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Gallery Talk at the Carnegie Center

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collecting art, creativity, Ohio River, recycled art, Styrofoam, tagged Art, art exhibition, artist at exit 0, Carnegie Center for Art and History, Falls of the Ohio, gallery talk, homemade balls, New Albany, photography, R. Michael Wimmer, sculpture, softball cores, Styrofoam, The Potential in Everything on February 9, 2014| 9 Comments »

Our first gallery talk about the”Potential in Everything” exhibition happened yesterday. Through a light dusting of falling snow, about 20 people braved the elements to hear R. Michael Wimmer and myself talk about our respective projects. I was delighted by the turnout and had a great time too. I am glad to have had this gallery opportunity because the river has been so high of late that getting to my usual spots at the Falls of the Ohio has been a challenge. Perhaps this is nature’s way of redirecting me?

It was a nice mixed ages group and a few local artists attended as well. People were very respectful and asked some interesting questions. Michael and I have very different processes, but the end results involve using something that has already functioned in the world and making something new from them. For me, that shift took many years of transition because my formal artistic training involved “staring down” a blank piece of paper or canvas and making something happen in a more traditional way. Although my old drawing professor might disagree with me about this…so much of the work I now do comes out of the conceptual concerns I first encountered through drawing.

When I get the chance to talk about art and creativity in general, I like to mention how important it is for all of us to cultivate that impulse to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. Sadly, I hear far too often from too many people how they aren’t artistic or have any business being involved with creative acts and I know this to be untrue. I feel that part of my role is to get folks to expand their definitions of what is creative or aesthetically minded. Creativity is a precious, universal resource and available in everyone and may represent much of our hopes for a better future. We need to get people turned on to their own potentials instead of emphasizing the consumer in them. Too help illustrate this I brought my Homemade Ball Collection with me and placed it upon the pedestal that my “Flat-faced Cat with Bird” is sitting on. I found all these “balls” at the Falls and they are made from electrical tape, duct tape, cellophane tape, and aluminum foil. Rolling these waste materials into balls is not necessary for their disposal, however, I was struck by the artistic impulse I perceived in them by their anonymous makers to shape and form. There is obvious care in their making and rolling something into a cohesive ball has a satisfying side to it. After this sidebar and when the talk ended, I went outside to see how my “other” ball piece in the tulip poplar in front of the center was doing?

“La Belle Riviere” seemed to be in good shape. I was curious to see if any ice would be decorating it, but not this time. Ice can contribute a lot of weight which might take my nylon line beyond its limits. I look forward to spring’s arrival and how the appearance of this piece will change as the tree transforms. New Albany, Indiana is just a few miles downriver from Louisville. The town has an extensive riverfront and I took the opportunity to check it out in greater detail.

There is a large earthen berm that protects the New Albany from the adjacent Ohio River. A key feature of their riverfront is this structure used for concerts and special events.

One way to reach New Albany from Louisville is to cross the river over the Sherman Minton Bridge. Bridges in our area are a usual and often contentious topic of conversation. This one was closed down recently for much-needed repairs, but caused a headache for commuters while it was being fixed. Bridges are vital to river towns and a new one is currently being constructed near Louisville’s downtown. This new bridge was years in the planning and much of the controversy surrounding it involved where exactly would it cross the river and how would it tie into the existing interstate highway systems. The Ohio River has been high due to snow and rain in the upper part of the valley, but I walked down to the river’s edge and guess what I found?

Yes, it’s river polished Styrofoam. There’s goes my main art material floating towards the Gulf of Mexico. There are a couple other events associated with “The Potential of Everything” exhibit including a family workshop I will be leading on March 1. I have enough collected sticks and polystyrene that it will be fun making things with other people. I will also be giving a solo gallery talk on March 4. Michael will be doing a studio talk and welcoming people to visit his place on March 25. And, there will be a closing tea and cookies event at the Carnegie on the exhibit’s last day on April 5. So, if you are in the area and haven’t seen the show…there are other opportunities coming hopefully in beautiful weather! If you want to see my found homemade balls in more detail, I did a previous post about it entitled “The Need to Form: Handmade Balls from the Falls of the Ohio” and can be found in this blog’s search feature. Speaking of balls, I did find one other item by the river in New Albany and I’ll end this post with it. Stay warm out there!

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Into the New Year, 2014

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, birds and birding, collections, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, nature, Ohio River, recycled art, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, duck decoy, Falls of the Ohio, flotsam and jetsam, found objects, fresh water, Mr. Potato Head, nature, photography, plastic, Styrofoam, the river on January 5, 2014| 12 Comments »

Happy New Year everybody out there in blog land! I want to thank everyone over the past year who have dropped by to check out the latest from the Artist at Exit 0 at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. This year is shaping up to be much like the previous one. Which means both man and nature are predictably unpredictable with a sense of timing not easily plotted. Since the holidays, the Ohio River has been up and much of the park that I access has been underwater. That in itself is not news, but the length of time the water has been high has been. It all points to heavy rains and snows in the northern part of the Ohio River Valley and water flowing downriver. The forecast at the time of this writing is not encouraging with showers turning to snow today followed by a precipitous drop to sub-zero degree temperatures. This cold could be historic for us and so far we have received more snow than in recent winters. I think I will stay indoors today! Since my last post, I have been to the river twice (including New Years Day itself) to see what there is to see and experience. Here’s a synopsis so far. Between rising and falling waters I have been able to skirt around the edges. One thing that unfortunately hasn’t changed is the junk in the river. I’m always interested in what gets stranded in the trees like this wooden pallet that has a corner delicately balanced on the surface of the river. It’s cold out here and despite being warmly dressed, my eyes and nose water from the bit of wind that is also present. At the water’s edge is a mix of debris. Most of it is natural with driftwood, wood bark and bits being the most prominent. Trees that have surrendered to the river are rolled against other logs by the waves and the grinding (which can be very audible as well) knocks the limbs off with a loud crack and chews the bark away from the trunks. Intermixed is various man-made and colorful junk that is mostly plastic in composition which also gets masticated by the river. The above photo is fairly typical with lots of polystyrene fragments which also make up the core of my art materials. Most artists have positive feelings for their materials, but I have a love /hate relationship with mine. Let’s move on and see what other sights are along the river in this new year. Floating tires always catch my eye. Their blackness and circular perfection contrasts sharply with the rest of the objects on the river’s surface. A short distance away from this wheel I find a dead steer at the water’s edge. I debated with myself whether to include this distasteful image in this post, but decided to do it since it represents some of the truth that is in the river. Pictures of man-made trash are one thing and have an almost benign aura to them by now, but something that was once alive registers in a different way. The gravity is far heavier. This poor cow is the largest dead animal I have encountered in the park. Dead deer and other smaller animals are not too unusual in the river. No telling how far this unfortunate animal has floated to arrive here? Rising high waters could once again carry it away. I take this picture and walk on. There are other objects that the river has delivered to the park like this plastic turtle sand mold. Having gone through my river collections recently I discovered that turtles are among the most common subjects for sand molds. Who knew? I have found six or seven of them and they are all different like the plastic hamburgers from a recent post of mine. Here’s something else to add to a growing collection. I have a Rubber Duck Collection as well and all found within the park. Truthfully, none of them are actually made from rubber and are of course composed from plastic. This is a hunter’s decoy of a pintail duck and would have been cooler had it been made out of wood…alas. I haven’t seen much of actual bird life in the park except for a few hardy species that are around all year round. I noticed that the ring-billed gulls that come here for the winter are not present. I wonder if the cold has them migrating further south this year? To mark how exceptional this winter has been, our area has seen a rare migration of snowy owls from the far north. The snowy owl is listed on the official Falls of the Ohio bird checklist as extremely rare and accidental. For me, this would be a good enough reason to journey here and this just might be the year to see one, but I haven’t heard if any were actually seen in the park? A short distance away from here, a snowy owl in a weakened condition was rescued by our local raptor rehab folks and is being nursed back to health.

Here’s a test for you. Do you know what this is? Time’s up…this is the plastic body of a Mr. Potato Head toy! I count Mr. Potato Head as one of my artistic influences for my Falls of the Ohio Styrofoam projects and this is the first one of these that I have found out here. According to Wikipedia, Mr. Potato Head has been in continuous production since 1952 (that’s a lot of plastic) and was the first toy advertised on television. I can remember as a kid…using actual potatoes to make funny faces and now I use Styrofoam.

I walked up the riverbank to access my outdoor atelier and discovered that the river has swept over it. All the materials that I had cached here over the last couple of years have floated away and the large logs that defined my space are rearranged. I will need to create a new studio if I continue here. I suspect, however, that the river is far from being done and would wager we will experience more flooding in the near future. I picked up a few small pieces of Styrofoam and willow sticks and made my first figure of the new year and posed him at the river’s edge as waves lapped the shoreline.

He is not a large figure and the expression on his face is one of amazement. I first posed him near the river in an old life-preserver that washed up. In addition to being expedient on a cold day it also seemed symbolic. For me, it always comes back to the river and its waters. The quality of our fresh water remains our number one vanishing resource and the river’s course is the journey we all take through life. I will continue to use my creativity at this one small spot on a large river and publish my results on this riverblog. Thanks for checking it out every now and then. As the year progresses, I hope to be like the river by being predictably unpredictable. May we all have a wonderful 2014!

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Rudolph the Hex-bolt Nosed Reindeer at the Park of Misfit Toys

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, Ohio River, recycled art, unusual collection, tagged Absurd, Art, artist at exit 0, ecostory, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Misfit Toys, photography, plastic Santa Claus, plastic snowman, river story, Rudolph Christmas Classic, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer homage, warped Christmas story on December 23, 2013| 13 Comments »

Today is officially the first day of winter. At the Falls of the Ohio, the Ohio River is up due to the heavy rain producing thunderstorms that went through our region a couple of days a go. The high water has me walking the edge of the river with anticipation for signs of anything new. Today I find a story to share with you. While the winter solstice has passed, it also that Christmas/Holiday Season time again that seems to be getting longer and weirder with each passing year. As proof, I offer this variation of the beloved Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, classic Christmas television special that so many of us have enjoyed since childhood. This tale from a slightly different reality is set at the Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville, Indiana and photographed on site using objects found within the park. Our tale begins at the water’s edge.

At this moment, Rudolph has no idea what has happened to him. He has no recollection of his near escape from the Abominable Snowman. He was lucky to find a piece of wood big enough to support his weight as he launched himself into the river. It is widely known that the Abominable Snowman is deathly afraid of water. While Rudolph was now safe from the snowman he had a river to negotiate and had no basic idea where he was going? Sometime in the middle of the night it stormed very badly and Rudolf was tossed helplessly into the water. Many weeks later and with the color washed out of his eyes…Rudolph was coming back to life.

Little Rudolph stood up again and propelled by instinct and memory headed down the driftwood line in search of a way home. Although he couldn’t explain it, there was some hard-wired, deep need to get back to where he originated like a salmon finding just the right stream. Along the way, a little bit more of what had happened to him crept into his consciousness. Images of cold white snow and a bearded man in a red suit began to drift across Rudolph’s mind with regularity. Rudolph still had no idea where he was and every once in a while he would come across something he could identify as being a toy in similar circumstances and he and would investigate it.

Most of the toys Rudolph encountered where too far gone to converse with and he left them behind. Every once in a while, however, Rudolph would come across other toys like himself who had a very strong need to exist. They used creative strategies to reinvent themselves. The first of these hybrid toys that Rudolph encountered were named Pigskin Pete and his pal Handy.

They were throwing a football back and forth on the sand. Rudolph approached them and the trio struck up a conversation. That is how Rudolph found out that they were in the Park of Misfit Toys. A fabled land purported to be a paradise for toys. Pigskin Pete and Handy both had fuzzy memories of distant lives that made them wonder if they in fact belonged here now? That’s when Rudolph made them the offer that if he could get out of this park…he would come back to get them. The little deer with the zombie eyes continued walking east along the river’s edge. After a journey of many hours, Rudolf met the Primate Twins for the first time.

The Primate Twins were a sight to behold! The will to exist among shampoo bottles is strong and through millions of gallons of waters these twin caps found their nearest relatives to form this plastic simian union. Rudolph told them of others that he has met along the journey and offered the twins the same offer he was offering everybody that if they could help him get out of the park that he would return to rescue them in return. The twins seemed intrigued and what were the chances of this happening anyway in the first place? Rudolph sallied forth to the limit of the park and met one last new friend.

RoboBoy lived at the land’s margin and knew the river’s ways too. He offered Rudolph a wooden plank to attempt the dangerous and potentially foolhardy journey back to the North Pole. If the river didn’t get him there was still the specter of the Abominable Snowman lurking out in the frozen wastes. Without hesitation and for the second time…Rudolph hurled himself into the cold river and took his chances. This time…luck would be kinder.

The trip across the waters was uneventful and gave Rudolph time to reflect. By now, he understood that his visions of a bearded man were of Santa Claus himself and Rudolph knew were to find him. Rudolph’s families were a part of the reindeer elite that pulled Santa’s sleigh. Those jobs flying across the sky had long been inherited positions and Rudolph…if he wanted it…was next in the long line of Prancers and Dancers.

Santa didn’t seem surprised to see Rudolph with his red plastic nose again. In fact, he said that he had been expecting him because the pull of Christmas is a mysterious force in the universe. Santa agreed to talk to Rudolph and around a small pine tree they huddled together to talk about what constituted the holiday spirit and other philosophical matters. While they spoke, a heavy snowfall fell upon the land.

By morning the snow had finished and Santa agreed to stop by the Park of Misfit toys and offer its inhabitants the chance of being gifted to different owners. Santa also told Rudolph to be prepared that toys often change their minds and that he might not get quite the answers as he did before.

Snow had fallen at the Park of Misfit Toys since Rudolph’s previous visit. A shadowy snowman figure agreed to escort Santa to the assembled Misfit Toys.

On the shores of the Park of Misfit toys Santa declared in full disclosure that he was glad to take anyone away from the park if that were their wish. He had made Rudolph a promise to help him keep his promise if possible and Santa Claus was going to honor that. But he also asked if anyone had considered how they had personally arrived at the Park of Misfit Toys? The prevailing myth is that all you toys were miss manufactured and dropped off here to lead your lives in semi-useful exile ever wanting the love of the other. The truth Santa declared…is that you were all discarded as trash…not even given the dignity of recycling…you somehow found your way into the river and then here. You are mass produced and marketed consumer goods that have served your useful lives and more than likely there will be no new owners waiting to embrace you on the other side of this park. He was speaking from personal experience which made his words all the more convincing.

Santa’s words had struck a chord with the Misfit Toys. They hadn’t even considered that they might not be wanted by somebody across the river. It was the Primate Twins who piped up that life wasn’t so bad here. At least they had their own culture as a community of survivors and free thinkers. Those that still had the desire to exist carried on until the sun finally broke the bonds of their plastic polymers and set them free. In the end, all the Misfit Toys decided to stay at the park and lead out their existences here and leave their layer in the record of the land.

Rudolph decided to return with Santa and the shadowy snowman to the North Pole. In the years to come, Santa and Rudolph the Zombie, Red, Plastic, Hex-bolt Nosed Reindeer were involved many Christmas season adventures. In fact, they went down in history. Happy Holidays from the Falls of the Ohio!

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La Belle Riviere

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, Falls of the Ohio, fossil rocks, found materials, giant necklace, La Belle Riviere, nature, photography, recycled art, repurposed art, sense of place, site specific artwork, softball core, willow trees on October 23, 2013| 30 Comments »

It started with one. I had been picking them up for years…odd, yellow ocher orbs that the river marooned in various sections of the Falls of the Ohio State Park. Initially, I was intrigued by them because I knew they had to be something, but what? Early on I formed this association in my mind that these balls were giant pearls and they were gifts to me from the beautiful river. Made from a lightweight yet solid, hard foam, these balls weathered in very individualistic ways. Many of them had acquired a nice patina from their river journey perhaps floating long distances for many years. For a while, each time I would go on one of my excursions to the Falls of the Ohio, the river made sure that I would stumble upon one or more of these balls. Into the collecting bag they would go. Eventually, I found out what kind of balls they are and in case you haven’t guessed yet…here are a couple more images that will reveal what they originally looked like. I’ll start with one of these balls in the process of transforming, followed by one that is more intact.

My river pearls are the cores of contemporary softballs. How did all these softballs end up in the river? When I was a kid, a softball had a hard rubber ball in the interior which was surrounded by what seemed like miles of string wrapped tightly around the rubber ball. A two piece leather cover was then sewn over this “string ball” which completed the softball and was now ready to be played with. For those who might be unfamiliar with softball…it’s a game similar to baseball, but the ball is about twice as large as a standard baseball. I collected these softball cores for years, but especially during the early phase of my Artist at Exit 0 Project. After each river trip I would dutifully fill up boxes in my home’s basement with my found balls and then forget about them. Over time, I started picking up lots of different objects and using them in various ways as materials for my sculptures or as offbeat collections of odd items I was creating. I guess I always knew that I would return to these balls and make something interesting with them someday. That day arrived last week.

I had no idea how many of these balls I had collected or passed up over the years? This recent photo taken in my Louisville backyard shows about 110 out of the 160 balls I did save. I decided to act on my river pearls idea by making an impractically large pearl necklace. I carried all the balls I had to my friend Tom’s sculpture studio and used his drill press to drill a hole through each ball. That was a bit more of a technical challenge than I had first conceptualized. Most of these spheres are not perfectly round. In fact their imperfections (which I really like as evidence of wear by the river and elements) made each drilling a unique experience. Eventually, I got the job done and laid out many of the balls on the concrete pad in my backyard. Just as I was beginning to thread and knot braided nylon cord through the balls…the sky let loose a monstrous rain storm. By day’s end, nearly seven inches or 17.5 centimeters of rain fell and flooded parts of my backyard and basement! It was like being visited by the river in an interesting way. I had initially “graded” each ball by condition and color to form transitions in this giant strand, but the water and now mud from my backyard changed the color of each ball. I decided to make my first piece one hundred balls long. There is a knot tied with the cord that keeps each ball from touching. At my local hardware store I found a brass hook that I could use for a clasp to close my giant necklace. All that was left to do was to return to the river…to the place that I found all of these balls and inspiration and find a way to give thanks for these many gifts.

Loading the necklace into a large red plastic tub I carried my artwork down to the Ohio River. One hundred balls became surprisingly heavy and I was concerned about twisting an ankle or tweaking my knee as I walked over the driftwood. I came to a sunny place under the railroad bridge and laid the necklace out upon the sand for the first time.

Here’s a look as some of the weathering that occurred with a few of the balls. And here is one of the first images of the necklace joined together.

This was okay for a trial run, but I had other images in mind. I have always loved the willow trees in the park and I chose one of my favorite ones to “wear” my river pearl necklace. Yes, it’s a hopelessly romantic gesture, but I felt like “celebrating” this tree in a special way. Here are a few more images.

Moving closer to the river, I stopped by an old willow that was barely alive. I draped my necklace over its old exposed roots and created a few more images.

Once in a while, a park visitor would walk by and look in my direction and continue on as though I was engaged in a most ordinary activity! If I had stumbled across this scene…I think curiosity would compel me to say something. Next is another detail from my eccentric strand of pearls.

With the river within sight, I lifted my bucket of balls and headed towards the fossil rocks. It was a sunny, but windy day and my next idea was to put the necklace into the water.

I found a pool of water surrounded by Devonian inspired limestone that would prevent my necklace from being carried away by the current’s flow. Still, the wind kept changing the configuration and blowing the balls against the rocks.

I used a beaver-chewed willow stick I found on the bank to guide my necklace into shape between photos. The necklace which I now had named “La Belle Riviere” was the name originally given by French missionaries upon encountering the Ohio River for the first time.

It seems appropriate that the river which played a large part in bringing these balls to this shore…would continue to influence how this piece would be perceived.

I enjoyed how the gourd-colored balls harmonized with the surrounding riverine landscape. I felt some sense of accomplishment in creating this piece and being able to return it to the Falls environment to create this site specific work. It was also a fitting ten-year anniversary artwork since “La Belle Riviere” began with that first found ball a decade a go. I will see how well it holds its own in a gallery environment since I want to include this piece in a two person show I’m participating in this January. After these river photos…I loaded the necklace back into its container and began the slow walk back to my car. While making this work, I did have one admirer that found the work irresistible and I will end this post with its image. So long…from the Falls of the Ohio.

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Fantastic Phasmid and Other Bugs

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, animals, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Originality, recycled art, sculpture, tagged absurd story, Art, artist at exit 0, bugs, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, giant stick insect, insects, nature, nature photography, nature story, Phasmids, photography, recycled art, sense of place, site specific art on October 14, 2013| 10 Comments »

Red-faced and bizarrely hairy, the unique caterpillar of the Tussock moth was munching its way through a maple leaf. Everything about its appearance says I’m not tasty and leave me alone. It’s now October and it won’t be much longer before the first frost and freezes arrive and with it the colder temperatures which will quiet insect life at the Falls of the Ohio until next year. The caterpillar inspired me to post a few other entomological images taken in the park. I confess that I have always liked insects as examples of how diverse life can be. I’m amazed at the incredible variety and forms that our six-legged friends can assume. Here’s another really weird caterpillar that I found at the Falls that I just haven’t been able to identify through any of my field guides. Does anybody out there in blog land recognize this?

This fluorescent green caterpillar has dramatic eye spots on its posterior that would incite a predator to strike there first. Its anterior is located on the opposite end and I would have fallen for this trick too, but noticed that it was walking backwards. I wondered once it completed its metamorphosis…would the adult be a moth or butterfly? Maybe some day I will stumble upon and collect a large cocoon I don’t recognize and I’ll take it home and watch a miracle as it emerges from its silken home.

During this time of year, certain willow trees at the Falls are exuding sap which draws a variety of insect life including various flies, hornets, and butterflies to these sweet “licks”. Whether the flowing sap is due to disease or injury is unknown to me? The large bullet-like hornets are so preoccupied with sipping the sap that they ignore me. To test this, I’ve carefully touched them with my finger while they were feeding and they remained docile. I was walking through the tall grass when I noticed a large flying insect land on the bush next to me. Despite its wonderful camouflage I was able to locate our next insect after a short search.

This is the Chinese Mantid which I read was introduced into this country in 1896. It is the largest praying mantis you are likely to come across in the United States and this specimen was about four inches or ten centimeters long. I’ve seen them grow larger, but not in this park. In fact, this is only the second mantid I’ve seen out here. There are several native species, but they are smaller and more obscure. And now, it’s time to reveal my most spectacular discovery which is a near but harmless relative of the praying mantis. Here is a picture of its head.

And now, for the rest of its body which is about two feet long or roughly sixty centimeters. I came upon this unique life form casually walking across the driftwood on its way to somewhere else.

Although as insects go this is a giant…it is also an extremely fragile creature. It is a member of the walking stick family. It relies on slow movements and its cryptic forms to merge with its surroundings. The Falls Phasmid is strictly a vegetarian and eats the foliage from a variety of different trees.

I came across this specimen in broad daylight. I had always heard that they were nocturnal and chose to restrict their movements during the day to avoid detection. Walking stick insects are among the largest insects we have. This species is additionally strange in that its head, thorax, and abdomen are so clearly differentiated. Some scientists have gone so far as to suggest a bit of mimicry at work here. On the surface it does seem to possess a superficial resemblance to a giant ant which might be enough to dissuade predators from attacking it.

I did observe this particular Phasmid making return trips to a particular willow tree where it clung to a nest-like structure that was hanging down from a branch. The meaning of this structure was not immediately apparent. Perhaps the Falls Phasmid uses this form to help it overwinter? Keeping a respectful distance away, I did see the stick insect walking slowly over the riverbank, but I couldn’t tell if it was searching for something in particular and I did not witness it feeding.

Originally, the Falls Phasmid may have had the ability to fly. Other walking stick insects from around the world have vestigial wings that suggest a different past. Our specimen lacks even the most superficial suggestion of wings which hints at an ancient lineage. Perhaps all stick insects evolved here first and spread around the world much later?

I watched the Falls Phasmid for a while and took a bunch of photographs of it before leaving the park. I’m curious about that tree that it likes to hang out on and so will check it the next time I’m here. On my way out of the park, I also came around this wonderful Viceroy butterfly and thought that this would make a fitting image to end this post. When I think of the butterflies that inhabit the park…this is the species that comes to mind first for me.

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Bottleneck Portfolio

Posted in Absurd, art and environment, collections, creativity, environmental art, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, tagged Art, art and the environment, artist at exit 0, bottleneck, bottleneck effect, environmental art, ephemeral art, extinction cycles, Falls of the Ohio, found objects, glass, nature, Permian period, photography, recycled art, site specific art on October 8, 2013| 13 Comments »

I wish I could remember the exact written passage where the image of a bottleneck captured my imagination. Back tracking through my books has not revealed the exact source, however, I do remember that the context came from biology and more specifically the history of life. Of the five great extinction cycles, the one that closed out the Permian period (roughly 245 million years a go) was the most brutal and efficient. All those trilobites that had been so successful for so long hit the wall. At this time the super continent Pangaea existed. Millions of years of continental drift and the resulting global climate change are the leading hypothetical causes for this extinction. Regardless, the effect was that the majority of life’s diversity as it existed then and which filled up that particular metaphoric bottle…did not make it through the bottleneck. Fortunately, some life did survive, but it would take subsequent millions of years for life to evolve and radiate out to regain its former glory.

We like to think that we stand atop life as its ultimate achievement. We frequently miss the bigger picture of which we are small part and are even oblivious to the effects we have on everything else around us. The bottleneck effect has been adapted by other systems to illustrate that which is a hindrance or impediment to progress. The basic idea, however, remains the same. Whatever is in the bottle is going to get squeezed on its way out that is if the contents do in fact make it out. In my own blog, I don’t mention U.S. politics much, but lately it is in the news and it’s troublesome. Our seeming inability to govern ourselves…to in effect allow small selfish groups to manufacture bottlenecks strikes me as self-defeating and doesn’t bode well for the future.

At the Falls of the Ohio State Park, I literally find bottlenecks all the time. Unlike their plastic counterpoint, the glass ones don’t break down as much. There must be something about the material strength of glass that is increased when it is forced into a tube that makes it extra resilient. Over time, their sharp edges do get worn down and their surfaces become frosted through tumbling in the sand. Personally, I find glass to be a far more attractive material than plastic. I’ve come to look at our artifacts in much the same way I might regard a fossil as examples of objects that have been touched by and affected by life.

There’s something about the process of “finding” that is compelling if not compulsive for me. I try to stay watchful for opportunities, particularly if I come across an image or material that I can apply through my art. The process of collecting, examining, and comparing is also personally meditative and relaxing. I started photographing bottlenecks years a go with no goal in mind. Just more documented stuff among all the other stuff along the riverbank that I come across each time I visit the park. Looking over my photographs, forgotten images of bottlenecks would catch my eye again.

Other than take contextual images, I guess the next thing I did with bottlenecks was to stick them on the ends of branches and sticks. This allows the light to play through the glass revealing its jewel-like attractiveness. It might also cause someone else to notice that there is a lot of smashed glass in the park. Granted, the river floats a lot of bottles in here from upriver, but there is also a lot of drinking that goes on here via the local folks. Why pack your empties out when you can just throw them on the ground? One bottleneck on a branch led to more…in fact the whole arc of these now bottleneck projects has trended in the “more” direction.

I guess this last image is a bottleneck candelabra? I find many of the bottlenecks I’ve used near stands of willow trees by the water’s edge. I suppose bottles that float in are snagged in the tree’s exposed root system eventually breaking through contact with floating logs and leaving the shards in place? People also throw bottles against the trees which has the same effect. Rarely, do I need to walk very far to find enough glass to create a small project and image.

Here’s one project made from bottlenecks collected around one particular willow tree. I liked the way they looked collectively stuck in the mud and their tubular arrangement reminded me of fossil corals which also references the Falls of the Ohio. Here’s a few other similar site specific groupings of bottlenecks.

The next couple of images are from my last bottleneck piece. In addition to lots of waste glass…I also find discarded fishing line, often in the same places. I brought these two materials together for this ephemeral work. Recently, I was talking with a good friend of mine and we were remarking about how much of our lives seem mediated by and require reading various kinds of screens. This last glass project may have something to do with that because the bottlenecks are arranged in a flat, parallel screen hanging from a horizontally growing willow branch. I wonder if anyone else ever saw this and what they may have thought about it?

Well there you have it! I suppose these bottleneck projects will now crop up on occasion like my found coal pieces do as intimate site specific expressions. For now, it’s enough to present them as images without trying too hard to extract every bit of meaning from them. Bottlenecks in the broader sense are challenges. May we always remain open to meeting them. So long from the Falls of the Ohio.

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Gross Blue Beak and Other Birds

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, animals, Art, art and environment, birds and birding, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, nature photography, Ohio River, recycled art, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, bird migration, birding, birds, black vultures, Canada geese, Cooper's Hawk, Falls of the Ohio, found objects, nature photography, nature story, Ohio River, photography, recycled materials, upscaled art on September 29, 2013| 8 Comments »

The resident flock of Black Vultures were taking advantage of the fossil beds now exposed on the Kentucky side of the Falls of the Ohio. The wier dams were temporarily closed and with it the flow of water. With the river level reduced much of the sculpted limestone normally underwater is briefly seen again. Fishermen have been accessing new fishing spots along the freshly revealed fossil beds which turns out to be a boon for the vultures. Not only do they get to feast on fish left by the anglers, but they also enjoy any other trash including left over fishing bait. Early autumn is a transitional season among the park’s bird life as residents gear up for over-wintering or prepare for the southerly migration. Birds from the northern latitudes particularly Canada and the Arctic Circle pass through our area on their epic journeys to Central and South America.

The vultures will fly away, but many of our Canada Geese will brave it out. We seem to have at least two distinct flocks of Canada Geese sharing the area around the fossil beds. It’s amazing how intolerant each group is of the other. There is competition for the best food sites and each group frequently bump into one another with much squabbling. That’s what makes the next image interesting to me.

Canada Geese can have limits on how much mingling occurs between their own species, but in this case, are willing to accept a true outsider. This domestic goose seemed integrated into its adoptive flock. It swam with its wild cousins and accompanied them to a favorite feeding location and was never bothered by the other geese. Recently, I came across a young Cooper’s Hawk and I was surprised when it did not immediately fly away after I bumbled across it. There was a good reason why it didn’t leave.

The hawk sized me up and then jumped down off the log it was standing on to retrieve something it had dropped.

The hawk had what appeared to be a freshly killed Mourning Dove. After securing its prey with its talons, the hawk seemingly jumped into the sky and vanished within moments. I thought I saw it disappearing into the tree tops of a stand of willow trees within walking distance. I did investigate the area, but never saw the bird again. I love it when I get to observe behaviors. Life has a job to do and can’t wait around posing for pictures. Here’s a different kind of behavior being demonstrated by an American Robin.

I love this image which I captured earlier in the summer. This American Robin is focused on taking a bath. Its head is under the shallow water and droplets and beads of water are splashed over its body. Our resident American Robin population is doing well and seem to be increasing at the Falls of the Ohio. Some of the robins will hang out over our gray winter, while others will seek warmer climes. My last adventure to the Falls resulted in images of a bird that I had never recorded previously in the park.

The Gross Blue Beak is strictly passing through and in fact, this is the first recorded instance of this bird appearing in the park. Good thing I have all this photographic proof that the bird was here because the resident birders are a skeptical lot. Reputations and lifetime bird lists are at stake and there is a great burden of proof to produce irrefutable documentation. This bird has traveled thousands of miles from the edge of the Arctic Circle in Canada and is bound for the Argentine coast.

The Gross Blue Beak receives its name not because it has disgusting habits that require an out-sized bill. Rather the “Gross” idea comes from the German word for “large” . The Ohio River Valley was settled by many immigrant groups and the Germans were among the most prominent. This bird’s beak is a heavy-duty tool it uses to crack open nuts, crush mollusks (particularly snails), and jack hammer soft decaying logs in pursuit of beetle grubs. All three of these food sources are found at the Falls of the Ohio.

I was able to get quite close to the Gross Blue Beak to snap off these images. I’ve noticed before that many northern migrants of various species will allow me to approach more closely than the local birds that are around people more. Perhaps that’s the key? For the moment, the region around the Arctic Circle has seen less of our influence than other places in North America. To close, I have one other bird image, but it is noteworthy because of the people in the far distance. Recently, I received a question about the back wall that is a part of the system in place to produce a stable pool of river water for commercial barge traffic. I’ve heard that the Ohio River carries more tonnage of goods along it’s 800 plus miles than the Rhine River does in Europe. The back wall of this dam is quite high up and the actual river level is perhaps a meter or so below the top of the wall. Beyond the Great Blue Herons, the small band of hikers provides some sense of scale on how the river would be over their heads! When you are walking the now exposed fossil beds…it’s a sobering thought!

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The 7 Borders at KMAC

Posted in Art, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, Originality, public art, recycled art, unusual collection, tagged Art, art exhibition, artist at exit 0 riverblog, blog art, Falls of the Ohio, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, The 7 Borders on August 22, 2013| 12 Comments »

As promised, here is a post about the “The 7 Borders, Mapping Kentucky’s Regional Identity” exhibition at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft in Louisville. My “Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog” has been a part of this show which opened on June 29 and runs through September 1. I’m honored to have been asked by KMAC and curator Joey Yates to participate especially since this is the first time my blogging activities have appeared in an art context. My display in the museum included a few small Styrofoam artifacts, a computer monitor on a table with chairs, a box for handwritten comments, and a label on the wall. Not quite your typical art offering. If, however, you think of the computer as a keyhole that you can peer through to a different reality…then you get transported to the world of the Artist at Exit 0 at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. At your fingertips are over 360 posts and more than 3500 images and my own peculiar blend of fact and fiction. Many of you who follow this blog have been nice enough to leave recent comments and I wonder if you realized that you were participating in this exhibition too? At the end of this post, I will add the comments that visitors left for me in the little box so that they can be a part of this exhibition record as well. For now, I would like to share some other images of the works that are (were) a part of this exhibition. Eighteen artists are participating in this exhibition. A few of the artists either currently live in Kentucky or are originally from here. The majority of the artists, however, live in the seven contiguous states that border the commonwealth, hence “The 7 Borders”. In the above image, works by Rashid Johnson are on the wall, while Brian McCutcheon’s whimsically modified cooking grill entitled “Trailer Queen II” rests on the floor. The exhibition is a survey of contemporary works produced in a geographical area that is often hard to define. At various times, Kentucky has been considered by Americans to be the frontier west, the Midwest, or the most northern of the southern states. The fact this region has been historically hard to place is attractive to me. For a professional artist, one downside is that the nearest art market of any size is in Chicago. Many of the artworks in “The 7 Borders” reference issues born of local conditions and landscapes and gain a certain power by not being made for strictly commercial reasons. The exhibit’s curator wrote: “Each of the artists represented is witness to varying views of the region focusing on personal history and collective experience.” In the gallery shot above are paintings by Claire Sherman, a photo series by Guy Mendes, and a unique chest of drawers that looks like a stacked firewood entitled “Facecord” by Mark Moskovitz. This mixed media work is entitled “The River” and the artist is Andrew Douglas Underwood who originally is from Louisville. Personally, I relate to Underwood’s piece because it weaves together metaphors and history relating to people’s long association with the Ohio River. This work effectively combines photography, embroidery, and found objects. Leticia Bajuyo’s “Pre-Fab(ulous) Environments” is an installation piece located on the museum’s second floor. Her multimedia piece with its blue Styrofoam installation house and suburban floor map complete with Happy Meal-styled folding cardboard houses reference contemporary suburban neighborhoods. This is an image of “Roan Mountain Matrix” by Denise Burge who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her large fabric and thread works quote traditional Appalachian quilting while alluding to changes occurring to the land and its people through contemporary processes like mountain top coal removal. Joel McDonald’s “Bog Taan” is a tour-de-force mixed media drawing on 26 sheets of watercolor paper. This is a large, obsessively detailed work that touches upon the artist’s social views as told through the context of his Germantown neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky. McDonald has a deep understanding and appreciation for 20th Century illustration. You could look at this artwork for a long time and keep finding images within it.

To conclude this post, I would like to include the comments left by gallery visitors upon engaging my blog in the gallery. Some of the comments are by children who participated in summer camp programs organized by the museum.

BLOG COMMENTS

“Love this – so fun!

I once saw a duck taking a nap on a submerged & upside down shopping cart on the L-ville side of the OR (Ohio River)”

“The Joe Arbor set was sweet. Poignant. – you should do stop action animation.”

“Love the triker! and the deer-Styrobuck! and the spider-and Pip and the fish-”

“It’s beautiful, I love it! – famous artist”

“Looks like garbage to me!”

“Be cooler if it was metal”

“Some really remarkable & moving works! Really enjoyed 7 borders.” Lou Knowles…Forest Hills, New York

“I like it! Keep up the good work!”

“So Playful! What a blast. Thank you.”

“I like it!”

“Very interesting, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Love the blue nose man”

“dirty + whimsical like crawling through a broken greenhouse in the backyard + making toys as a child” Lilly Ettinger

“Love it!” “???” “Fabulous: fun, imaginative & thought provoking…Thank you” Mary from Wisconsin

“Quirky & original. Brought a smile to my face” K. Woodard (art teacher UK)

“I like the very last peice. I think personally it looks like here is a passage in between the trunk and the roots”

” I agree we did not make enough “to do” about the beginning of manned flight. I wouldn’t be here enjoying our work without a flight by plane. Also like your reminder to “follow your dreams” Kay Gorman (Maryland)

“Love them! Priddy Cool!”

“This is very suspicious and cool to see what people throw in the river”

“Ummmm!”

“Love the birds…they are alive.” Adrian (New Zealand)

“It looks like two snowman”

“I think this was awsome”

“Love the recycling, cute and clever. Loved to take the time to see the whole-plus the blog.- Just a passer-by, Aug. ’13”

“Fab Al – Love where you went with this – Always happy too see your dementia” Paul and Sandy Sasso………..these folks are old college friends of mine

“They look like Big, Dirty, Marshmallows”

“You are awesome”

THIS WAS THE LAST OF THE COMMENTS LEFT AT THE EXHIBITION. NEXT TIME…SEE YOU FROM THE RIVER!

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Driftwood Drama…End of the Story?

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, art and environment, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artistatexit0, coal, coal fish, driftwood, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, nature, Ohio River, outdoor art studio, photography, recycled art on August 3, 2013| 10 Comments »

I never told you how this story played out and so now is as good a time as any. A few weeks back, I had posted on how some unknown visitor(s?) had been altering my outdoor studio at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. For a least two years previously, I had been storing my river found art materials at this site. People who stumbled upon this spot often mark their presence by changing how I left it in some way. Folks might rifle through the junk or take or destroy the Styrofoam figures I might leave behind. I don’t mind this…in fact, I encourage the interaction. On site, it’s easy to make the connection that all these poor materials I use came from the river. I still think of my outdoor studio as a shared laboratory for this exercise in creativity. It’s an acknowledgement that all this junk is out there and that something else positive might come from it. For several weekends, my latest visitor has been building a wooden driftwood structure over my spot to the point where it usurps my ability to continue working there. So, I made a few changes that I thought would benefit both of us. I modified the structure so that I could stand within my site. I also opened up the space more which I thought also encouraged additions. I was curious to see how my visitor would react and here are the pictures.

It appears that my “improvements” weren’t appreciated because I arrived one day to find it all laying on the ground. All the nylon line and strong knots that were holding things together were cut with a knife. Stuff was scattered and the big polystyrene figure I had left there was destroyed again. Here’s how I discovered my Styrofoam man.

He had been sitting in a fork of a nearby tree. I think my visitor picked him up and threw him across the site…again! At this point, I’m feeling pretty bummed out. I left this figure as I found it. My visitor also left me some additional trash behind as is his custom and I gathered it together again to create this “portrait”.

I thought the “Big Red” with the “Big Blue” was an interesting touch. In our area, those are the home colors of rival universities. Another giant Styrofoam cup joined the group and I have my suspicions that the cigar packaging is from the same individual as well? I think this is what saddens me the most that all this convenient store trash would be walked to this site and simply thrown on the ground. As much trash that appears here from upriver, I’m shocked by how much park garbage originates from the nearby towns. And yes, there are trash cans available everywhere. I sat by my site for a while and pondered the situation. I wondered why with all the space and driftwood available in the park that this spot became so important to my visitor? Feeling like this individual more than likely doesn’t play well with others…I decided to walk away from this site for a few weeks or months before returning. So far, I haven’t been back to my old spot under the willows.

The day felt shot, but I didn’t want to leave things that way and so I went for an extra long walk. After all, I have the rest of the park to potentially explore.! Along the way, I spotted these two guys attempting to fish by the wall of the dam. They didn’t appear to be having any luck and so I left them with these fishy images by the side of a trail they would pass by.

I used river smoothed coal I gathered on site and improvised these three fish on the sand. Peppering the silica granules black is coal dust. The white dots are pulverized mussel shells.

Thus far, it has been an atypical and sometimes unsettling summer at the Falls of the Ohio. All the early season rains and subsequent high water have disrupted the usually hot, humid, and lazy routine found here during this time of year. In an odd way, it doesn’t feel like summer has truly arrived for us yet. We have a few more months for this to happen before the leaves start turning colors. To close, here is one more coal-fish image in a slightly larger context. Have a great weekend!

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Muddy Catfish

Posted in Absurd, animals, art and environment, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, nature, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged Art, artistatexito, catfish, Falls of the Ohio, fishing, flathead catfish, found materials, nature, Ohio River, photography, recycled materials, sense of place, site specific art, Styrofoam on July 21, 2013| 4 Comments »

With the sun spotlighting this little patch of sand…my newest Styro-figure proudly stood upright. He’s the first persona created in the reconfigured studio. I found a rare piece of “black Styrofoam” on today’s walk. It’s part of what passes for car bumpers these days. This material has a rubberized compound mixed throughout the foam which makes it harder to cut or pierce.

After making new friends it’s time to venture out into the world. The leafy green complete with bird song is complimented by the creaky willows that sway with the occasional breeze. There is another sound, however, that your feet are hearing and you walk in the direction of its source.

The mighty Ohio River has been running muddy for more that a week now. Although it’s hot and humid today, thus far, this summer has been wetter and cooler than average. As a result of all the rain, the river has been higher than usual. What I like about the Falls of the Ohio is that in such a relatively intimate space the park can take on all kinds of different looks depending on the weather and season. Small waves break upon the heightened shoreline and there is a family nearby fishing and playing by the river.

Seeing that they were having some luck catching fish, I gestured if it was all right to take their pictures. The family didn’t speak English and I’m guessing that they are recent immigrants from Southeast Asia? Regardless, both adults and children were having a ball in the river. I wondered if they came from someplace like this since they seemed so comfortable and natural by the water? After receiving the okay signal I recorded these images of people interacting with the river.

This little guy was cute and really determined that I should take his picture in what I’m assuming is a martial arts pose? I obliged him several times and this was my personal favorite snapshot of the group. Looking through my riverblog…I’m struck by how often children appear and interact with my artistic process. First, my own two sons would accompany me and now it’s the kids in the park on any given day.

I watched this fish being landed and it’s a decent sized Flathead catfish, (Pylodictus olivaris). This fish probably weighed in the ten to twelve pound range, but this catfish can get as large as a hundred pounds. It is a fish of big rivers. A very simple rig was used to catch this fish. Four slipshot lead weights were clamped onto the line about eight inches away from the hook. A single nightcrawler worm was used for bait which was cast about 25 yards from the riverbank. The fishermen would wade in about knee-high to waist deep to increase casting length. I was amazed that with the current and all the potential underwater obstructions that their lines didn’t get snagged more often than they did.

This was the stringer of catfish they were working on. In addition to the Flatheads…another big river fish the Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) was also being caught.

The Blue catfish is a slatey-gray color and has a forked tail. The two fish on the lower right in the above image are blues. The flatheads are more of a mottled olive color and have very different fins. Both are omnivorous and will eat most anything that they can catch.

All the fish on the stringer will be used to feed this family. It is still not recommended that people eat the larger fish (especially bottom dwelling species) from the Ohio River. The river is much cleaner than it used to be, however, toxins do build up in the fat tissues of the fish that live the longest and grow to be big. Every once in a while, making a meal of some of the smaller fish should be okay. Because I was needed elsewhere today…I let my day at the river draw to an end. Good thing too…because if you stand too long in the same spot at the water’s edge…you chance sinking down too far! See you soon.

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Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

Art and images from the Falls of the Ohio.

Archive for the ‘Ohio River’ Category

Gallery Talk at the Carnegie Center

Into the New Year, 2014

Rudolph the Hex-bolt Nosed Reindeer at the Park of Misfit Toys

La Belle Riviere

Fantastic Phasmid and Other Bugs

Bottleneck Portfolio

Gross Blue Beak and Other Birds

The 7 Borders at KMAC

Driftwood Drama…End of the Story?

Muddy Catfish

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