Plastic art | Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

Archive for the ‘Plastic art’ Category

Coal for Christmas…2018 Comes to an End

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, environmental art, flip-flops, found materials, Found objects, Louisville, Kentucky, material culture, Ohio River, Plastic art, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, sense of place, Site specific art, Styrofoam, tagged Art, art and nature, creativity, photography, plastic on December 31, 2018| 6 Comments »

Coal Barges trapped against the dam at the Falls of the Ohio State Park

Runaway coal barges on the upstream side of the dam at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

What a poor excuse for a blogger I have turned out to be! Just my second post of what has been an extremely active year which, however, is not ending on positive notes! Just in from the news room…2018 was Louisville’s wettest year on record. We are just over 69 inches (it is pouring now as I write this) of rain for the year breaking a record created in 2011.

That’s not that long ago and welcome to the new norm. When I started my Artist at Exit 0 River Project, I was partly curious if could I “witness” climate change within the relatively small confines of this well understood park situated in my own backyard? Certainly, the increased levels of precipitation over time point to this. The Ohio River during 2018 had high water moments and February set a new all-time record for rainfall for that month. The river had high water moments during July, September, and December a couple of times. We have had monsoon-like storms that literally have dumped billions of gallons of water on our area. Almost everything dealing with the weather is becoming an event. The city is digging out a couple of massive stone catch basins for all the excessive rain water that overwhelms our sewer system with some of these storms.

The disaster currently playing out breaks my heart. On Christmas day we all got coal for presents. An upstream tow pushing 15 barges loaded with coal broke loose hitting our Second Street Bridge. Of course, the river was way up and at least six of the barges have sunk releasing by a current estimate about 9000 tons of coal into the river! There are still barges trapped against the dam (see above photo) This is an ongoing, unresolved situation and even more coal could end up in the water. I will stop here with this, but 2019 will begin this way.

Final Styro-figure group of 2018.

This is an image of my last figurative group of 2018. The river has knocked them down now, but parts of them haven’t completely drifted away. After the loss of my first absurd Styrofoam group of the year, subsequent high water events and vandalism prevented this from going much farther. Much of the second half of 2018 was taken up in maintaining my various “plastic gardens” scattered throughout the park and skirting around encroaching waters. This, however, has always been my main site which is easy to access and plentiful in terms of found materials. At this site, I continued working with found flip-flops creating double spiral designs and meandering patterns dug into the sand. I continued working with found cigarette lighters which remains this year’s medium for me. I have estimated that I have picked up at least 800 spent cigarette lighters this year alone! I continued to create and maintain other plastic assemblages from debris found in the park. I have worked with found balls, soft drink bottles with questionable contents, and aluminum can bottoms which are the only part of the aluminum can that survives the river here and yes I have worked with coal too. Rather than tell you…here are a few images to show you.

Found plastic assemblage in the western section of the park nestled in the root system of this wonderful tree.

Found plastic assemblage created on site in the eastern section of the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

Found plastic assemble with purple jack-o-lantern in the western section of the Falls of the Ohio.

Last look at this plastic assemblage set up in the western section of the park. High water eventually took this piece down.

Double Spiral Found Flip-flop Arrangement

Found flip-flops were used to create this double spiral design.

Meandering pattern made with found flip-flops.

This piece eventually incorporated over 160 found flip-flops picked up in the park. Wiped out in early December.

Found Flip-flop piece at my outdoor atelier at the Falls of the Ohio

Final flip-flop piece before the river rearranged my studio site during late December.

Found cigarette lighters on a great pine stump.

A great pine stump was the site for this found lighter project.

Lots of sunken tires out here and they make good micro sites for projects.

Meandering found cigarette lighter design on found mattress

This mattress came in with the river and makes a good site for these found lighters.

Sunken tire and found soft drink bottle with contents piece

Found soft drink bottles with contents set in a discarded tire.

Found soft drink bottle with contents piece.

The colors come from sport and other soft drinks in their plastic bottles.

I also did my share of smaller figurative pieces. Here is a favorite that originally was a slow motion video shot with my iPhone. I started to play around a bit more with video by offering small video “tastes” of some of the things I do to amuse myself at the river.

My bird observations have manifested themselves in found objects that have become their own creative ornithology. Here are a couple recent favorite sightings of these very rare birds.

A high Ohio River has this Butcher Beak searching for food near the water’s edge.

On Sand Island by the Falls of the Ohio, I spotted this rare Black-tailed Tern in migration.

A 2018 highlight was coming across this Violet-tailed Bower bird finding river treasure for its bower.

I realize that I can’t post everything I made this year, but here were a few of the projects that still resonate with me. I will keep making art and seeing where life goes from here. I hope we all have a great 2019! I will be watching with interest what happens with our coal spill. I have already tested out a few ideas. See you next year from the Falls of the Ohio.

From this Summer…a coal man formed in a drift of coal dust and gravel.

Read Full Post »

River Report at the End of the Year

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, assemblage art, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, flip-flops, found materials, Found objects, Installation, lost and found, material culture, nature photography, Photograpy, plastic, Plastic art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sculpture, sense of place, Site specific art, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, creativity, environment, Falls of the Ohio State Park, flotsam and jetsam, Life on the Ohio River, Plastic litter, sculpture, sense of place, site specific art, Styrofoam art on December 29, 2017| 5 Comments »

Artist at Exit 0 site the day after Christmas 2017

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

Final View of "The Re-Assembled" with Flip-Flop Peace Sign, at the Falls of the Ohio, early Dec. 2017

"The Re-Assembled" decapitated and impaled, Dec. 2017

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

Scrambled found flip-flop peace sign at the Falls of the Ohio, Dec. 2017

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

Jason Moore, first attempt at a flip-flop design at the Falls of the Ohio, Dec. 2017

Jason Moore with his found flip-flop design at the Falls of the Ohio. Dec. 2017

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

A new head begins, Falls of the Ohio, Dec. 2017

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

Detail of my new figure's head, Falls of the Ohio, Dec. 2017

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

New Styro-figures just before the Winter Solstice, Falls of the Ohio, Dec. 2017

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

Styro-skulls on the polystyrene pile, Falls of the Ohio, Dec. 2017

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

2017 Favorite Wildlife Sightings from the Falls of the Ohio

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, birding, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, lost and found, nature photography, Ohio River, Photograpy, Plastic art, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sense of place, Site specific art, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, Artist in the landscape, birds, Falls of the Ohio State Park, nature story, photography, site specific artworks, Styrofoam, Wild Life on December 24, 2017| 2 Comments »

What a year it has been for animal watching at the Falls of the Ohio. The finite landscape at the park keeps continuing to change as the populations of Canada geese and white-tailed deer make their now daily presence felt. I recall going years before finding a single deer track out here. Not too long ago as I was working on an artwork in the sand…I was surprised by a doe and two nearly grown fawns that almost stepped on me in their hurry to escape their blunder! Seeing deer out here has almost become a daily happening. I’ve also seen several large bucks and managed a good photo of this regal specimen from earlier in the year.

Although some animals seem to be increasing…there are still the occasional rare and once in a lifetime encounters that can occur. Moments like this are what keep me coming back to these shores and willow woods. Recently, a red fox streaked across my path and while not a rare mammal was nevertheless a park first for me! I have also been discovered by an assortment of raccoons, groundhogs, opossums, squirrels, and chipmunks as I bumble through their environment. Still only two beaver sightings by me since 2003 and none this year. Evidence of their presence here is everywhere, however, they seem to be the most active at night. Now my next entry qualifies as a true event and I will linger on this a moment since I was also fortunate to take some nice images to enhance the tale. Have you ever heard of a Clark’s shrewrat before? Probably not, no offense, I presume here, but we have trouble remembering our own kind much less anything else alive we share the experience of life with. Seeing one was my wildlife viewing moment of the year. Let’s start by looking at one.

It was almost Halloween, a gorgeous late autumn day when hiking in the park, I glimpsed an unfamiliar mammal drinking from a pool of Ohio River water. In size, it’s between a small house cat and a large squirrel if that helps at all? As it warily moved around the muddy landscape it moved quickly and stayed very low to the ground. I was able to observe it over the course of the next few hours and I’m positive it knew I was nearby. It’s history is interesting. Clark’s Shrewrat is named after William Clark who is believed to have supplied the first written descriptions and specimens early in the 19th century. Clark, the brother of Revolutionary War hero General George Rogers Clark went on to his own renown as a leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. What was unclear was whether or not the shrewrat evidence was collected on that epic journey or was of more local origin? Finding one here is important because it would suggest the latter since Clark’s Shrewrat was never common anywhere over its former range and very rarely seen now. To date, we have no idea as to their numbers? Are they more common than we think or on the verge of extinction?

Clark’s Shrewrat belongs to the Insectivorous order of mammals which also includes moles and shrews. It is strictly carnivorous and will attempt to overwhelm any animal it thinks it can kill. The bulk of its diet, however, seems to be birds, other small mammals, fish, insects, and is not averse to scavenging carrion. As a hunter, it is stealthy and overwhelms with surprise and speed. For prey larger than itself, it often first tires and wounds its victim before administering the coup-de-grace with a surgical bite to the throat. It is relentless and will pursue fish underwater in otter-like fashion as I was able to observe. Here it is just before enjoying a shad dinner!

Many years ago, I had two sightings of a mink that hung around for a couple of days. Experiencing the shrewrat felt similar. A frenetic, nervous animal in constant motion and ever guided forward by a hunger that it cannot satisfy. It does seem to be at the mercy of its metabolism. The few records that exist on its life span seem to suggest a short one of three or four years at most. Since there is simply not enough information extent on this rarity…it seems the obvious next step is to continue to monitor whether Clark’s shrewrat is indeed becoming established in the park? I hope so since the park needs to maintain as much diversity as possible.

Now, to talk about a few of the great birds I’ve seen over the year. I won’t go into as much depth. Here are a few of my avian highlights with accompanying imagery. It does seem to becoming more common for uncommon birds to show up at the Falls of the Ohio. Is this a potential signal that climate change could be at work? Birds can appear almost anywhere and many do…however, it does seem that many long distance migrants are being challenged by habitat loss and important food items whose timing has been interrupted by a climate in transition. Nothing like showing up at the usual time for a feast of horseshoe crab eggs, but their spawn happened a week ago and you still have thousands of miles to travel.

This inquisitive creature is called the Bark Bird and I happened to see one this summer. It’s so named for its habit of searching through the crevices in tree bark as it searches for the small arthropods that make up its diet. It often goes up and down the tree head first like nuthatches do.

The only true shorebird on this list is the Arctic Curlew. It uses its long, blue bill to probe soft mud for small worms. I chanced upon one in June while exploring the fossil beds. This is an example of a bird that is at risk because the route of its migration is so long that maintaining suitable habitat along its route may prove too great a challenge.

Here’s another migrant, the Land Lark. Usually, a bird recorded west of the Mississippi River. I remember that this bird appeared at the Falls of the Ohio after some serious thunderstorms with damaging tornadoes passed through the Midwest of the United States. Simple but nice coloring with its green crest and bill and light blue wings against a snow-white body.

This lovely Yellow-tailed Thrush was another unexpected discovery. Normally, found in the summer in the Hill Country of Texas…I’m not sure why it showed up here? I was sure glad to see it and I have several other nice images of it.

A new park record…the first recorded instance of the Ohio Valley Blue-bill nesting with park confines. I came across this bird sitting on its nest which I was shocked to see was an old barge cable that had snagged in a tree. I think the blue-bill formed the nest by judicious pecking and pruning the fibers of this large rope. I’ve saved my favorite bird for last. Not because it is rare, but because the pictures came out so well! Here is another the Blue-winged Merganser which is small, fish-eating duck that pursues its prey underwater like the shrewrat does. Also like the shrewrat, this merganser has a bill full of needle-sharp teeth for holding onto slippery fish.

The crest of feathers atop it head give a regal appearance to this small red-eyed duck. We often see the Common Merganser around here, but this was fun to observe as it pursued small aquatic life stranded in the pools of a retreating river. I guess as this year may prove to demonstrate, we may see many more peculiarities in the natural world the more we mess with it. I will continue to record and observe these changes within the park and post them in the trusty riverblog. To finally end, one more image of Clark’s Shrewrat to savor! Until next time from the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

Read Full Post »

A Short History of “The Assembled”

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, flip-flops, found materials, Found objects, Installation, lost and found, lost sandals, material culture, Ohio River, plastic, Plastic art, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sculpture, sense of place, Site specific art, Styrofoam, tagged "Folk Fiction" exhibit Clara M. Eagle Gallery, "The Assembled", Art, artist at exit 0, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, lost and found, material culture, Murray State University art department, nature, plastic legacy, public art, sense of place, site specific installation, Styrofoam, the absurd on October 8, 2017| 2 Comments »

While my poor riverblog has been waiting for me…I have quietly been having one of my more creative years at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. When I visit the river, I’m making several projects with the junk I find as I walk along this familiar landscape. My previous post shows some of the ways I have played with color and form using other commonly found and mostly plastic materials. I also had fun this summer creating my own absurd brand of figurative sculpture from the river-polished polystyrene I have collected and stored out here. Beginning in May of this year, “we”, meaning myself and the public, have successfully added new figures to a growing site-specific installation at my favorite outdoor atelier under the willows.

One wonderful development is that on three different occasions, visitors discovering my site have interacted with or added their own figures to this group from the materials I have left behind for that purpose. I did “harvest” a couple of figures after they made their first appearance here for a group show I’m participating in October 2017 at Murray State University. That exhibit is entitled “Folk Fiction” and I’m elated to be showing at my old undergrad alma mater. Besides, it’s always good to have survivors.

Autumn began with a visit from my equally anonymous nemesis…forever branded by my sons as the “Smashers”. Whomever they are…they don’t play well which has resulted in the recent vandalism of several of these figures. More about them later. Now seems as good a time as any to provide a short history of this figural Styrofoam group I call “The Assembled”. This story begins at the river on May 14, 2017 with the creation of the first sculpture.

After a wet spring with frequent bouts of high water, I was able to configure a site under the trees and near the old railroad bridge. Over the next several months I kept adding recently found materials from the area while I pursued different art projects. This was the first Styro-figure I created here and he’s a bat-earred naturist! After he explored the landscape of this day in many other images, he eventually took his position greeting visitors to my outdoor studio and soon to be growing gallery. As this installation grew, each new figure was photographed in different contexts at the park before joining the others back at my eastern most studio site.

"The Naturist" stands watch over the Styro-larder during May 2017

“The Naturist” was the first figure to join “The Assembled”.

My next figure is also the largest. I remember needing to wait until enough of the absorbed water was gone from this big hunk of Styrofoam to just be able to lift it. I call this piece the “Queen of Clouds” because the sky was so beautiful on the day it was made.

I remember that the wind kept blowing this figure over and it was difficult to get it to stand in place while I shot this short video. The large fan blades that make up this sculpture kept falling off until I found a better way to attach them to her head. The nose is a large wooden fishing float I found out here. It’s mouth is the plastic cap from a deodorant stick.

Two Styro-figures at my outdoor studio during June 2017.

The “Queen of Clouds” parked at my studio under the willow trees.

Here’s another large figure from the month of July. I really like how expressive the head turned out on this one. His mouth is a red reflector that really caught the light well. I dragged this one down to the Ohio River and documented it with this short video and lots of photos. Afterward, it too joined “The Assembled” at my river studio.

One of the fun moments during this project was discovering visitors had added two new figures enlarging this group to four! By days end, it was five figures with my latest absurdity with the bright red reflector mouth. I was starting to get excited by the opportunity to create a nice little crowd this summer since plenty of Styrofoam remained to be used and people were playing along instead of just destroying what was on hand. I also started to piece together a couple of other projects nearby. One began at first with just a handful of found flip-flops of various colors and sizes. Each visit to the river usually resulted in more found foot wear to add to the design. I also created a colorful rainbow-like arrangement from discarded plastic containers that also was a stand alone piece, but also went well with the other projects. As the summer was approaching its height, wild grapevines were beginning to frame my grouping at the Falls of the Ohio.

Styro-group "The Assembled" in July 2017 at the Falls of the Ohio.

Three more figures joined the group.

As the summer wore on I couldn’t wait to visit my spot and listen to the oriole’s call and the sound of running water. My site was always changing and my sculptures had survived a few summer storms as well as being vulnerable to vandalism. So far, so good and so I continued to add new pieces here when I visited this section of the park. Here are a few more for your enjoyment.

Small Styro-character I called “Mr. Mosquito Nose”.

Rare view of “The Assembled” with “Mr. Mosquito Nose”.

I took “Mr. Mosquito Nose” home with me after this picture and he will reappear in an exhibition I’m participating in the early fall. This next piece turned out to be a visitor favorite. He began with me finding a flipper that I used for his headdress and the fishing lure that became his nose. Between what I found that day and what was already in my collecting bag…I soon had the makings of an orange and greenish-yellow theme for this shamanic or high priest figure. The staff he sports is capped with a found plastic jet toy I came across on the riverbank.

"Shamanic Figure with Staff and Flipper Headdress"

Shamanic Figure carries a staff capped with a found plastic jet toy.

Here he is in context with the other figures as the month of July began to pass. If you like trains crossing over bridges then you might like a couple of the videos I have here including this one showing an early flip-flop project at this site.

Another day and another figure and in this sculpture’s case…it’s pretty silly and strangely neurotic looking with its crossed fishing float eyes! Here he is posed sitting on a driftwood log with one leg crossed over the other. Soon he too would be added to “The Assembled”.

"Indecisive Dude" at the Falls of the Ohio.

“Indecisive Dude” sitting on a weather-bleached log.

Here is a video that is a good overall site view of my outdoor atelier and it shows this latest figure in the fold. It also features a passing train crossing over the old railroad bridge and yet another flip-flop arrangement in the form of a large spiral in the sand.

I like the way the spiral turned out and I tried working with the found colors as best as I could. There is so much individual variation between each sandal…right or left, large or small, bright blue versus dark blue, etc… I do feel that this piece really added to what I had already started here with “The Assembled”. Here is a still image from that moment.

My outdoor studio site at the Falls of the Ohio, August 7, 2017.

Spiral flip-flop arrangement along with “The Assembled” at my studio site, August 7, 2017.

We are into the month of August now and I keep adding figures and rearranging my site on a regular basis. It’s generally a very good month for me if I can get out to the river three or four times. Plus, I like to also do projects in other areas of the park and so a few weeks might pass before I next visit this particular studio site under the willow trees. I thought this next figure turned out nicely. It was aided by finding a nice hunk of polystyrene that was irregularly shaped enough that it could imply motion. He has a friendly demeanor to him if you can ascribe such qualities to an altered chunk of river-polished Styrofoam?

Smiling Figure next to discarded cooler.

Smiling Styro-figure next to an old cooler that washed into the park.

Here is the video from the end of this day showing this piece in the context of my studio under the trees. This clip also reminded me that it was a hot day peppered by annoying gnats that also buzzed around the camera. I will mention that generally speaking…biting flies and mosquitoes are not usually an issue to visiting the park.

Still two more figures to go before the fateful day the Smashers appear and reality reasserts itself. I improvised all my figurative sculptures on site from materials collected out here. I still feel it’s important for me to respect the hard-won shapes that nature has provided. Interestingly, I still feel that the river “humanizes” Styrofoam in particular by knocking of the hard edges and generalizing the overall forms.

"The Happy Hunchback" listening to birds singing.

“The Happy Hunchback” strolling through the willow woods listening to bird song at the Falls of the Ohio.

Moving very slowly and deliberately, the “Happy Hunchback” cranes his neck toward the treetops. It’s late August, have the orioles and indigo buntings already left? If it weren’t for the other life forms also inhabiting the Falls of the Ohio, this multi-year “art” project would not have sustained my interest alone. I can’t believe my luck! Between the time of this figure and the next…a visitor added another sculpture and awarded my Shamanic sculpture “Best in Show”!

“Best in Show” Award…presented anonymously.

I had stashed this green plastic ball with my rainbow-colored plastic containers. Makes a fine award and I have to admit, that I did put a lot of time into this particular figure. I’m sure I had the biggest smile I can muster when I first saw this. Whomever you are…thank you!

"The Assembled" at the Falls of the Ohio, mid September 2017.

“The Assembled”, mid September 2017 with “Best in Show” figure.

Another view from that day showing my overall site with a different found flip-flop design and my plastic container color spectrum on the left.

Outdoor studio and gallery, mid September 2017 showing "The Assembled", heart-shaped flip-flop arrangement, and plastic container color arrangement.

My outdoor studio and gallery with heart-shaped flip-flop design.

Just one more figure to go before that fateful day when the Smashers stop by and temporarily put a hitch in the magic that was this summer at the Falls of the Ohio. I am amazed that nothing negative had happened sooner. In the back of my mind, I understand that the river always has the last word in this process and so I don’t get too attached to the things I make out here. Weeks would go by before I would re-visit this site in the eastern section of the park. I was also spending a lot of time in the western section of the Falls of the Ohio which has a different quality to the landscape and receives fewer visitors. I like to visit there when the purple loosestrife flowers are blooming because they are magnets for butterflies and other insects. Moving on, here’s the last figure to officially join “The Assembled”.

"Raccoon Eyes" sipping from a found cup at the Falls of the Ohio, September 2017.

“Raccoon Eyes” enjoys a found beverage at the Falls of the Ohio, September 2017.

With his spiky hair-do and wide smile, the likable “Raccoon Eyes” likes to pause for refreshment when he can at the Falls of the Ohio. Locals visiting the park bring these giant cups and I guess seeing all the other debris that has washed into here makes it okay to leave more trash behind? The world is just absurd…and hence this project. Old “Raccoon Eyes” took a hit, lost and eye, along with one of his arms when the Smashers came by. Here is one more video this time showing my site before fate intervenes.

The little figure I ended the last clip with went on to have an adventure of his own and didn’t become a part of “The Assembled”. He’s a close if diminutive cousin. The Smashers came and went and it’s fortunate that more wasn’t actually destroyed. My naturist character, who was the first character here, had his head split in half. One of the volunteer figures that appeared was decapitated and I found its head in the tree branches above where it once stood. The “Happy Hunchback” lost all the features in his head and was rendered permanently senseless. The “Best in Show” figure lost and eye and his staff, but looks repairable. I think whomever did this ( teenage boy(s) loom large) must have had second thoughts while in destruct mode, because it looks like some sculptures were barely touched. I like to think that this is what happened and perhaps a little remorse set in before complete havoc was wrought. I found a nearby stick that I remember setting aside for future use that more than likely served as the weapon. I can imagine the temptation to not “light saber” all of them into bits must have been great. This is my best interpretation based upon reading the scene.

"The Assembled" after being visited by the Smashers. Early October 2017

View of “The Assembled” after recent vandalism.

Of course you know that I’m not going to leave it here. When I came upon the scene, I took some pictures and then off for a trek across the fossil beds and had a great day walking to the hydroelectric plant. Yesterday, I brought my friend Peter Erwin along for a visit to the Interpretive Center and afterward we visited my studio site. Using what I had on hand…I repaired what I could and recycled other parts to create new personas to replace the previous ones. I think it’s going to be okay and I look forward to experiencing the continued evolution of this developing site. I still have a little more work to do, but this is where I left it yesterday. As for this post…one of my longer ones…reveals the level of engagement that this special place still holds upon me. I think it also appropriate at this time to rename this group of survivors…I’m now going to call them “The Re-Assembled”! Until next time from the Falls of the Ohio.

"The Re-Assembled", Found Styrofoam and other materials, Falls of the Ohio, October 7, 2017

“The Re-Assembled” at the Falls of the Ohio. October 7, 2017

Read Full Post »

Flip-flops, Mystery Fluids, and Spent Cigarette Lighters

Posted in Absurd, Art, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, creativity, driftwood, Falls of the Ohio, flip-flops, found materials, Found objects, fresh water, Installation, lost and found, Louisville, Kentucky, material culture, Ohio River, Ohio River flooding, plastic, Plastic art, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sense of place, Site specific art, tagged Art, art and nature, artist at exit 0, backwash, cigarette lighters, Color spectrum in art, driftwood, environment, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio State Park, flip-flops, Genius loci, material culture, plastic, repurposed art, sense of place on June 5, 2017| 6 Comments »

Each year has a different character to it and for what I do at the Falls of the Ohio, a lot depends upon what I find. Last year, there was an abundance of plastic bottles in a full spectrum of colors that stood out among the natural driftwood. This year, we have had a mostly high river due to locally intense rains throughout the Ohio River Valley. There have been successive waves of wood and plastic that have had me wandering the wrack lines filling my collecting bags and stuffing my computer with images. The Falls are not a big area, but the dynamic changes that rearrange the riverbank keep it interesting. This year I have concentrated mostly on formal arrangements on site using flip-flop sandals, plastic soft drink bottles with colored backwash in them, and I have also been astounded by the number of cigarette lighters I have been finding. Following are a few of the many compositions I have already made this year. Chromatic arrangement in Flip-flops, Falls of the Ohio, Feb, 2017

Made this one on a sunny day in February. I found all these flip-flops on a single walk along the riverbank which is how I still like to work out here. I get ideas for projects based on what that day’s walk presents. Kind of like going to the grocery store and seeing what’s ripe and in season.

Flip-flop arrangement on the sand, Falls of the Ohio, March 2017

Why flip-flops? First, they are a ubiquitous part of human life around the river and they float and travel great distances to reach the park. I also like the idea that these sandals are unique to the people who wore them and have their “soul or spirit” imprinted on them. They come in a variety of colors and sizes and can be as variable as people. There is also that saying about not understanding others until you can stand in their shoes.

Flip-flop ring, Falls of the Ohio, April 2017

A work from April of this year made with flip-flops. Some colors seem to be harder to find than others particularly a true red or yellow. Once in a while, I will also pick up and use the sole of some other kind of foot ware if I think it will come in “handy”.

Cottonwood Tree Composition, late May 2017, Falls of the Ohio

My latest flip-flop composition from late May. Sited in the western section of the park, this piece is situated by a favorite cottonwood tree that I have shown in posts many times before. It uniquely has a space under the roots that you can stand under. It is a favorite place for locals to party. Now for the next part of this post…”Mystery Fluids”.

Found soft drink and sport drink bottles with partial contents, Falls of the Ohio, April 2017

Usually found floating in rivers and other bodies of water are these partially consumed sport and soft drinks capped and in their bottles. At the Falls of the Ohio I find them intermixed with the driftwood and everything else too. Often, it is the bottom of the bottle that is sticking up from the wood. I think being starved for color is why I gravitated towards this common element of our waste stream. When the light hits these bottles just right…the colors can be very jewel-like and attractive. Here are a few of the projects and images I made with them this year.

Found bottles and contents with the skyline of Louisville, Feb. 2017

Found bottles and contents, western section of the Falls of the Ohio, April 2017

Found bottle composition with contents, Falls of the Ohio, 2017

I have photographed these bottles in a variety of contexts and combinations over the year. Their contents are amazingly well-preserved and I have never found one that had mold growing in it. It could be that conditions have rendered these bottles sterile? Did they get too hot, too cold, not enough oxygen? Certainly, there is plenty of sugar, electrolytes, and preservatives in them. On site, I usually have arranged them on the back of stranded logs or boards that have floated in here and then I take my pictures and walk away. At my main outdoor studio…I have now been caching some of these bottles and flip-flops too for later in the year when the water level is low. Now for the final category….found cigarette lighters.

Found cigarette lighters by various manufacturers, Falls of the Ohio, June 2017

Took this photograph a few days a go and represents my record for found cigarette lighters in one day out at the Falls of the Ohio. I think there are 103 lighters here all gleaned from the driftwood. I have always known that cigarette lighters are out here, but not until now have I concentrated on them. When you begin looking for them, they can be everywhere up and down the riverbank and intermixed with the driftwood. Once upon a time, the ability to create fire was a special and important skill. It’s more than the climate that is changing. Before I show you what I made with a hundred lighters, here are some earlier attempts.

BIC lighter color line, found cigarette lighters from the Falls of the Ohio, 2017

This found lighter composition is unique in that only “Bic” brand lighters were used. The are arranged on the back of a log. I still like referencing light through color. The irony of our dependence on fossil fuels to make things like plastic and energy is that it comes from sequestered carbon created from sunlight by plants living millions of years a go. Now we need to just look up in the sky to see that same source of energy in the here and now.

88 Cigarette Lighter Oval, Falls of the Ohio, 2017

I think from April?, but definitely the western section of the Falls of the Ohio State Park. Created this oval from 88 found lighters. The river was still very high and this arrangement is up against the riverbank.

Found Lighter Circle, Falls of the Ohio, 2017

68 Found Lighter Circle, Falls of the Ohio, 2017

Lighter circle made with 68 found cigarette lighters. You can see the marks my fingers made in the sand adjusting the lighters to expand the circle.

Nearly forgot about this one! “Stump Star” composed of 48 found lighters, a yellow reflector, and of course…a stump. Made under the willow trees, the light playing through the tree canopy made this piece hard to photograph. It just occurred to me that I have no idea where butane comes from? All of these once stored compressed butane. As these physical objects age and are exposed to the elements, their metal components are the first to corrode and rust away.

Another day and visit to the river. I try to maximize each opportunity out here by making as many site specific pieces from the various materials I encounter. Here’s a quick piece with my the toes of my shoes poking in for good measure. I call this one “Keep Calm” because there’s one lighter that says that…or “From Clear to Blue” because if you look closely you can see between the white and blue lighters is one clear one. So far, that’s the only one like that I’ve seen out here. Okay, one more to end with and it’s the one with over a hundred lighters. I made another composition with these lighters, but decided to try a more open design and it turned out better than the first. Double-spiral Cigarette Lighter Composition, Falls of the Ohio, June 2017

When given the chance to go to the river or write about past experiences…I will opt for the river, unless the weather is bad and it has already rained hard today. I’m staying busy and engaged with art all around me which has had a calming effect on me considering all the political decisions people are making regarding the health of the environment and everything else too. If you are interested in some of what’s in the Ohio River and other rivers in this country…then I’m your blog. Until next time from the Falls of the Ohio.

Double Spiral found cigarette lighter composition at the Falls of the Ohio, June 2017

Read Full Post »

Plastic, Plastic, Everywhere

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, collections, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, lost and found, nature photography, Ohio River flooding, plastic, Plastic art, repurposed art, sense of place, Site specific art, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, discarded plastic containers, energy from light, Falls of the Ohio, life, nature, photography, plastic, site specific art, the Earth, the environment on December 22, 2016| 8 Comments »

It’s the end of the year and I have a handful of posts and projects I intended to present here before the date on the calendar changes. I will do my best to try to catch up. I’ll start with this outing along the Ohio River that happened in November.

I have finally had a bit of a lull from my day job and so I want to start catching up on posting images and stories of my Falls of the Ohio adventures over the last few weeks. It’s also a bit of a relief from the disappointing presidential election we have just endured. Hanging out at the river is always a good tonic for the soul. May it always be that for me and other “river rats” who are drawn to moving waters. For this post, I will concentrate on an assemblage I made using found bottles, jugs, and other plastic containers that I have collected from the banks of the Ohio River in this small state park in southern Indiana.

The Falls of the Ohio State Park is not a very big place as parks go, but it is a very historic and dynamic environment. I remember when I first started coming out here it really bothered me to see so much junk along the riverbank. It still does and I tried standard recycling before settling on making art from what others preferred not to see or acknowledge. What this unique space lacks in size, it makes up for by being a very dynamic environment.

For most of the year, the river behaves itself and lets the Army Corps of Engineers pretend that it is in control of its flow. Every once in a while, however, the river reminds us through flooding and by going around the barriers set in its way to control it. It is during these high water moments that all the rubbish sins of the world come down the river from environs both local and from parts north in our watershed. As this blog documents, I find “stuff” all the time and unfortunately discarded plastic is high on the list.

Here is found plastic that I brought back to my outdoor atelier under the willow trees. I didn’t have to travel far to pick up all I wanted. I realized as I drove to work this morning that my “outdoor atelier” is now under water. A few days ago, we finally received enough rain to raise the level of the river. It’s only been in the last couple of years that I have tried to do anything with plastic on this scale. Only when I couldn’t deny the bright, unnatural colors any longer that it occurred to me to try to do something “artistic” with all this waste plastic.

After I have selected a site for a project. I move my materials to the chosen location and when I’m ready, I start sorting objects according to color. I like to reference the electromagnetic spectrum and rainbows because they are about light. Plastic is made from petroleum which is sun energy that has been harnessed by prehistoric plants and stored in their tissues. Over deep time, heat, pressure and the vagaries of geology either liquefies this ancient material into crude oil or compresses it into coal. It is interesting to think about how much our contemporary world is dependent on using the energy from our sun that shone millions of years a go!

It will be a leap for some, but “light” in my mind is not only a part of the problem here, but also implies a solution. We need to do a better job of using our innate creativity to capture the light of today’s sun. Leave that “ancient energy” in the ground and we certainly don’t need anymore plastic. Through a little trial and error, I found an arrangement that suits me. If I am lucky and park visitors or the river decide not to erase what I’ve started then I expand and tinker with my outdoor composition. If I’m correct, then this piece is already gone taken just today by the river. It lasted many weeks longer than I thought it would. Thanks for tagging along with me! Until next time from the Falls of the Ohio.

Read Full Post »

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.

Read Full Post »

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.

Read Full Post »

Plastic Arrangement in Black and White

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, collections, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Installation, lost and found, Louisville, Kentucky, material culture, nature photography, plastic, Plastic art, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sculpture, sense of place, Site specific art, watershed, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, Bernheim Arborteutm and Research Forest, Bernheim Artist in Residency Program, Chiel Kuijl, driftwood, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Genius loci, material culture, nature, nature and culture, photography, plastic bottle, plastic container, plastic pollution, public art, sense of place, site specific art on May 1, 2016| 6 Comments »

April was a busy but mostly productive blur. Lots of balancing went on encompassing family, work, loss, art, birthdays, and spring transitioning to summer. We had an issue with our family computer that kept us quiet for a while, but hopefully that has been resolved. At this point, I have thousands of photographic images scattered everywhere and if by chance I happen to lose something…well, chalk that one up to the will of the digital gods. I had this strange realization about being a survivor of a by gone analog era that my sons don’t understand or have much experience with. These digital images I have been creating at the Falls of the Ohio can be as transient as the artworks they document. Fortunately, for my sanity, I was able to get to the river on a couple of occasions in this month, breathe deeply, and relax with my art. The last two visits I made to the park in April were gorgeous days and productive. Here are images made from that day’s project.

I have been having fun gathering up the different plastic bottles and containers that I have been coming across the last two years and making something with them. The arrangement I made today was composed of black and white plastic junk I came across after a few hours of work. All the black and white containers were found in the general area of where this piece eventually came together. I moved around a center location and after fanning in and out found enough stuff to bring back to “base”. I had previously picked out a place where I wanted to make something because I liked the view with the railroad bridge and the City of Louisville behind that.

I found a couple of nice plastic buckets and a nice fairly straight wooden plank and set the arrangement up with its back shielded by a huge log. There was an even larger log that had an end on it that had been scorched by fire, but it worked with the scene. First, I arranged all the black bottles up and moved from left to right and kept the large containers on the bottom row. I set the three “grayish” containers up next and that including the two silver jugs I came across. At least they seemed to represent some value between black and white and I took several photos with them in the configuration. Later in the day, I did return back to this spot and shot a few without the gray containers in the pictures…just the black and white ones which I liked too.

Here’s an image with a train crossing the tracks. Unfortunately, I did not get a shot before my piece was set up. Now for a progression of other work in progress photos documenting the brief peak of the “Arrangement in Black and White Plastic”.

While I was working out in the driftwood, new friend and fellow artist Chiel Kuijl came out looking for a few choice pieces of wood for his rope installation. Chiel has been the Artist at Residence at the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest and is originally from the Netherlands. We have crossed paths out here at the Falls of the Ohio as well as socially with mutual friends. He has returned to Holland, but is due to return to Louisville this year to work on a recent commission.

Chiel later built a beautiful rope installation over water as well as distinctive “furniture” from ropes and driftwood. Park of this busy April included visiting Chiel out in Clermont, KY to see what he accomplished during his residency. I look forward to showing you a few images of his work in a later post. First!…let’s get through this one. I did remove the “gray” containers so it is just black and white butting up to one another.

I week after I made this piece, I returned to check on it and inspect my base studio. Here is an “after” picture. I already have plans in mind on how I can reuse this black and white plastic. One other fun development…I am working towards my show at Bob Hill’s Hidden Hills Nursery in Utica, IN. That will open on May 22 after some of the Kentucky Derby madness has subsided some. I have three very large figures I have been working on and you will see those soon. Have a wonderful Sunday…from the Falls of the Ohio and the Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog.

Read Full Post »

Late March Petrochemical Color Composition

Posted in Absurd, animals, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, birding, collections, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, Installation, lost and found, material culture, nature photography, Ohio River, Ohio River flooding, plastic, Plastic art, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sculpture, sense of place, Site specific art, watershed, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, discarded Teddy bear, Falls of the Ohio, Genius loci, lost and found, material culture, nature, petrochemical junk, photography, plastic, plastic art, public art, rainbow spectrum, site specific art, toy bear on April 3, 2016| 2 Comments »

It’s the end of March and Spring is in full swing at the Falls of the Ohio. Today, I have a bigger block of time and so I’m going back to the western section of the park to see how flooding has affected this area. I am expecting to find lots of plastic and who know’s what else…and this trip did not disappoint. Just about everywhere I looked, I found plastic and other trash. I will begin with a few images of stuff I came across.

Quite unexpectedly, I found myself immersed in a bear theme. I found this little blue plastic bear intermixed with the driftwood. It may actually represent a panda, but I think the latest thinking on this unique animal is that it is indeed more closely related to bears than to raccoons. Looks like it’s sucking its thumb. And now for bear number 2.

Here’s a piece that was originally intended for a little person. I’m going to venture that this is a teething ring. From the wear on the surface of the plastic, it looks like this object has spent some time in the river. If this is not a teething ring…I have no idea what it was originally intended to be? Okay, here is bear number 3 and it is a lot larger that these first two examples.

This piece is spectacularly integrated into the surrounding gravel! About half of it is visible and the rest is hidden by gravel deposited here during the last Ice Age glacier. I posted this image on my Facebook account and it resonated with a lot of my friends. I could go on and on with the junk I’ve found out here, but I think I can also do that by showing you my latest artwork which is of course, composed of found junk. On this beautiful day, I decided to continue my explorations using colorful found plastic and made a new variation on this theme that I think turned out pretty well. I’ll start with a few in process shots.

This is some of the found plastic I came across on this day. I brought two collecting bags and filled them both up. I then scouted around and found a large blue plastic tub that I pressed into service before incorporating it into my finished arrangement. The yellow object on the left is a water cooler minus the lid. I had to do a bit of navigating around an obstacle course of downed trees and built up driftwood. I’m usually still stiff and tired the day after I do one of these because I guess I’m not used to getting that much exercise anymore! My two sons are quick to tell me that I’m not a young man anymore and yes I do get goaded by their trash talking into trying stuff that on occasion is more physical than I need to attempt.

After selecting a site to build my latest arrangement. I separate out all this gathered up plastic into their various color groups. On this day, orange and purple items were in short supply, but I worked around that. I set up this piece next to a log that looks to me like it was split in half. The side you can see that is rough and beautiful and takes the setting sun well. From the opposite side of this log…you wouldn’t be able to see any of the plastic. It is intended as a surprise for those who come across it on this side of the park.

I will begin with a view that incorporates more of the local scenery. This piece is located next to an old cottonwood tree that has a severe lean to it. I can imagine that at some time in the not too distant future that this tree will eventually fall over. Even from this far away, you can see the color introduced by these plastic containers and such. Let’s get closer.

Now you can get more of a sense for the degree in which this tree is leaning towards the river.

There are essentially two layers stacked up here. The big blue plastic tub has a found board that finds its partner consisting of the yellow water cooler sitting on a plastic yellow child’s chair. The span is pretty level. The rest is a matter of picking and choosing color hues that you think will work best together. These plastic elements are not fixed in some way. Everything is free-standing or leaning against what is next to it. I have by accident…set off chain reactions where the whole arrangement collapses down like dominoes. That is where a little patience comes into play by beginning again and hopefully learning from each individual situation.

I can see elements in these three details that I know I have used before in other projects and were later scattered across the park when the river floods. Perhaps you might recognize the green plastic Tug Boat or the “Hulk Hand” also found in the green section? They have appeared in other posts in my riverblog.

I hung out by this piece and the river for many hours. A few people came by, but nobody said anything. Perhaps this comes across as being an example of “unusual or eccentric behavior” to some people? Best to provide a wide berth around this one! Who knows…couldn’t be any stranger than the people who make all this plastic and set it free into the world. At the end of the day, I could not make up my mind which I thought provided the definitive view of this project? I think some of the more successful arrangements look good in their contexts, but also provide some information on what individual elements have been brought together to create this “whole” experience. After I felt I had enough pictures and the thought of a shower was sounding good. I picked up my stuff and headed home.

The trees are just budding out and this past week took a significant turn towards the green. I’m still on the lookout for migrating birds that come into our area. I often wonder about the Heisenberg’s Hammerkopf I had the distinct pleasure of observing and photographing out here a few weeks a go. I wonder where in the world it flew off to? I was just alerted by WordPress that this week is my seventh anniversary of blogging with them! For all the people who have dropped by and sampled something from the Falls of the Ohio State Park through this riverblog…I give my heartfelt thanks! I hope to continue out here for a bit longer still. This is the Artist at Exit 0 signing off for now.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

Art and images from the Falls of the Ohio.

Archive for the ‘Plastic art’ Category

Coal for Christmas…2018 Comes to an End

River Report at the End of the Year

2017 Favorite Wildlife Sightings from the Falls of the Ohio

A Short History of “The Assembled”

Flip-flops, Mystery Fluids, and Spent Cigarette Lighters

Plastic, Plastic, Everywhere

A Reality Check by the River

Rare Birds and the Month of July

Plastic Arrangement in Black and White

Late March Petrochemical Color Composition

Archives

Categories

Pages

Art and images from the Falls of the Ohio.

Archive for the ‘Plastic art’ Category

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Archives

Categories

Pages