tiny mouth. This fish has no food or sport value what so ever. During the summer breeding period, the males of this species can get very colorful in an attempt to impress. Still, a very nice way to cap the year with a new fish to add to the life list!

Fishing on Mars or the Falls of the Ohio? The setting sun has colored the dried riverbank a lovely Martian red. Here explorers are doing what we do…searching for life in the most promising place we know which happens to be by the water. I hope 2017 manages a way to be kind to our rivers and freshwater everywhere. I’ll end my fishing story with a look inside the box where I keep my found fishing lures. See you next year…from the Falls of the Ohio.

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A Reality Check by the River

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, collections, creativity, driftwood, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, fresh water, Green, lost and found, Louisville, Kentucky, material culture, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, Ohio River flooding, photography, plastic, Plastic art, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sculpture, sense of place, Site specific art, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, box turtle, Dakota pipe line, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Genius loci, material culture, nature versus culture, photography, power of place, sculpture, Styrofoam on November 7, 2016| 10 Comments »

Well, the season for grand political theatre is almost over. I’m feeling like most of the country who are so tired of the divisiveness that has defined this overly long election. Certainly, a major disappointment is the lack of any real environmental dialogue or engagement from either of the parties. Three national debates…and hardly a mention of climate change at all. We were much more preoccupied by Hillary’s emails than we are the fact that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere passed a historic and negative 400 parts per million this year for the very first time ever! We have no idea what this will ultimately mean. We believe that this can’t be a good thing, but we are willing to take the chance? Do facts matter and are we close to a point where it won’t make much of a difference what we think and feel? Nature has her own schedule and we have been consistently wrong in guessing what time it is.

I find going out into Nature breathing deeply and keeping my eyes open helps a great deal. This is my restorative. Walking parallel to the Ohio River and atop the Devonian limestone, my eyes register the circling Osprey looking for a good fish in the shallows. The nearby purple loosestrife flowers are alive with insects of many species doing what is important right now which is attending to life. Cooling its feet in a shallow spring, I come across one of the park’s box turtles. I give it my full attention and love. It’s life amazes me. Once it was a leathery egg laid in a dirt hole. When it hatched, a tiny, nearly exact replica of its parents emerged from the shell debris and soil. Instinct led it to seek shelter and to react to that gnawing sensation in the pit of its stomach by eating something. It’s alive and has its own reality deeply rooted in the history of life.

Living with the seasons, the turtle puts on a new growth ring for another year of life. I have caught up to this one…decades after it left the egg. I feel at peace and a feeling of well-being when I see Nature going about its daily and routine ways of life. This is the way it has been before there was an us to proclaim ourselves to be the height and purpose of it all. One needs to go out into nature more to fully appreciate creation beyond the strictly abstract and intellectual.

Plastic flower blossom in the sand at the Falls of the Ohio, October 2016

Our ability to transform our world is so complete that we can use a material like crude oil to create plastic flowers! But should we and why would we want to in the first place? It is specifically the effects of using fossil, hydrocarbon-based energy sources that have led us to the situation we now find ourselves. Collectively, we have let oil and coal become more important than clean air and water. Here in Kentucky, the political campaigns are fueled by the so-called “war on coal”. What most people miss, is that this has less to do with environmental regulations and more with market forces. Coal is a dirty form of energy that has been supplanted by the use of natural gas which is much cheaper. Ordinary citizens are not taking down the old coal-burning plants and replacing them with natural gas burning utilities…big business is. Coal jobs started to really disappear when it was discovered that you could reach a lot of coal quicker and employ fewer miners with mountaintop removal. The fracking techniques used to obtain today’s boon in natural gas are also fraught with huge issues which are now coming to light.

We have the current and not fully resolved situation involving the Standing Rock Sioux people and an ill-advised and designed pipeline that the big corporate world have decided needs to go under the Missouri River. Despite all our vaunted technologies, we lack the ability to make a pipeline that won’t eventually break releasing its poison into the waters. What is so hard to understand about that? I stand with the people who know that clean water is life. For awhile, it looked like the Ohio River was making progress, but in a way, the changes we are seeing in the climate have affected us here. Currently, we have several large basin projects under construction in Louisville to deal with the reality that it rains more and a lot harder now which now overwhelms our sewers sending untreated waste directly into the river. It will take billions of dollars and a lot of resolve to fix this, but I suspect, we will limp along trying to convince the people who make money the measure of everything to act sooner than later.

So, here I stand on the wrack line between land and liquid. I will continue to come out here and record with my camera and pen, the anecdotal changes I see happening in the park. I come out here to challenge my creativity, see what there is to see, and restore my spirit. Ultimately, the quality of our water and the environment at large is a referendum on our collective spirit. We certainly have been found wanting and another election cycle is going by without so much as an acknowledgement that there are big challenges to the very substrate that sustains us all. I will try to curb my disappointment, by immersing myself in the moment. So long for now…until next time from the Falls of the Ohio.

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Feeling Grateful

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, material culture, nature, nature photography, Photograpy, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sculpture, sense of place, Site specific art, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, Artists' Own Gallery, butterflies, culture and nature, ecological story, Falls of the Ohio, figurative sculpture, found materials, Genius loci, material culture, nature story, photography, purple loosestrife, recycling river junk, rose mallow, sense of place, site specific art, Styrofoam, the environment on September 5, 2016| 9 Comments »

We have had some stellar days of late with the air so crystalline and fresh that it has been an added bonus to be outside. The temps have been manageable as well. I began this post more than a week ago, but put it on the back burner until now. I am no doubt busier now than I ever have been (particularly at work), but I’m still finding the time to be involved with my own art. And I must confess…if I have to prioritize whether to stay home and work on a blog article or go to the river and participate in life at that level…well, I think you know what my answer will be! I have enjoyed blogging, but must admit to myself that what I do will never be most people’s’ idea of a good read, especially since there are now literally millions of blogs out there! I do still hope, however, to occasionally connect with folks who are creative and just plain interested in nature.

Recently, I went to the river to find a wealth of Rose Mallows in bloom. That is not always the case and there have been years when I did not see any. They have become among my favorite flowers that I can find at the Falls of the Ohio. Their blooms are huge and there is some variation in our native hibiscus. In a relatively small area, I found a patch of Rose Mallows showing off those colors which can range from a solid hot pink, to a snow-white blossom. Usually, most of the mallows will sport some combination of white or pink with a deep scarlet throat. I couldn’t help collecting a few seed pods and scattering their seeds in other locations I frequent at the Falls. I don’t think this is technically legal since there is a park rule against collecting wildflowers, but since none of their seeds went home with me…I’m hoping I’ll be okay to do this?

Late summer is also a good time to see which butterflies are around. The Falls of the Ohio certainly has its regular species who inhabit its various ecological niches. Here is one of the park’s Red Admirals and it is visiting a “willow lick” to drink up the sugary exudence seeping from a wound in this tree’s bark. These wounds occur in various ways, but the most common one is with collisions with large floating logs that crash battering ram-style into these willows during flooding. This happens mostly in late winter or early spring and it is not out of the ordinary to have these willow trees be completely submerged by the Ohio River. These willow licks attract a variety of insects ranging from butterflies, ants, hornets, and many different types of flies.

Of course, every year is different from the last one and so far I have to say I think this has been just an average year for butterflies. Usually, one species will be found more commonly than the other species. For example, I can remember certain years where the Viceroy was the most common butterfly. I have also seen it when the small Pearly Crescent or the larger Buckeye Butterfly were the most plentiful individual species. This year I can’t tell that one species is more numerous than another. I like visiting the Purple Loosestrife stands particularly in the western section of the park during the height of their blooming period. I know this plant is highly invasive, but it also attracts a large amount of insects and butterflies in particular. Multiple species gravitate towards the nectar these plants produce. It’s interesting to watch different species feeding on the same plant like in the above photo. A skipper species (on top) and fritillary species (on the bottom) are coexisting on this flower because this resource is plentiful and the butterflies are focused. What these loosestrife stands also attract are predators. It’s common to come across large orb weaving spiders and praying mantises waiting to ambush a meal. I have come to think of these loosestrife stands as being important feeding areas for the Monarch butterflies that migrate through our area and this has mitigated my feelings towards this invasive plant.

Another reason to be feel grateful is that I have another solo art exhibition and it is currently up at the Artists’ Own Gallery in Lafayette, Indiana. It’s a co-op space and the duties of running the gallery fall upon the member artists. I was invited by one of the members to show at their downtown, Main Street location. The exhibit which is entitled “At the Intersection of Culture and Nature” features a selection of my Styrofoam sculptures along with a few more dye sublimation prints on aluminum I had made of site specific projects that are now gone. It is all stuff I have found and experienced at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. On the morning the show opened, I gave an artist’s talk and had a nice group present to hear more about how this work came to be. I even sold a few pieces to help offset the costs of printing my photos and renting a van to haul it all around! I really liked having the opportunity to show off my “Crying Indian” sculpture once again and it looked completely different in a gallery context as compared to where it was first shown outdoors earlier this year at Hidden Hills Nursery and Sculpture Garden. All the Artists’ Own artists I met were welcoming and I appreciated their hospitality! The exhibit will remain up until mid September and so if you find yourself in the area…please stop by and enjoy all the great art on display throughout this beautiful gallery. Meanwhile, back at the Falls of the Ohio…

On my first visit back to the river after my show opened, I had this general feeling of well-being. I went over to my stash of Styrofoam that I had collected this year and starting putting shapes together. I soon came up with the requisite head and body for a new and large figurative sculpture I wanted to make. The large chunk of polystyrene that I used for the figure’s body had been collected months ago, however, it was still a bit waterlogged and heavy to move.

Without doing any direct carving, I just accepted the forms that the river had provided for me and went with that. I did make a few small holes to insert the found objects that would serve as this figure’s features. The mouth is a piece of wood that looked like a “mouth” when I found it. The eyes are part of the hull of a Black Walnut that I split in half and inserted into the head. The nose is a bright orange, Styrofoam fishing float found that morning. For the ears, I used parts of the sole of an old shoe and then I added a small plastic ring to separate the head from the body which has become my custom over the many years of doing this activity. The rest is just driftwood picked up on site.

The resulting figure is much bigger than me and after I assembled it…I went scouting for a good location to make my pictures. As you may remember, the large piece of Styrofoam that is the figure’s body was water-logged and so I set it up relatively close to my outdoor atelier. Although the figure looks to be praying, what I was going for was a trance-like state of ecstasy? I know I have felt this sensation of being outside one’s self where you feel a part of or kinship with the other living things around you. Behind the figure is a large log with intact root mass that washed into here during the last good flood. In this photo, a small flock of Canada Geese does a respectful flyover of their own.

I seem to have started a personal blogging trend where my posts are getting on the long side! So, this looks like as good a place to wrap this up as any. By now, my ecstatic figure is probably history and martyred like so many other figures I have left in the park before. I tell each piece I make and leave behind that this will likely be its fate unless some kind soul takes pity and takes it home with them. These figures seem to understand. It’s all about being present in the moment when we are at our most alive. I have more stories to tell and art to share, but will hold of for now. Until next time from the Falls of the Ohio.

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Rare Birds and the Month of July

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, birding, birds and birding, collections, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, lost and found, material culture, nature, nature photography, Ohio River flooding, photography, plastic, Plastic art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sense of place, Site specific art, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, butterflies, creative ornithology, Dodo of the Ohio, ecostory, Falls of the Ohio, Genius loci, Mosquito Bird, natural and artificial, nature, nature and culture, plastic, rare birds, recycled art, sense of place, Silver-spotted Skipper, Styrofoam, Tawny Emperor, the great outdoors on July 28, 2016| 5 Comments »

I have always felt that if you did the research, you must publish your results. Here it is the tail-end of July and what?? not a single post this month from the Artist at Exit 0! Of course I have been out to the river on a couple of occasions and had a wonderful time. So far, it has been a relatively easy summer. We haven’t had spells of daily high temperatures pushing a hundred degrees that have marked some previous summers. Knock on wood. Every year and every season is different and 2016 will no doubt climatically distinguish itself locally in some way before this annual orbit around the sun is history.

According to the WordPress folks, this is Riverblog post #450! They are much better at keeping count than I am and so I will trust them on that. I mention this not in the way of a boast, but rather from personal amazement that I have found enough content out in the Falls of the Ohio State Park to help keep it going! I have a good friend who is also an artist and he used to blog on WordPress. He stopped writing right around his 500th post! He became a little disappointed that it was so time-consuming and didn’t lead to more sales or artistic opportunities. I guess he also got to a point where he had said everything he wanted to say? This post will combine a couple of river adventures together and is set for the western section of the Falls of the Ohio State Park. It’s getting to be high summer. I can tell by the heat and the blooming trumpet creeper vines growing on some of the cottonwood trees. Have you ever noticed that many of these trumpet creeper flowers have large ants in them?

Where moist conditions are prevalent out here, you will find great patches of Purple loosestrife plants growing under the cottonwoods and willows. The loosestrife is by far more common in the western section of the Falls of the Ohio. Despite being a very invasive species, they do add a beautiful pinkish-lavender color to the landscape and insects (particularly butterflies) seem to love their nectar.

I am sure to visit this area several times while the loosestrife flowers continue to bloom. Over the last several years, I have come across more butterfly species feeding off of these flowers including many swallowtail species (Tiger, Black Swallowtail, Spicebush, Pipevine, and Giant Swallowtail). These flowers are also favored by several different skippers which occupy this strange position between being true butterflies and true moths. It seems skippers possess qualities of both lepidoptera groups. Here is a nice Silver-spotted Skipper ( Epargyreus clarus ) I came across also feeding on the odd blooms of a Cephalanthus buttonbush.

There were other butterflies out on this sunny day, but I didn’t get good pictures of all of them. I did see my first Red Admirals of the year. I did manage this image of a Tawny Emperor ( Asterocampa clyton ) butterfly using the camera on my cell phone. It takes a bit of stealth to get the phone near enough to take a good image without scaring your subject away. Over the past two years, I’ve become accustomed to taking my cell phone with me on my trips to the river. I love that the device is so small, lightweight, and fits in my pocket and gives me a few more options than the digital SLR that I have. I have to imagine that these little digital cameras are just going to continue to get better and even more useful.

I am also on the alert for any bird movements or sounds in the area. On this expedition to the Falls of the Ohio I scored big by sighting two new bird species for my life list and getting decent pictures of both to show to any of you unbelievers out there! After walking in direct sunlight for over an hour, I decided to cool off by walking in the shade of the large cottonwood trees that grow along the edge of the river. I especially like the way this cottonwood tree fills the whole photo frame. When these trees release their fluffy, light seeds it can almost appear as though it is snowing in slow motion. The cotton fluff builds up and forms wind aided drifts on the ground.

I had directed my reverie up into the canopy of the trees when an unfamiliar bird flew just above my head. This bird is fast and I got a quick sensation of colors…light blue, white, and green. I was extremely lucky to get such good pictures of it in full flight. Check out how the tail feathers help with lift and aerial maneuvering…perfect for high-speed flight between the tree trunks.

I was elated when I realized that what just went whizzing by my ear is a species I have not seen in the park before. It has a couple of common names. Some people refer to it as the Cumberland Mockingbird (Mimus appalachians ) and around here I’ve heard people call it a “Mosquito bird”. This specimen was actively picking off in midair several small flies that I could detect in the sunshine flying over my sweaty head. The thought occurred to me that this bird and the Zika mosquito have moved into our area at about the same time.

The Cumberland Mockingbird seemed to be able to “read” the air and wind currents around structures like trees and high river banks. I observed it daringly flying and diving very near objects in its pursuit of an insectivorous meal. I saw it chasing another Falls of the Ohio specialty, the Eastern-eyed Click Beetle (Alaus oculatus ). This is the largest member of the click beetle family and can get 2 1/2 inches long. It is said that its cryptic coloring is meant to mimic bird droppings. As it happened this beetle was able to escape becoming the Cumberland Mockingbird’s lunch by hiding under some loose tree bark.

These click beetles always seem to be out at the Falls of the Ohio during the summer months. They are harmless as adults. Their larvae grows in decaying wood and are carnivorous. Our area usually has an abundance of decomposing wood because of periodic flooding and the water-logged trunks that come with it. I decided to move out of the shade because the mosquitoes were catching up with me and using me for snacks. Not even an actively feeding Mosquito bird could turn these small flies away from their blood mission.

Returning to the sunlight seemed to do the trick of chasing the noisome insects away. I moved away from the shade of the trees and returned to the intermittent light by the fossil outcroppings nearer the riverbank. All was right with the world. A cormorant was swimming in the river as an osprey flew overhead with fish in talons. I was happily engaged in my little world…when I heard the most unusual animal call of all. I just had to find out what could make such a mournful noise! I found a likely spot along a trail and just went quiet and motionless. If the gods were with me then I had a good chance of seeing this mystery animal which was continuing its two-syllable call as it drew nearer to me.

There was a movement low to the ground and a parting of vegetation when a dingy white bird emerged onto the trail in front of me. It puffed its body up and displayed its tail feathers in a showy fan. A few wiry blue feathers on his head forms a crest that moves and down with the hopping dancing motion this species requires for courtship. With a certain amount of fanfare, my first ever “Dodo of the Ohio” ( Pseudo dodo kentuckiana ) let itself be known that it was looking for companionship. I had also found it in the context of a flowering and fruiting Passion flower vine ( Passiflora ) growing over the sand. A pair of round, green fruits seemed to be the object of the dodo’s attention. Our dodo is not at all related to the extinct species, but it is far from being a common bird. Fortunately, it can fly, albeit weakly. This at least keeps it off the ground while it sleeps at night. I watched the dodo for several more minutes before it flew off. The chance meeting of these two exotics was an amazing and unforgettable happening that helped make July an incredible month. See you again sometime soon from the Falls of the Ohio.

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At Hidden Hill Nursery and Sculpture Garden

Posted in Absurd, Art, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, material culture, nature, Photograpy, recycled art, sculpture, sense of place, Site specific art, Styrofoam, tagged Albertus Gorman, Art, artist at exit 0, Bob Hill, Falls of the Ohio, flotsam and jetsam, found objects, Franklin Tree, garden art, gardening, Hidden Hill Nursery and Sculpture Gardern, Jerry Voyles, material culture, nature, plastic trash, public art, recycled art, recycled materials, sense of place, site specific art, Styrofoam, Utica, Whimsical art on June 10, 2016| 4 Comments »

In many ways this post is a continuation of my last published one on “The Crying Indian”. I made that sculpture for this occasion which was a cart-blanch invitation from owner Bob Hill to place my river art in the context of eight acres of wonderful plantings that include many unusual and rare plants. My work is far from the more durable art made from metal or stone that you would expect to see in a garden, but I’m always interested in placing my art in a less than typical gallery situations. Hidden Hill is located in the tiny town of Utica, Indiana very near the Ohio River and not too far from my home in Louisville, KY. To be on the grounds of Hidden Hill is a true delight and it’s easy to imagine that you are in a far more remote place than you actually are.

Bob Hill is a well-known personality in our area. He was a long-time columnist for Louisville’s Courier-Journal newspaper which in the days before Gannett took over was a Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper with a big and loyal following. Bob is now “retired” from the paper, but he is still an active author of books and articles and a big advocate for the joys of gardening. When he opened Hidden Hill with his wife Janet, he realized that if they were going to compete against the big box stores selling bedding plants and more that they needed interesting stock that you just can’t find anywhere else. Garden aficionados know who he is and will travel throughout our region to see what new specialties he is cultivating. At the opening of my show, two gardeners who traveled from a distant Kentucky county went home with one of the two Franklinia alatamaha trees that Bob had in stock. The Franklin Tree was named after Benjamin Franklin and is a small flowering tree that is now extinct in the wild and was last seen in its natural habitat during the early part of the 19th century. A few timely cuttings and seeds taken upon discovery have kept this pretty tree alive to the present day.

Great plants are not the only attraction at Hidden Hill. Bob’s idea was to create a destination that would also be fun to visit and he has invited many artists over the years to place work on his property. If there is one word that would describe the kind of garden art that Bob likes it would be “whimsical” and his grounds are full of examples. Hill is fond of creating mini-environments where the plants and art work in concert with one another.

I love this figure made by artist Jerry Voyles out of welded and painted watering cans. Voyles is particularly well-represented at Hidden Hill. Other area artists of note who have work at Bob’s place include Matt Weir, Caren Cunningham, John McCarthy, Jeff Reinhardt, Samantha Grifith & Jen Pellerin, Joe Autry, and many more including yours truly now.

This is another of my newer sculptures made for this show. I call this one “Earth Knight” and it is made completely from materials I scavenged off of the riverbank at the Falls of the Ohio State Park this year. “Earth Knight” is about 7 1/2 feet tall and is mostly made from Styrofoam. The body is embellished with the bottoms of aluminum cans which turns out to be the strongest part of the can. Often, it is the only part of a can left after the river has its way with it. Embedded among the can bottoms is a plastic gray heart that I also found at the river. I thought the head seemed somewhat “helmet-like” and I went with that idea for the whole figure. The Earth after all is in desperate need of defenders and protectors. Other materials used in this piece include found plastic, driftwood, and coal which are in both eyes. This piece is located next to a marvelous Weeping Katsura Tree and a large evergreen which form the perfect background for this piece. Here are some other views of this work.

When I sited this figure, I wanted to see if I could work with the mirrors that were mounted by another artist on a nearby tree. This was the best of those images that shows “Earth Knight” in context, but reversed due to the reflection. Here is another recent big piece. I call this figure “Flora” and the numerous flower references on her are why she has this name. Again everything I have used was found at the river.

“Flora” speaks the language of flowers and I have numerous found references from the Falls of the Ohio on “her”. The main material is river-polished Styrofoam and the body was also found this year. I also found the plastic planter with the bright pink sand shovel and was delighted when I came across a large root that I could use as an “arm” to hold these two elements with ease. I have embedded found rubber balls around her waist line. “Flora” is the second largest piece I have out at Hidden Hill and is about 6 1/2 feet tall. Again all the elements that comprise her including the wooden base were found at the Falls of the Ohio. One good aspect about my art is that I spend nearly nothing for art supplies because the world is already full of free stuff all around you. “Flora” has a silk flower emerging from her mouth that was also found by the river and has traveled some unknown distance to finally reach this place. And now, for the last of the four large works I have out in Bob’s gardens.

The smaller of the four new garden pieces is this one entitled “Figure with a Red Ball” which is about 5 feet tall. Among the materials used in its construction include Styrofoam, plastic, coal, a glass marble, driftwood, and aluminum. This piece has a very different “persona” from the other new figures I have made for Hidden Hill. I do have other works on display and Bob has a covered shed where he let me set up several other more portable works from my Falls series. Here’s a glimpse at that display.

So far, I’ve given a short tour for visitors and did a demonstration where I made a small, absurd figure from found river materials. It was a cold and rainy day when the show opened, but some intrepid souls came out to say hello which I appreciate greatly! I love that there is no definitive ending date and the figures in the shed will be available to be seen for about a month. Certainly, not the art world as usual! I will probably leave a couple of the larger figures out at Hidden Hills for a longer indeterminate time. Bob and Janet’s place is open Thursdays through Sundays and by appointment. If you are curious to learn more about their plant nursery here is the link to their website: http://www.hiddenhillnursery.com I have since continued my river forays to the Falls of the Ohio and I look forward to presenting those posts on this blog. Thanks for checking this out! Until next time…

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Easter Day Odds and Ends

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, driftwood, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, Installation, lost and found, material culture, nature, Ohio River, Ohio River flooding, plastic, public art, recycled art, repurposed materials, sculpture, sense of place, Site specific art, watershed, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, Bob Hill, Chiel Kuijl, Easter, Falls of the Ohio, Falls of the Ohio State Park, flotsam and jetsam, found materials, holiday junk, lost purse, material culture, nature, odds and ends, photography, plastic Easter basket, plastic egg, sense of place, Southern Indiana Living Magazine, Tasmanian Devil plush toy on March 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Today is Easter and close enough to month’s end to post an article of little things that weren’t quite strong enough to be posts unto themselves. Since almost all of our holidays have a significant material culture connection to them…it’s “natural” that I would find some of the remains here at the Falls of the Ohio. Just looking at recent images, here are a few such holiday related objects and images to ponder.

Crushed and mix among all the other debris is the remains of what was probably a child’s Easter basket. Although a novel item, I can remember in “my day”, the colorful wooden baskets worked just as well as the plastic ones, but without the long-term ramifications. Interestingly, this plastic basket “mimics” the texture of an actual wooden basket. Here are a couple of “egg-related” images to enjoy.

I certainly would be very afraid of the giant American Robin that laid this large blue egg! This is how it appeared when I first encountered it on the driftwood pile. This picture is from last year and I eventually used it for an all-blue colored assemblage. This egg does not come apart and was made to be purely decorative. One more egg picture to go and here it is.

Two views of the extremely rare and transient bird, Heisenberg’s Hammerkopf, interacting with a found plastic egg. I photographed this bird investigating/playing? with this bright yellow plastic egg with a Sponge Bob Squarepants design on it. I’m certain the egg once contained Easter candy in it, but now that it’s empty it becomes a candidate for the worldwide junk pile. To see more Heisenberg’s Hammerkopf images please see my previous post. People ask me all the time…”Al, have you ever found anything of real value?” Usually, I reply that I’m waiting for that solid gold ingot to wash up here…but I’m not holding my breath on that one! Recently, however, I did come across something that had great value for someone and here it is.

Walking along the riverbank in the eastern section of the park…I spied a soggy and muddy purse at the water’s edge. Investigating further, I could see that there was a wallet and checkbook inside and so I opened up the wallet to see if the owner’s name could be found. As it turns out, this person’s credit cards, insurance cards, driver’s license, etc…were all still there. I took the muddy purse home and called the person whom it belongs to and she was thrilled that her purse had turned up somewhere. She had given it up for lost after someone had broken into her home a week before and took the purse along with a few other electronic items. The thief who broke into and entered her home only took the seven dollars in cash she had and then threw the purse into the river. The elderly woman whose purse this is was most anxious to get back the family photos she kept in her wallet. Included among them were precious black and white photos of her own parents that could not be replaced. Since the owner lived in Southern Indiana we met the following day at my place of work in New Albany and I gave her property back to her. That certainly was my good deed for that day. Here’s another lost and found item I’m posting just for fun. First, here’s how this object appeared as I came across it.

On first blush…I recoiled slightly because I associated the brown fur with a dead animal. I have found several dead deer out here this year and if this was that…I wanted nothing to do with it. Looking more closely and since few animals are this uniformly brown I could make out that it was synthetic fur and not the real thing. So, I reached down and lifted the mystery object from its sand, mud, and wood chip debris matrix to reveal…

…this good size plush toy of the Tasmanian Devil (aka “Taz”). I guess he was waiting to ambush any unsuspecting prey like me that came across its path. Years a go, I found a much smaller Tasmanian Devil and posted about that one too, but this one was truly “trophy size”. And now, to introduce someone who actually knows something about the history of Tasmania.

This is Chiel Kuijl who is visiting from the Netherlands and is at the time of this writing the current Artist at Residence at the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Clermont, Kentucky. I ran into him the day the Heisenberg’s Hammerkopf was spotted out at the Falls. Chiel is creating a site specific work at Bernheim using rope to create an elevated space that people can explore. He needed some interesting pieces of wood for his installation and the Falls of the Ohio State Park is a great place for that. I have had the chance to interact a little bit more with Chiel so far and look forward to his finished project and hanging out with him more. Oh, Tasmania was visited early on by Dutch sailors who help put it onto the world’s map. Holland has a great seafaring tradition and I wouldn’t doubt that some of Chiel’s skill with ropes and knots is a part of that heritage. One more artist to talk about before closing…

The current issue of Southern Indiana Living features an article about me…the Artist at Exit 0 written by good friend and retired Courier-Journal columnist Bob Hill. Bob now in his “retirement” also runs Hidden Hills nursery where unusual and rare plants and trees are offered for sale. Every once in a while, Bob will invite artists to place projects at Hidden Hills which is what I will do in late May. The day we went out to see something about the world I like to explore it is was about twenty degrees or so and an earlier attempt at a photo shoot was thwarted by snow and extreme cold. Here is the link for the article should anyone care to check that out…Artist at Exit 0 magazine article. This issue is good for one more month and I have had a lot of fun with this and have been gratified by the response from friends and family through Facebook. The actual article begins on page 22 and the link allows you to turn the pages of the magazine which is cool too. Well, there you have it…my odds and ends post to conclude March 2016. Spring is starting out warm and promising and I look forward to many more new adventures on the Indiana side of the Ohio River. See you then!

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Plastic Rainbow Arrangement with Fred Flintstone too!

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, Clarksville, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, fresh water, Installation, lost and found, material culture, nature, Ohio River flooding, Photograpy, tagged Art, art made from plastic, artist at exit 0, found materials, Fred Flintstone baby bottle, material culture, nature, photography, plastic butterfly, plastic containers, plastic rainbow, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, sense of place, site specific artworks on February 8, 2016| 4 Comments »

Beyond the Woodland Loop Trail in the western section of the Falls of the Ohio is where today’s river adventure finds me. It has been many months since I last visited this side of the park. I have been looking forward to walking on the driftwood that accumulates on this riverbank. As always, I’ve got my trusty walking stick and collecting bag with me. It’s time to find what there is to find and make something from that. Right away, I found this plastic butterfly or moth (fireworks perhaps?) and enjoyed taking several images of it juxtaposed with the riverbank landscape. Just a quick look around and I can see lots of plastic and polystyrene to potentially use. I will also keep my eyes open for a good site to do one of my plastic arrangements that I have been having fun with of late.

I was fairly confident that I would find as much plastic debris on this shoreline as I had found in the eastern section of the park. That would prove to be correct and I brought an extra collecting bag along to help with the gathering process. I have been enjoying organizing the colorful plastic bottles and containers that I find into mostly chromatic and rainbow-inspired arrangements. The driftwood and sand out here is unified in coloring presenting a monochromatic landscape where bright, colorful plastic notes sing out among all these lost trees. You soon realize as you sort out the plastic from the driftwood, how much of our material culture is intermixed into everything else.

After walking the high water line for a couple of hours, I dumped all the colorful plastic I had collected onto the sand. I thought I had picked a good location that was between the water and the riverbank. I picked up a nice plastic milk crate along the way to assist with the gathering. I notice that I usually pick up intact items preferring them over plastic bits and pieces…although, I will use fragments too especially if they are a hard to come by color. Most all of the plastic bottles and containers I find have had their labels washed off by the river. I put a lot of trust in the cleaning power of millions of gallons of water.

Using the patterns and intervals of driftwood that the river had previously laid down here as a supporting structure where today’s found plastic is sorted by color and staged. Here is where you might find out that you picked up more green bottles than yellow or that purple was that day’s hard to find color.

Here’s a view looking eastward with a bit of the skyline of Louisville suggested through the distant trees. From my experience, fewer people visit this section of the park and many who do often prove to be residents of Clarksville which is just over the flood wall. Let’s show a few more images of how this piece rounded into shape.

I like the big wooden beam lying parallel to the plastic. Not all the driftwood out here is of the wild variety. I find lumber cut-offs and planed planks of all kinds and have used them in my art as well. These shots were taken on a beautiful end of the month day where we had a respite from the cold and grayness.

There was one large blue plastic drum that was buried in the sand and had water in it as well. I didn’t like how it intruded into these pictures and so tried to take it away. Well, it was much too heavy for one person to life out of the sand. Fortunately, among the few people I did see on this day were old river rat friends who gave me a hand with this. The blue drum nearly folded in half takes its position at the end of the line.

I hung around and admired all the bright colors as they revealed themselves in a setting sun. I think this is the most complex plastic assemblage (as far as variety and number of individual pieces used goes) that I have made thus far. I will go ahead and tell you that this work no longer exists except as digital images. Over the past week, we had strong rain storms that went through the Ohio Valley resulting in a high river. Although the rains didn’t affect us directly, all the water that was dropped into the watershed caused it to inundate many of the familiar places on the riverbank that I like to work. The river has been unpredictable of late and I have had at least three new projects washed away. As I walked home, I did find an interesting bottle that I walked over before. I’m fairly sure this is Fred Flintstone based on the diamond pattern on his “garment”. A quick inquiry over the internet yielded some results. This find was originally part of a four plastic baby bottle set that featured Fred, Barney, and their kids Pebbles and BamBam. This vintage baby product was more than likely manufactured between 1977 and 1984! I wonder if its possible for my find to be that old? Judging from the wear and tear and severe fading…that’s a distinct possibility. Happy with my new find…I dropped it into my collecting bag. I think it is the unusual items I come across that make this such a fun way to spend time at the river. With the sun going down, the temperatures are getting cooler…time to go home. Until next time from an ever-changing Falls of the Ohio.

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New Exhibits at the Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center

Posted in Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, collections, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, fresh water, Installation, lost and found, material culture, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, photography, plastic, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sense of place, Styrofoam, unusual collection, watershed, tagged Art, artist at exit o, assemblage art, Devonian Period, driftwood, exhibit design, Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center, Falls of the Ohio State Park, flint artifacts, fossil beds, found objects, Lewis and Clark, nature display, photography, plastic, pollution, sense of place, Shawnee language, Solid Light on January 10, 2016| 6 Comments »

On January 8 of this new year, the exhibits at the renovated Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center opened to the public with a grand ribbon cutting ceremony. The interior of the Interpretive Center had been closed for 13 months. About 6 million dollars had to be raised to upgrade the 22-year-old permanent educational displays. After a national search, Louisville-based exhibit design company, Solid Light, Inc. won this high-profile contract and solidified their growing reputation within the exhibit design field. Judging from the enthusiastic response of the people attending the reopening it was worth the wait. I played a very small part with a commission to create an assemblage from objects I found in the park and I was eager to see how Solid Light used it.

The displays are divided into four themes or sections beginning with “An Ancient Sea” that highlights early marine life during the Devonian Period. The extensive fossil beds in the park date roughly to 400 million years ago and are the remains of an early coral reef ecosystem populated with many species of coral, brachiopods, and early fish which make their first appearance during the Devonian Period. I was glad to see some of the older models that made up the original display were re-purposed into the new display. The exhibit is interactive and there are hands on elements that children will enjoy. Large, wall-sized videos help set the scene through many of the sections and in “An Ancient Sea” an animation depicting a shallow marine environment includes fish swimming through sun-dappled waters as trilobites search for food among the corals.

The second theme is entitled “A Changing Land” and covers all the geologic changes from the Ice Age to the appearance of the first Americans. For me, the highlight of this area is the inclusion of the Shawnee language which can be heard spoken inside a reconstructed shelter. It’s wonderful that the contemporary descendants of these ancient people were involved in the design of this display and acknowledges their presence at the Falls of the Ohio.

Previously, the remains of prehistoric man’s material culture (primarily represented through flint tools) were a focal point in the old center’s displays. For those worried that examples of the “real thing” would be replaced with virtual images and copies will be pleased that you can still explore original material through some inspired casework. Be sure to peek inside many of the drawers in the different themed areas to see fine examples of specimens and artifacts.

The third theme “Converging Cultures” recounts the history of the Falls area with the arrival of the Europeans. The Lewis and Clark Expedition is a key moment not only in the history of the United States, but of the Falls of the Ohio as well. Many of the men that comprised the “Corps of Discovery” were originally from Kentucky and Southern Indiana. Wall-sized videos in the Lewis and Clark Theater recount the biographies of many of the men who made this epic transcontinental journey. The story of John James Audubon is also noted and forms a transition into the last themed area of the new displays.

This last section is called “The Falls Today” and focuses upon the Falls of the Ohio as a rich contemporary ecosystem. Some of the old taxidermy mounts have been reused to highlight some of the many species that live within the park. Another large video display, this time a virtual aquarium, speaks to the richness of life in the river, particularly the species of game fish that are of interest to fisherman. There is also a call to responsible and sustainable living and the need to keep pollution at bay. This is where I come in. I was commissioned by Solid Light to create an assemblage of found objects that is representative of what can be found in the Ohio River. Here is the finished result that was placed within its own case with graphic elements added.

The panel within the case is 8 feet by 4 feet large. I posted about the panel as I was creating it and showed many details of the more than 100 different objects that comprise it. Of course, everything I’ve attached here was found within the context of the park. The early reaction is that children in particular love looking at all the odd elements especially the found toys. My panel is among the last things you see as you leave the exhibits area to exit the building. I’m glad that there has been a greater emphasis in this new interpretation to include the current state of the world. One could argue that as interesting as the past is…it is the present that is of the greatest concern. Further reinforcing this idea are the results of the minor flooding we experienced the previous week. As the river has subsided, another massive new inventory of junk has washed into the park. As I was leaving the ribbon cutting ceremony and walking to my vehicle, I could clearly see how much more work needs to be done. Until next time…from the Falls of the Ohio.

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Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

Art and images from the Falls of the Ohio.

Archive for the ‘nature’ Category

Welcome to 2018…Artist at Exit 0!

Rare Winter Birds

Fish Stories from the Falls of the Ohio

A Reality Check by the River

Feeling Grateful

Rare Birds and the Month of July

At Hidden Hill Nursery and Sculpture Garden

Easter Day Odds and Ends

Plastic Rainbow Arrangement with Fred Flintstone too!

New Exhibits at the Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center

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