Styrofoam | Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

Archive for the ‘Styrofoam’ Category

Great Wolf Spider of the Falls of the Ohio

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, nature, Ohio River, recycled art, Styrofoam, tagged absurdity, Art, art and the environment, artist at exit 0, driftwood, ecostory, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, giant spider, Godzilla Effect, material culture, nature, nature and culture, photography, recyled art, recyled materials, story telling, Styrofoam, willow tree on July 22, 2014| 15 Comments »

Most of the work that I have created at the Falls of the Ohio State Park was made between the two “P’s” on the above map detail. I lifted this image from a recent brochure about the Ohio River Greenway. I’m just noticing that the word “park” has an “e” at the end…what’s with that? Is this a variation of Ye Old Park(e) or a simple misspelling? Anyway, the green line that separates the dark blue river from the blonde fossil beds is the area I walk. Most of my river finds and the pieces I make from them occur in this area. The thicker black line is the old iron railroad bridge that I have featured so often throughout this blog. It’s been a while since I posted anything new here. In fact, since I started the old riverblog, this is the longest I have gone without posting something. I have had a series of misfortunes that have dented my mojo with the biggest being losing my day job. I’m not one that easily compartmentalizes my life and occasionally things spill over and affect other areas. Among the other changes included having to purchase a new computer. It’s taken a while to get used to doing things in a different way. I’m still in the process of transferring images and data from the old machine to the new one. I have too many images that need parking in a “cloud” somewhere. I debate with myself whether or not I absolutely need all of these pictures? I do harbor the ambition to produce a book or two about my stories and collections, but I’m sure I have enough material already. This blog after all, has over 3,ooo images that I have already published. What it doesn’t have are the first five years or so of this project that are recorded on 4″ x 6″ color prints that were developed at the local drugstore.

Although I haven’t posted much recently, I am still going to the river. It’s been an unusual year out here and for much of this spring the river has been high. Summer is now upon us and with that comes the high heat and humidity. This adventure happened in early June after the willow trees had fully leafed out. I believe this is also my first post using just images recorded with my cell phone. I now have a new Nikon my brother gave me as a birthday present. He is an avid nature photographer living in Florida and had a spare digital SLR he could part with. I can’t wait to try out the new camera at the river and I hope to do this soon.

I have really fallen in love with this old willow tree. Last year, I photographed my “La Belle Riviere” piece using this tree as my model. This tree is a survivor. It’s managed to go through many floods and while it is severely bent over and its roots are exposed…it keeps on living and adding character to this landscape. I have noticed that the center of its trunk is starting to hollow out a bit. I wonder how long this willow has held this ground? I was musing about these things when I noticed movement in a nearby stand of mixed maple and willow trees. I picked up my collecting bag and walking stick and quietly moved over to investigate. I was quite unprepared for what I was about to discover! Here are a few of the first images I made of my new find.

It was another giant spider! I recalled that it was about this time last year that I encountered the Giant Driftwood Spider which is a completely different animal from the spider I was looking at now. It’s body was a bit over two feet long and a mottled white in color. This seems to be another example of what I have come to coin as the “Falls of the Ohio Godzilla Effect”. Over the years, this particular park has regularly produced freaks of nature. The most striking of which are the giant insects (and now spiders) that pop up on occasion. My theory as to why this happens here has everything to do with contemporary pollution and a degraded environment. For some reason, arthropods in particular are sensitive to these ecological changes which can result in gigantism in these organisms.

I decided to call this the Great Wolf Spider, (Lycosa styreni). Looking around, I could find no trace of a web and decided that this was a ground hunting species like other members of the family of wolf spiders, Lycosidae. I imagined that this impressive spider subsisted upon the small mammals that it could capture within the confines of this park. That would include many rodents including squirrels, rats, groundhogs, and perhaps the occasional beaver. I also imagine that stray cats and dogs would be on the menu too. This spider has large pink-colored fangs that gave it a somewhat bucktoothed appearance. As long I kept my distance and did not make any threatening moves…the spider tolerated me. I also noticed that this amazing creature also has unusual eyes.

From what I could discern…this spider sported four eyes total and all in a row. It had two large and rather mismatched eyes. One eye possessed a large red iris that leant a diabolical aspect to it. On either side of these “great eyes” were two smaller, black vestigial eyes. I wonder if the smaller eyes are used to detect peripheral motion? It was disconcerting in the least to be the object of attention from these unblinking eyes. I approached this spider with caution. Although I was fearful once the spider moved…I, however, was never in any actual danger since the spider never took any aggressive actions toward me. I was of course satisfied to keep my distance just in case!

My last images of this impressive arachnid show it blending into its surrounding environment. The sun light filtering through the tree canopy produced a dappled light and dark pattern that helped camouflage the spider as it lay in wait of its next meal. The only bit of movement that could betray it was the slight, subtle twitching produced by its driftwood-like legs. It was at this moment that I decided to back off and head home. I don’t know if this spider is a one of a kind creature or whether there are other examples of this species that could populate this park? I’m inclined to believe that I was observing a single individual. The question is…how long will it be before our continued abuse of the environment produces monsters we may regret? Until the next adventure…

Read Full Post »

High Water Spring Day

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, birding, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged Art, art and the environment, artificial fruits and vegetables, artist at exit 0, birds, catbird, driftwood, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found objects, man and nature, nature, nature and culture, ornithology, photography, plastic oil container, sense of place on May 25, 2014| 4 Comments »

We have seen a lot of water flowing over the dam at the Falls of the Ohio this season. The month of May has been punctuated by intense storms and ample sunshine. Rainfall across the Ohio River Valley has been plentiful. On this particular excursion, the river was high and many of the places that I like to sit and work were inaccessible.

There was plenty of wood and trash in the soupy brown water and despite the beautiful sunshine, I was thinking that I might need to go home early today. Instead, I decided to do a little exploring along the margins of the high water and see how far I might be able to go.

Skirting the margins of the high water, I was able to walk over logs and driftwood and reach small pockets of higher land that remained dry. After initially feeling that my day in the park would be a loss…I started to feel excited again! In part, this was due to the abundant bird life I was seeing and hearing. This particular area has always been good for me and finding birds. There is enough shelter here under the cottonwood trees and willows that provide relief from the wind and is close enough to the water. Among the species I was encountering included this colorful grouping of birds: Baltimore Orioles, Northern Cardinals, Indigo Buntings, Palm Warblers, Gray Catbirds, American Goldfinches, and a tiny Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Here’s an image I captured of a Gray Catbird singing.

These birds are very territorial and the males chase one another out of their areas when interlopers trespass. Catbirds have a wide variety of sounds they make including a “mewing” call that reminds people of cats. Usually, I hear catbirds before I see them. Thus far, this has also been a good year to observe some warbler species. Warblers are my favorite group of birds to see because they are diverse, beautiful, transient (they are famous for their long migrations) and challenging to photograph. Here’s a picture of a Palm Warbler that I recorded on this day.

This guy hung around for a while. The guidebooks say that this warbler species summers in the northern bog lands and really has nothing to do with palm trees. That was an unfortunate bit of naming. The Falls of the Ohio are just one stop among many that this bird will make and I was glad to see him. In addition to birds, I was also finding plastic junk and other bits and pieces including a miniature plastic banana…I’m sure you want to see that?

This banana (my second of the year) will enter my Fake Fruits and Vegetables Collection which now numbers hundreds of pieces found in this park. Here are other found objects, some of which I will use to create a new figure.

And…here is the figure I constructed on this day. He’s pretty outlandish looking and another in a long line of pieces that reflect how I feel about our species’ absurd handling of the environment. For the moment, he remains unnamed, but if one comes to you…please share!

He’s made mostly from insulating foam, plastic, and driftwood and sports one jaundiced eye and what appears to be a unique, pink moustache. The area I was working in had so many plastic bottles lying around that my latest Styro-figure decided to put some of the colorful ones to use. Every year, the park does its best to keep this special place clean and orderly. Unfortunately, most of the trash I use and show originates elsewhere…mostly along the Ohio River flowing north of here and is carried to this down river location during flooding and high water.

Looking around the immediate area I was able to locate various colorful plastic oil containers and my Styro-figure decided to line them up for a photo opportunity. Here’s the results.

It’s an oily color spectrum of sorts. The Styro-figure seemed happy with it and for this day…left it at that. I have used this similar idea for other plastic found objects discovered in the park.

Soon it was time to go home. The day turned out to be a more creative and productive day than I originally thought it would be. I gathered up my collecting bag, camera, and walking stick and made the very short walk up to the parking lot. Looking back, I spied a Canada Goose taking advantage of the high water to feed from bushes it normally could not reach. This seemed as good an image as any to end this post with. Thanks as always for tagging along on another day at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

Read Full Post »

Taylor’s Artist at Exit 0 Video Link

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, public art, recycled art, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged Art, art and the environment, art process, artist at exit 0 video, culture and nature, Falls of the Ohio State Park, Indiana University Southeast, man and nature, nature, sense of place, Taylor Ferguson on May 16, 2014| 14 Comments »

Taylor’s Artist at Exit 0 Video Link

Here’s a short video interview conducted by Taylor Ferguson on my Artist at Exit 0 project at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. Taylor is a journalism student at the Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, Indiana and was nice enough to be interested in filming my process. Our late March day at the river was a bit windy which the microphone picked up beautifully, however, it washed out the rest of the audio. What you hear me saying is a bit of stream of conscious narrative which was edited into the video at a later date. I previously published a post entitled “Touring with Taylor” that has some of my images and words made about the experience.

Read Full Post »

The Orange-collared Piper Among Others

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, birding, birds and birding, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, nature, nature photography, recycled art, Styrofoam, tagged Art, art and the environment, artist at exit 0, birding, birds, Black Vulture, ecostory, Falls of the Ohio, nature, nature and culture, nature photography, ornithology, osprey, photography, unusual shorebird on April 29, 2014| 5 Comments »

It’s springtime at the Falls of the Ohio and life is less shy about revealing itself. Wasn’t too long ago that finding even the most common bird could be a challenge due to the harshness and length of our winter. Now the spring migrants are winging their way northward and even the indigenous species are easier to locate. This is the time of year when the pair bonds are strongest. The resident Canada Goose population appears to have overwintered in fine fashion and it won’t be too long before the first goslings are in the water. As you may have ascertained, this post will be about one of my favorite Falls subjects…birds.

This is a composite image of three different Osprey that were simultaneously circling my position at the river recently. The trio were flying in ever-widening circles and taking advantage of the wind currents and thermals. It’s a thrilling site to observe these fish hawks diving into the water and being rewarded for their efforts with a freshly caught fish in their talons. I’ve heard about, but not yet seen, the Bald Eagle nest that is just west of the Falls area. On occasion, I have seen eagles, but considering how near they are to this area I would have thought that sightings would be more common. I’ve recently seen other birds of prey including Peregrine Falcons, Cooper’s Hawks, and our next featured bird, the Black Vulture is beginning to return to the Falls of the Ohio in numbers.

To my eye, it appears that the Black Vulture population has been increasing while our other vulture…the Turkey Vulture presents itself less frequently. The Black Vultures are more gregarious and aggressive which probably keeps the Turkey Vulture from showing its featherless, naked, red-head more? Recently, I came across this individual Black Vulture feeding upon a dead fish. It let me get quite close, but there was also a minimum distance that it would tolerate me. Whenever I would get closer to its comfort zone, the vulture would grab the fish with its sharp beak and drag it to where that minimum distance was re-established before it resumed feeding. We did this dance for a few minutes before the vulture decided it had enough and flew away. My next bird is one that I have never observed in the park before. Some of my most memorable sightings have come from species seen just once and maybe for a few seconds at that. Hardcore birders (they wear black leather jackets with chains hanging off them) are familiar with this phenomenon. Friends have asked me why I don’t indulge my avian passion in a more organized fashion, but frankly I don’t like the sense of competition that can exist in some of these groups and clubs. I appreciate that birds are fellow life forms that are inhabiting the same time and space with me and are more than feathered abstractions to cross off on some list. If you pay attention, birds can tell you much about the state of nature and this planet.

The new bird I recently came across is the Orange-collared Piper. It’s a shorebird that undertakes a tremendous journey starting at the tip of South America and it won’t stop moving northwards until it reaches its breeding grounds in the Arctic Circle. Landing at the Falls, it is a little more than half way to where it needs to be. This piper is a rather small bird and easily overlooked in this particular environment. Its white body and head look remarkably like the polystyrene that litters these shores.

The bird is so named because it sports an orange ring around its neck. Other field marks include diminutive size, brown wings, and a sharp yellow bill it uses to probe sand and mud for the tiny invertebrates it eats. Also true to its name, this bird makes a high-pitched “piping” call it uses while it feeds. To he honest, I did not hear this call with this particular individual.

Both the male and female Orange-collared Piper look about the same. At its breeding grounds, the pair incubates about five or six tiny, black speckled eggs in a rather shallow gravel depression. No fancy nest for this bird…it lays its eggs directly on the ground where cryptic coloration helps protect them from the numerous Arctic predators. This bird is considered threatened due in large measure to habitat loss and other environmental degradation. Its amazingly long migration probably also puts this bird at risk since so many things can go wrong on such a long trip. I watched this particular individual for about forty minutes or so. It moved among the driftwood in very careful fashion stopping here and there to probe the sand with its sharp yellow bill. When the bird decided to move on…there was a flash of wings too quick to see and it was gone. I hope that it reaches its destination and resurfaces at this park again. I have one final “bird” that I recorded the same day I saw the Orange-collared Piper. Perhaps you will recognize this one? It’s most distinctive field mark is the sunglasses it wears while floating on the river. Happy birding!!

Read Full Post »

Touring with Taylor

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, camp fire, culture and nature, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, found objects, nature, Ohio River watershed, photography, recycled art, Styrofoam on April 27, 2014| 12 Comments »

I’ll bet some of you out there might have wondered what’s happened to the old riverblog? Here it is near April’s end and there is nothing to show for what occurred during this month. Let me reassure you that the Artist at Exit 0 has been as active as the river has allowed him to be. Exploring the line between culture and nature is personally important. Between periodic high water, the exhibit at the Carnegie Center for Art and History, the Kentucky Derby Festival, and life in general…posting stories has needed to take a back seat. The process, however, is ongoing. I have been to the river on multiple occasions and observed the transition from winter to spring at the Falls of the Ohio. Making art remains a priority and I realize that I just feel better if I have the opportunity to make something of my own. Don’t be surprised if I end this month with a flurry of posts in an attempt to catch up. Let’s start at the beginning of April and see how far I get. Here’s a story featuring Mr. Mosquito Nose who had an experience with a young journalism student interested in what the Artist at Exit 0 does on an ordinary trip to the Falls.

This day began with a rendezvous at the river. I arrived early and was scouting out the situation. The Ohio River had just been up and I knew the riverbank was reconfigured with different driftwood and new junk waiting to be picked up. I had been contacted previously by Taylor Ferguson who is a journalism student at the nearby Indiana University Southeast in New Albany who requested to tag along with me on one of my Falls of the Ohio adventures. Taylor has a creative project of her own…to create a short, documentary video and she wanted the Artist at Exit 0 to be the subject. This was the first time anyone has requested this and so I agreed to do it. With a cool and sunny day before us we left the still leafless willows and walked out onto the riverbank.

Taylor turned out to be a super friendly and very interested in my projects. I will admit that it was odd being tethered to a microphone and I felt a little self-conscience talking to myself so openly with a video camera pointing in my direction. I usually have some dialogue running through my head as I explore this environment, but to hear it in such an audible fashion was different. I brought Taylor to my U.F.O. (Unidentified Floating Object) art site where I keep my river materials and demonstrated how I went about making an absurd figure from the poor stuff of the world. With Mr. Mosquito Nose in hand, the three of us left my outdoor studio and explored the environs near the railroad bridge. Along the way, Taylor would ask me questions about when and why I started this project. By now, those are familiar questions. I enjoy looking for what is interesting about each day. So, now it was time to walk the riverbank with Mr. Mosquito Nose and be present in this moment.

The lack of footprints in the sand told me that few others had recently passed this way. As we walked along, I kept an eye out for those little micro-contexts that I could pose this latest Styro-figure in. After making an object…I’m interested in using it to create an image. With luck, the images might then be used to tell a story. Here we have come across an old, frayed barge cable that the river washed into the park. It seemed a good location to take a few photos.

Near the cable, we came across the remains of a camp fire. Brick and rock define a shallow pit that still had some ashes in it. For a few years now, I have also photographed old camp fire sites with the intention of publishing them here as a collection. I’m always struck by the elemental nature of this activity and what its importance has meant for our species’ survival. We set up Mr. Mosquito Nose by the fire pit and now those photos are a part of this record.

Among the other objects we came across was this old sprayer. The figure’s arms are raised in warning because this might have potentially been used to spray herbicide or worse. Caution is required whenever you come across something that could possibly harm you. Knock on wood, I’ve been doing this project for more than a decade without any physical reactions or incidents from the stuff I’ve encountered out here. I place a lot of faith in the diluting power of millions of gallons of fresh water.

Moving on to another location, I collected a few glass and plastic bottles along the way and made this composition. Some of these containers have mystery contents of their own.

Later we came across this pet food bowl that was half full with water. The water in this bowl could have collected here as the river level dropped or been filled up by rainfall? It is another example of an incongruous object making an appearance at the Falls.

Taylor and I came across another barge cable that had been snagged by a low hanging willow branch and created this final photograph with Mr. Mosquito Nose. The day was moving along and both of us were needed elsewhere. About a week later, Taylor called me up to say that most of the audio the microphone picked up had interfering sounds of wind and water. This seemed perfect to me because that’s what I usually hear out here as well with the occasional bird call thrown in for good measure. Taylor had three hours of footage that needed to be edited down to three minutes which sounded like a daunting challenge in its own right without the audio difficulties. I later caught up with Taylor in Louisville and did a quick voice over recording that I hope will do the trick for her project. At the time of this writing…I haven’t seen the finished video, but hope it turns out for Taylor and that she gets a good grade for it. Okay, that’s it for now from the Falls of the Ohio State Park…one last image then I’m calling it a post.

Read Full Post »

Big Spool and Tiny Willow Island

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, nature photography, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged absurd art, Art, art and the environment, artist at exit 0, Carnegie Center for Art and History, culture and nature, driftwood, ecological art, Falls of the Ohio, figurative art, flotsam and jetsam, found materials, found objects, material culture, nature, photography, repurposed art, Styrofoam sculpture, willow on March 31, 2014| 13 Comments »

It’s a sunny Saturday and warm for this time of year. One of those days I can’t wait to get to the river. Spring is still slow in developing, but it can’t be much longer now. I spent a good part of the day just filling up my canvas collecting bag with all types of odds and ends both man-made and natural that have washed up on these fabled shores. I’m finding so much stuff that for practical reasons I decide to see if I can find a spot up the bank and under the willows that might make a good location for a temporary outdoor art studio. I can offload some of my larder for future use while continuing to walk the edge of the river. I’m enjoying the sunshine and taking deep breaths of the fresh air.

I chose a spot bordered by a large log that keeps most of the driftwood at bay and what I call the U.F.O. or Unidentified Floating Object which is circular metal platform that was once painted white with blue trim. It’s starting to show some rust now. This large object washed over the dam during a high water moment three or four years a go. Since then it’s changed positions with the rising and falling river levels and was once completely buried under driftwood. The U.F.O. is a platform that normally would be anchored out on the river. Barges and other water craft can tie on to it if necessary. Some how this one got loose and relocated to the park. When I first discovered it here I also imagined that it was a giant bathtub plug that helped keep the water in the river. I was lucky that I had the same outdoor studio for many years before this winter’s high water rearranged the landscape again and floated all my collected materials away. I spent a few hours walking the river collecting Styrofoam and sticks and can’t wait to make something new.

The first figure I make here is from the largest chunks of polystyrene I had found on this excursion. I used two fishing floats (one larger than the other for expressive effect) for the eyes. The nose is a plastic piece from a fooseball table. The mouth is a red reflector. My figure has ears, arms, and legs that are pieces of driftwood. The figure has a benevolent feeling to it and I can’t wait to photograph it by the river. I did run into a young sculptor attending the Kentucky School of Art who was collecting driftwood for her own project. Her name is Jenn and she approached me asking if I was the person with the show at the Carnegie Center for Art and History? She and her classmates had seen the exhibition. Jenn is building an installation at the school and promised to let me know when she completed it. It will be fun to see art made by someone else from materials collected within the park.

When I first meet the river, I spend a little time looking around and scouting out potential locations to create the photographs that will represent this day in my project. I decide that I like this tiny “willow island” which consists of clay and sand bound together by the living roots of this tree. Waves and water wash all around it and at times it does look like an island. As the river recedes to its normal pool, this tree will be high and dry at last. It’s amazing what it takes to keep this tree in place with such a dynamic river always testing its resolve to survive. During the highest river levels, this tree would be completely submerged underwater. Many of the willows along this stretch of the river bear scars and wounds from large logs battering them, breaking branches, and grinding bark away. I pose the figure on the root mass and move to the next shot which isn’t too far away.

Near tiny willow island is a large wooden “spool” for wire line or cable. I’m amazed by this object’s heavy-duty construction. This spool floated into here and is now partially sunk into the sand. Small waves lap the shoreline and you can also see black coal dust swirling around the water’s edge. Later when I see my pictures I’m struck by how similar this spool is to the circular platform that now forms part of my latest outdoor studio. This new area to cache my materials is very visible and hence ultra public, however, if we have heavy spring rains…it’s very possible that all this will be washed away and rearranged again. I often wonder what might go through people’s minds when they stumble upon my outdoor atelier? It’s an odd archeological site of Styrofoam boulders, small piles of plastic toys, and a tangle of found roots and driftwood. All the stuff you need to make an absurd figure! I left my latest Styro-creation next to the spool. I will go a head and tell you…I returned a week later and all I could find of him was his body and legs. There must be headhunters out here? I searched the area, but found no further trace of my figure. As with most of my Falls projects, they continue to “exist” as images. The exhibition that Michael Wimmer and I are participating in at the Carnegie Center of Art and History is entering its last week. I’m so appreciative of the positive response I’ve received for my work. The show will end with a tea and cookies closing. If you are in the area, please stop by.

Read Full Post »

Skyliner

Posted in Art, birds and birding, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio River, public art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged Art, birds, decoys, driftwood, ducks, Falls of the Ohio, flotsam and jetsam, found objects, lost toys, Louisville, nature, Ohio River valley, photography, plastic, sense of place, Styrofoam, the passing of the seasons on March 1, 2014| 19 Comments »

We are all getting antsy for spring to arrive…winter has been hanging on and on for dear life. It’s been hard to access the river because the water level has been high. Most of the places I visit at the Falls of the Ohio State Park are currently under muddy water. We have had just a handful of nicer, warmer days, but that has accelerated the melting of the snow and ice throughout the more than 800 hundred mile long Ohio River Valley. I don’t mind the cold so much, but it’s harder to do what I like to do on a swollen waterway. Here’s how one of my spots under the railroad bridge looked during my last visit.

Not a pretty picture seeing a river as brown as gravy. Lots of logs and wood floating on top and when you look more closely…there is also plenty of plastic and polystyrene in the mix too. Another view this time with me standing on the wall that separates one side of the river from the other.

All those white spots are pieces of Styrofoam. With my usual haunts inaccessible I moved further east…just outside the park’s entrance. There has been a lot of activity in this area that has caught my notice.

There has been a campaign on the Indiana side to make the river more accessible particularly in areas that afford a good view of Louisville’s skyline. To do this the vegetation has been bulldozed away. I came across an elderly person walking her dog and she said to me quite unsolicited..”Bout time they did something to clean up this mess!” as she pointed a thin finger in the general direction of the river. In this case, one person’s mess is another creature’s habitat. The true “mess” comes from all the plastic bottles and chunks of man-made junk that make it into the water. No amount of removing trees and creating views will help with this and it seems what we prefer looking at is a very selective process. I brought my collecting bag along. I’m hoping to pick up materials to use in an upcoming art workshop at the Carnegie Center for Art and History, but I find a few other interesting items as well and photograph them upon discovery.

I came across this smiling yellow cat toy that I think came from a fast food establishment.

Finding these paint containers made me realize how hungry I’ve become for color. I’m looking forward to the world turning green again with color notes supplied by wild flowers.

This plastic man with his bright, radioactive orange color was hard to miss. He was a skydiver or paratrooper in a former life and probably fell to earth using a plastic parachute.

There were other signs from life that the season’s are about to change over. I’m ever alert to what the birds are doing. I spotted my first Red-winged Blackbirds of the year and they are among the first migratory species to arrive. Male Northern Cardinals are singing their courtship songs and scouting out the best spots to build a nest. On the river, however, I spied what I consider a bird sign of winter. A nice sized flock of Lesser Scaup ducks were mostly sleeping and relaxing on the surface of the water. In this area, it seems we see more duck varieties in late fall and early winter. Here’s a peek at the scaups.

Before I move away from the ducks…I found one other to add to my growing collection. This is a Mallard decoy made from plastic. Not too long a go, I found another plastic decoy representing the Pintail Duck.

One other bird note…I heard them before I could see them, but I knew what they were instantly. The familiar calls of migrating Sandhill Cranes winging their way back north. Like geese, they fly in V-shaped formations to avoid the air turbulence created by other cranes flapping their wings. These birds are high flyers and this was the best I could do in taking their picture with the camera I have.

As February becomes March…the forecast for the Kentuckiana area is calling for freezing rain and snow. It appears that Old Man Winter will be hanging out for another week. Spring will eventually get here and already you can tell that it stays light outside longer with each passing day. I am, however, really eager to see how the river has rearranged this familiar landscape.

Once the Ohio River recedes there will be a new landscape to explore and who knows what I will find? I like that each year is different from the last. Well this post is drawing to a close. Thanks for visiting and see you soon…from the skyline of Louisville and the Falls of the Ohio.

Read Full Post »

My Top 5 Eco-Art Tales, by the Artist at Ohio Falls

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, birding, collections, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, nature, nature photography, public art, recycled art, Styrofoam, unusual collection, tagged Art, artificial food, artist at exit 0, birds, Culture, Ecostories, environmental story, Falls of the Ohio, material culture, nature, plastic flowers, riverblog, short stories, Styrofoam on February 17, 2014| 4 Comments »

I consider this a great honor that fellow blogger Isaac Yuen focused one of his posts around my art projects from the past year and the tales I’ve created around them. For several years now, I have enjoyed Isaac’s award winning blog Ecostories. He has made me a believer in the power of the spoken and written word to convey universal truths particularly when they speak about our evolving relationship with nature. Stories are important and everyone has a story to tell. Isaac has a great way of taking on complex narratives and making them understandable. I encourage you to check out his thoughtful, positive, and beautifully written blog.

Read Full Post »

Gallery Talk at the Carnegie Center

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

The Potential in Everything

Posted in animal art works, Art, creativity, Green, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, tagged Albertus Gorman, Art, art exhibition, artist at exit 0, Audubon art, Carnegie Center for Art and History, found materials, Indiana, New Albany, R. Michael Wimmer, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, The Potential in Everything, upscaled art on January 26, 2014| 26 Comments »

On January 24 our long-awaited exhibition at the Carnegie Center for Art and History in New Albany, Indiana opened with a big reception. I say “our” because this is a two person show featuring work by R. Michael Wimmer and yours truly. The exhibition in entitled “The Potential in Everything” because both Michael and I utilize a diversity of materials to make our art. While I depend on what I find at the river, Michael goes much further afield to locate objects that project a certain “aura” and associative power for him. Following are some images from the exhibition which will be up until April 5.

I brought about 25 pieces that I had saved from the river and park visitors. I have gotten into the habit of keeping some of my better creations for events like this. It’s such a big leap first seeing the work at the river and then in a more formal art space where everything is displayed, labelled, and illuminated with care.

The other extreme is having several rooms full of friends, family, and assorted art lovers coming out on a very cold night to take in this exhibition. A wonderful jazz band provided music. At times, it was hard to see the art because of the people…which is a great situation to be in and I felt very lucky. I know I did a lot of talking and meeting people who said that they knew my work through this blog. This happened more than once and it made me feel good that local people were checking out my river adventures online every now and then. I returned to the center the following day so I could get a better look at the show and to take a few more pictures. Overnight, it snowed two to three inches while we slept.

Both Michael and my sculptures are assembled. He favors a wider variety of materials and I have over time evolved a vocabulary of forms and found materials that I prefer. The pieces I’ve saved function for me as mostly a means to an end. The story telling aspect of my work has been the biggest shift in what I do over the years and it has caused me to reassess my priorities when I go on location. I was pleased that people thought the stories added something extra to the artworks. Wall labels had excerpts from my river tales and I supplied a binder with printed stories that accompany many of the objects on display. It takes the pieces away from being strictly artworks as usual. I do, however, try to make compelling sculptures to help activate the spaces I work in and to assist in creating interesting images. The tall figure in the foreground is entitled “Cycladic Oarsman” and was made specifically for this show. I gave it this title because the face has some similarities with very early Greek marble statuary.

Karen Gillenwater, the Carnegie Center’s curator did a fine job of pairing artworks together and finding what Michael and I have in common artistically. Both of us have channeled John James Audubon and bird imagery. The naturalist’s earliest attempts at drawing birds happened in the Kentuckiana area during the early nineteenth century. Over the years I have made several Audubon figures and most of the birds I’ve created are creatures he never encountered in America’s pristine wildernesses.

The Styro-fish I’ve made stand near a wall piece that Michael did about the deteriorating marine environment where he lived for a while in Florida. My fish are made with some of the junk I’ve removed from the Ohio River. Michael now makes his home and studio in New Albany. Both of us are also fond of time references. My stuff flirts with time on a number of levels including quantum mechanics. Clock faces and dials appear in many of Michael’s Carnegie pieces and some of his sculptures are also working clocks. A good friend of mine once told me that much of life is what we decide to spend time on and that seems true for both artists in this exhibition. I appreciate that the Carnegie Center for Art and History believes it is important to generate good quality materials to help supplement an exhibition. The staff at the center produced a wonderful gallery guide, show announcement, a banner that hangs from the building’s facade, a poster, and both Michael and I have the opportunity to give gallery talks and lead workshops. I may never have a chance like this again where the hosting institution helps the artists out as much as the Carnegie Center for Art and History does. I know of many regional and local artists who feel that this is what makes showing at the Carnegie such a treat. The exhibition continues outside and both Michael and I have works positioned in front of the building. Here is Michael’s piece and all the work’s components find similarities with details and materials on the building.

My piece is my long, beaded necklace made from softball cores and is entitled “La Belle Riviere” which I originally displayed at the Falls of the Ohio in October of last year. It was quite a production and required a bucket truck and a worker supplied by the city to hang the piece in the tulip poplar tree outside the center. For now, I will close with this image and look forward to my next post as the Artist at Exit 0. Stay warm everybody.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »

Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

Art and images from the Falls of the Ohio.

Archive for the ‘Styrofoam’ Category

Great Wolf Spider of the Falls of the Ohio

High Water Spring Day

Taylor’s Artist at Exit 0 Video Link

The Orange-collared Piper Among Others

Touring with Taylor

Big Spool and Tiny Willow Island

Skyliner

My Top 5 Eco-Art Tales, by the Artist at Ohio Falls

Gallery Talk at the Carnegie Center

The Potential in Everything

Archives

Categories

Pages

Art and images from the Falls of the Ohio.

Archive for the ‘Styrofoam’ Category

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Archives

Categories

Pages