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Archive for the ‘Styrofoam’ Category

Master Plan for Public Art

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , on February 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I really needed this day and it did not disappoint.  The sun came out and the only snow left is in the deepest, shaded part of the woods.  The river was lower than I thought it would be and I followed the meandering driftwood line from east to west.  I picked up “parts”  for the day’s sculpture and filled my bag.  When I had enough stuff, I stopped, found a cozy log to sit on and dumped the contents of my bag on the sand and gravel.  I pulled my trusty knife from my pocket and unfolded the sharpest blade.  With the constant sound of running water around me, here is this day’s work.

I found a nice expanse of exposed limestone and began this figure.  It’s a little different in that it’s made using three chunks of Styrofoam. There are plenty of beaver-chewed willow sticks all around which will work for the figure’s limbs.  I wanted to see if I could make a figure that’s a little less static than usual.  I see this figure as having a pelvis and a lower back that flexes.  While I am making this piece, I’m breathing deeply, and thinking over events of the past week.  Yesterday was a memorable day because a committee I serve on made a big announcement about a public art strategy for Louisville.  For many years I have been an active member of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Public Art, or MACOPA.  I chaired the Preservation Committee which always seemed kind of ironic to me since my personal art is far from the material concerns and needs of Metro Louisville’s monuments.  With all the movers and shakers of our art community assembled in Metro Hall,  Mayor Abramson announced the plan we commissioned from CREATIVE TIME that was distilled from the many round table discussions with stakeholders that were held over the course of a year.

In brief, this is what’s being proposed.  The current committee will reform as two groups.  The first group will be attached to our metro government and will manage and care for the city’s existing public art inventory.  The more novel group, will become an independent 501-(C)(3 ) that over time would be able to commission and fund artist driven public art ideas.  As you can imagine during these hard economic times, no one wants new taxes and in Louisville, the area’s developers are not in favor of a percent for art program.  In fact, we learned that across the country, percent for art programs weren’t doing as well as you may first think.  So, what will be the funding mechanism that will allow this new not for profit to prosper?  Already on the books, is a regulation for construction projects exceeding 100, 000 square feet to provide some aesthetic amenities (even art).  Developers can now opt to give that money to the new public art committee to be used to commission new works in unique sites across Metro Louisville.  This still requires approval from the Metro Council, but since the business community likes this idea, it should get passed.  In two years, the new committee (tentatively called COPA, Commission on Public Art) will hire a professional director and staff and begin with a couple trial projects.

There are benefits from forming a more professional, stand-alone group.  Our public art committee has consisted mostly of volunteers who over the years have been able to realize a few modest projects.  Louisville has been fortunate to have had recent civic leaders who at least recognized how useful public art can be in touting the city’s quality of life.  But what happens if a new administration comes along that isn’t as pro art?  They could decide to withhold resources and kill the program.  Having the new public art organization exist apart from government is designed to protect it from less friendly administrations.

Once the coffers become full, artists can submit proposals for public art projects.  To manage these projects, artists must partner with a fiscal agent, like another existing not for profit art organization, to provide some financial oversight and navigate the various legalities involved in such work.  We shall see in a few years if this will be effective?  The transition from the present committee to the new commission will be crucial.  I will be looking forward to a different spirit that looks at art in public spaces as being more than just placing objects on a site.  When MACOPA chose CREATIVE TIME over other good candidates, we were hoping their more contemporary approaches would find resonance in Louisville.  Public art does not need to be permanent art.  I’m proud to have done my small part in this process and will be interested to see what happens.  For now, I’ll keep practicing my own special brand of public art on the banks of the Ohio River.

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From Cutter to Cheddar

Posted in Absurd, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , on February 14, 2010| 2 Comments »

It’s official, the winter doldrums have set in.  Like many parts of the country we are already above “normal” snowfall amounts and more is on the way.  Coming out to the Falls has become an endurance contest especially when the wind is blowing.  Looking through my past posts, I have become wistful for the sunshine and bird song.  Walking along the river’s edge, I found enough material for a new figure and this latest post.

He’s a bit of a stark fellow…just Styrofoam, sticks, coal, and plastic.  There is more material here, but the snow is covering it up.  Walking both the edges of the river and woods, an idea  in the form of discarded aerosol cans presents itself.  I will start with this first can.  It’s another reminder to me on how the environment in Kentuckiana has changed within my memory.

Although this is anecdotal, it seems to me and others who live here that mosquitos are more plentiful than ever.  In the early history of the settling of this area there were many more wetlands and Yellow Fever was a real threat to life.  Over time, the swamps were drained and the native mosquitos become more of a seasonal nuisance.  Now it seems we cycle through several different species of mosquitos during the peak months.  I’m not an expert on these flies, but I know we have small and large ones, mosquitos that have stripes on their legs and they all don’t appear at the same time.  As of a couple years ago, we also now have ones that transmit West Nile Fever.  Accidently introducing exotic species is upsetting the ecosystem and is a form of pollution as much as this found can of repellent.

Readers of this blog will notice how I have a penchant for including images of automotive tires of all kinds.  To me, they are symbolic of both our ingenuity and our willingness to overlook the consequences of said ingenuity.  Mosquitos love them because they need foul, standing water to breed.  Whether left standing up or lying down, the interior of a cast-off tire holds water perfectly.

I found these cans within a small area and set up my figure to bear witness.  Their contents once included a lubricant, an automotive cleanser, and spray starch.  I found another can further down the shoreline and wondered if we really need this product too? 

Call me old-fashioned, but I like my cheese in a more conventional way.  Despite the “REAL” assurance, can it be authentic cheddar cheese if it shoots out of a can?  That makes me want to scream!  Makes me wonder if it really is that much different from the mosquito repellent?  If I smeared myself with this stuff…would it keep mosquitos away?  Perhaps I can apply for a grant and run that experiment?  Looks like another case of said ingenuity!

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Snow Tested, Squirrel Approved

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , on February 7, 2010| 1 Comment »

On a very chilly day and after a snow storm, I was able to visit the Falls and take stock of the happenings.  The snow came quickly and from an eastern direction.  You can see that from the trees where snow built up on one side leaving the opposite side clean.  As I had suspected, the rising river from the previous week had played havoc on my trusty studio site.  It took me awhile to recognize where that spot had been.  I will have to wait until after the snow leaves to determine if any of the materials I had stored there are still in the area.  As for the sculptures I had left to weather in place…

… they are still there, but disarticulated.  The rising water level with its floating logs and driftwood, knocked everything down, and carried parts of my work, back out into the river.  The image above is what remains of Pot Belly, a large work from several posts ago.  I found his head, but he was missing all of his features.  His partner, Lorraine, was near him, but had suffered the same fate.  Further down the park, I came across Penguin Boy (sans life-jacket and head) and what was left of the uncle figure.  By now, I am over any sense of loss.  I will miss coming to that particular spot under the willows, but I know I will make other make-shift studios and they too will wash away.  As for the large pieces of Styrofoam that are still around, I probably will recycle those into other sculptures provided they stay.  This time of year and early spring are usually when we get the high waters.  With all the snow that has fallen (even more is scheduled in a couple of days) the resulting melt water will overwhelm this part of the park again.  Perhaps it will flood several more times, who knows?  This is all just a part of the process.

Making things is the best antidote in a situation like this.  I might be temporarily rootless, but my need to make images from objects remains strong.  I tell myself that coming out here, especially on such an inhospitable day is a sure sign of dedication and commitment to my art.  Perhaps it is, but who really cares except me?  When you strip it down, it has more to do with my own needs than anything else.  I muse about this blog being a vicarious way for me to recall some of my work.  Anyway, laid out on a snowy log are the materials I found to make that day’s figure.  By this time, my finger tips are numb which makes handling small objects more difficult.  While I am fumbling away, this squirrel is watching me as I work and I’m having a regular conversation with it.  I ask how the winter is going and apologize for not bringing any food with me among other topics of mutual interest.

With the added distraction from the squirrel, here’s what I came up with on this day.  Finding the star wand was my big find along the riverbank and I incorporated it with the figure.  I’ll let that object add to any sense of a narrative that an observer might care to construct.  I was too cold to care about matters like that!

I left the figure near the Interpretive Center, but kept the wand.  Believe it or not, I have a collection going of found and mostly bubble wands and this adds some depth to that collection!  I should assemble that for a photograph and post it.  As I left the park, I did take one more image from the Indiana side of the Ohio River.  Past the railroad bridge, a portion of Louisville’s modest skyline can be seen.   Stay warm and dry everybody!

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F and J, part two

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , on February 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

For me, the toughest part of the winter is getting through all the grayness.  Spring is a month and a half away.  Thanks a lot groundhog.  Family and work  obligations coupled with the crummy weather are keeping me closer to home than usual.

When I look at my Falls images from this winter, the park has an almost exhausted feel to it.  The river spent itself washing wood and our material culture upon this shoreline.  The large object my son named “The Plug from the Bottom of the River” has been around for months…but I love the sense of theatre it presents in this landscape! What is this thing really and what is it doing here?  Before it disappears in the next flood, I should stage some Styro-spectacle on it.

The parade of found river objects will never cease.  I tell myself that I should use this time to organize all the loose ends (objects and images) that an investigation of this scope produces.  Of late, I have had a few more inquiries about presenting aspects of this project in one form or another.  It all sounds good, but I know some things are presented more as trial balloons, but that’s also a part of the creative process.  It’s about stuff bumping into each other and seeing what connections are created.  The last time I was out to the river I stopped by and photographed some earlier works from last year.  For the most part, I think they hold up fairly well considering their construction as well as many of the parts used are ephemeral.

In a world where we all live speeded up lives, it is easy to forget that we also need a chance to be fallow.  That’s what winter is best for…incubating ideas and marshalling energy.  I may have to go down into my basement and take care of business there.  The physical evidence of this project is spilling out of bags and boxes.  I think I may be able to substitute my wish to go outside with rediscovering and reorganizing what I have already found.  There’s sure to be a few gems hidden among that driftwood.  Well, I’m telling myself that…until the sun shines again!

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We Two Together

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , on January 28, 2010| 4 Comments »

Sometimes the river looks made of light more than water.  I thought of that many times on this day.  I had already made two figures and it was time to turn for home.  I posed my latest creations next to each other and in the same area I have worked in for months.  I found a child’s life jacket and placed it around Penguin Boy.  For his taller uncle, I secured him to a willow tree using a stringer to hold fish.  This will keep him from falling over.  I also found a blue plastic container and placed that in his hand.  The contrast between the orange of the vest and the blue of the jug added a colorful note on an otherwise somber day.  I’ll be curious to see all this in brighter light if “they” make it that far.

And the two together…

Working around in my studio site with its odd assortment of Styrofoam chunks and wiggly, expressive sticks and roots… I came across the gift left by a visitor who commented here, several posts a go.  I found the squirt gun and will have to think of a way to incorporate it in something interesting!  Thanks for the tokens!

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Penguin Boy

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , on January 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The big-nosed figure had a nephew, a child of the high river.  His name is Penguin Boy and he was assembled on the same day as his much taller kinsman.  Once you see the pictures, it might begin to make sense?  This story continues my last post.  With the Ohio River rising again, the creeping waters would eventually filter through the driftwood and lift my studio away.  It is bound to happen, does so most every winter before the change of the seasons.  I’m using the biggest pieces of Styrofoam I have collected from the river, before the water takes it all back again.  Here’s the second foam figure I made from river finds this day.  He’s considerably smaller and a little odd-looking.

For months, Penguin Boy existed as junk I found along the shoreline at the Falls of the Ohio.  I spontaneously assembled its elements and tried to create an image with it before the short winter light diffused into tomorrow.  The figure’s eyes and nose are three different fishing bobbers.  The ears are two plastic lids from snuff containers.  Penguin Boy’s mouth is a squished bottle-cap and the name came to me because of the shape of the body.  I don’t know what the yellow “T” is on top of the head, but it is hard plastic.  Here are a couple close-up views of the head.

That certain demented look comes from the eyes which are two different sizes.  I have always been fascinated by the fact our faces are not completely symmetrical.  I remember from art history how the northern renaissance painters had noticed this and used it in their early portraits.  I always thought this helped psychologically charge their likenesses and gave them personality.  I moved Penguin Boy around and added a deflated soccer ball which gave one arm more of a sense of purpose.

While I’m photographing this figure, the river is just pushing logs into the shallow water.  One of my feet is already wet and the knowledge that the other foot is dry is of little comfort!  I added this piece to the ensemble I have going back at my studio.  I changed Penguin Boy and took a few snapshots with his larger uncle, gathered my stuff and left.  I’ll show you images of this duo the next time around.  One last image before I go.

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Faces for Facebook

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , on January 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

 It’s a 50 degree day in mid winter and the river is rising.  I tried to make the best of the few hours I had to work outdoors this weekend.  It could have been sunnier, but at least it stayed warm and dry.  I made two figures and photographed them at the Falls of the Ohio.  Here’s the largest of the two in progress with a couple of old friends over wintering in the background.

I decided to try to use two of the bigger Styrofoam chunks I had stored at the studio site.  Eventually, the river is going to cover this area and so it’s use it or lose it time.  I have enough stuff in my bag to make quick decisions and there’s lots of driftwood to use everywhere around me.  The Ohio River seems restless and the constant waves have driftwood and logs pinned to the shoreline.  To make the features on this head I used mismatched fishing bobbers for eyes.  The asymmetry in the eyes makes for a more intense effect.  The large nose is the plastic head off of a toy golf club.  The ears are pieces of Styrofoam.  The mouth is suggested by a broken toy sand shovel I stuck into the foam.  I found some plastic collar to transition the head into the body and the rest is driftwood sticks.

I recycled the big Styrofoam piece from an earlier work made last spring.  It’s a little more battered the second time around.  When I added the head and legs, it made this figure taller than me.  I posed it around the studio site and then photographed it near the water to see if I could find more light.  Eventually, I moved the figure back to my studio area and posed it next to the second figure I made today.  I will show you that one next time around.

I had two people approach me while I was working who are also Falls enthusiasts and had seen my art out here before.  One young woman, an art student at the University of Cincinnati, was looking for driftwood.  She planned to pull a mold from the wood towards the goal of creating a bronze sculpture of her own.  After exchanging first names, the second conversation had a turn of its own.  The gentleman told me that he too had come down to the Falls for years and had seen other projects of mine.  For awhile, he said that a picture he took of one of my Styrofoam heads was his image of himself on his Facebook page!  I wonder which one it was and don’t know why I didn’t think to ask him at the time?  Imagine, having a face good enough for Facebook!

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Shaman from the Birdfoot Clan

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , on January 20, 2010| 1 Comment »

A pox on the weatherman for lying.  Today did not turn out sunny and in the 50’s.  It was foggy, cold, windy, and gray.  I started the morning by misplacing my trusty pocket knife.  You never realize how much you need something until you miss it.  It was given to me by my friend James, who is a potter and blogger.  I hurriedly threw another knife into the bag and headed out the door.  Among the other items I could have used, but didn’t have included:  a hat, a warm coat, and gloves.  I was carried along with the idea that eventually the sun would burn away the fog.  Two days later…I’m still waiting.  One way to stay warm is to keep your mind occupied by other things like taking pictures and making art.

I stayed out until the tips of my fingers were getting numb and my nose was dripping.  I would have gone home sooner, but I was finding stuff to work with and soon had enough for a figure.  Here are most of the pieces before assembly.  The materials I used included:  Styrofoam, beaver-chewed willow wood, bits of plastic including the red cap from a marker, a reflector, coal, glass, and a bit of twine.

You find the creek by walking west along the Woodland Trail.  This is where this sculpture and these pictures were made.  During the last high water incident, driftwood and logs were deposited along the high banks of the creek.  Some of the logs will conform perfectly to the contours of the hillside while others remain a jumble of giant pick-up sticks.

Here’s the figure in progress.  The knife I’m using is for filleting fish and I found it out here about three years a go.  This is the first time I have ever used it for anything and it is sharp enough to sharpen sticks and poke holes in the Styrofoam.  In the cold, I tried to work as quickly and as surely as I could.  By now, I have worked with these materials and forms so many times that there is little wasted motion.  I’ve learned to create within many limitations. 

In the springtime, I look for migrating waterthrushes in this area.  And in the summer, as the logs dry out, I may try to walk across the creek on top of  one of them.  For now, things are damp and slippery and not worth the risk.  I finished the figure and took one last shot before heading home.  Finding the branch that looks like a bird’s foot was the inspiration for this guardian figure.  In the background, the creek joins the Ohio River marking the territorial boundary for the Birdfoot Clan.

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Skater

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, birding, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, tagged , , , , , on January 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Not much remains of the season’s first snow at the Falls of the Ohio…except for these images.  I shot these last weekend as well as another figure that I’m unveiling today.  I call him (or her?) the Skater and originally posed this figure on ice before moving on to investigate other locations.

Skater’s head is made from some odd bit of insulating material covered in black paper.  The facial features join a variety of materials including found plastic, wood, a clam shell, and a small acorn.  I had to chip a tiny hole in the ice in order for this figure to stand up.  I zigged-zagged across the park imagining this small guy visiting the sights with me.  Here are a few of the other scenes we came across.

I’m always on the look out for bird life.  During this time of the year duck watching can be very productive.  Although on this day, all I came across were these Mallards, it’s not unusual to see during winter other species including Common Goldeneyes, White-winged Scoters, and Canvasbacks.  Ring-billed Gulls, Great Blue Herons, Carolina Wrens, Song Sparrows, Canada Geese, and Northern Cardinals were among the other year-round residents seen on this day.

The temperatures are somewhere in the high teens, but luckily there is no wind to really make things cold!  After checking out the water’s edge with its ice formations, I moved back inland to check on my studio site and the few sculptures that are still in place.  Skater trudged along with me to say hello.

Among the past projects we came across were Pot Belly and Cross-legged Lorraine holding their positions.  Since the really cold weather, there haven’t been as many people out here to potentially mess with them.  A quick look around the snow didn’t show any human footprints.  There were, however, loads of various kinds of animal tracks now generalized by the elements.  Next I visited my Styrofoam cache, but couldn’t see much of it due to the snow.  Three figures from this past year were still on guard.

After a couple hours, I started to get hungry and the thought of a fresh cup of coffee seemed blissful.  I headed back to my car enjoying the sound of icy snow underfoot.  Skater decided to stay at the outdoor studio and I went ahead without him (or her).  I walked past that mysterious object that my son Adam dubbed in the spring, “…that giant plug at the bottom of the river”.  It will take a mighty flood to float this thing away.  I wonder who will eventually inherit it?

I still have some nice ice images to share with you from this day and perhaps I will put that post together in a day or so.  As I was walking home, I saw this object sticking out of the snow and it amused me and so, I’ll end this winterland adventure with it.  Might go good with coffee and pie!

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To Build a Fire

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , on January 12, 2010| 1 Comment »

The snow we had several days a go hung on over the weekend.  It’s still cold, but that is due to change as temperatures begin to climb again this week.  Experiencing the Falls of the Ohio during these conditions is one of my favorite things to do because the landscape is transformed so evocatively.  The snow changes sound quality.  I feel as though I hear things better.  Even the notion of time seems different, but that’s harder to explain.  It is more of a feeling of rearranged priorities and participating in something elemental and ancient.  Fewer people are out and the park feels like it’s mine.  I have materials in my collecting bag and I’m going to make something today.

Near the river’s edge the ice formations are wonderful.  I spent a good part of my visit just admiring the many shapes that frozen water can take and the way it can bend light.  I took many photographs and plan a future post on just ice formations.  The willow trees serve as armatures for the ice to build upon.  Mist generated from the constantly moving and warmer water from the river seems to coat the willows in successive layers of ice that get bigger and bigger the longer the days stay below freezing.  Ice stalactites and stalagmites, frozen candlelabras, and what I describe in my mind as ice sausages, candles, and ribbons hang from the delicately thin branches of the willows.  Everything seems dipped and coated in glass.

Because the snow is covering up my usual sources of Styrofoam, I reach into the old collecting bag and begin the first of two figures I made on this day.  I usually start by matching shapes.  For example, this hunk of Styrofoam seems like it would make a good head to go on this chunk of Styrofoam which will serve as the body.  I look for expressive sticks or branches that will become the limbs.  I also spend more time on the details of the head since it will act as a focal point.  On this figure, the eyes are pieces of river-shaped coal, the ears are wood chips, the mouth is the cap from some tube of something, the nose is off of a fishing bobber. I topped him off with a plastic toy element I found that features what looks like a man blowing air from his mouth.  I imagine he’s a zephyr or old man winter.

As beautiful as these conditions can be…there is also a very real hint of danger.  You don’t want to get wet.  I remember last year stepping through the ice of a snow-covered puddle that was maybe 8 inches deep.  There was that initial rush of incredible cold followed by a painful, burning sensation!  I immediately started walking back to my vehicle and by the time I reached it, my shoes and the lower part of my trousers were frozen solid.  My feet, however, felt oddly warm, but I didn’t want to take any chances with frost bite.  I took a nice shower and changed clothes once I reached home just six miles away over the 2nd Street Bridge.

When I was a boy, one of the short stories that impressed me for its realism was Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”.  It’s a winter tale of life stripped bare to its essentials.  For me, it was an early inkling of what I would perceive as nature’s indifference towards man.  I remember the character in the story who also became wet,  struggling valiantly to build his fire to warm his frozen body, and just when he was on the verge of success, falling snow from an overhead tree limb dooms him, his fire, and the last of his matches.  Back in grade school, reading stories about people who didn’t make it seemed especially profound on my impressionable mind.

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