Squirt guns and water pistols are among the many toys that the Ohio River washes ashore at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. To see more of this collection…click on the Squirt Gun Collection in my Pages section to the right. Thanks artistatexit0.
Archive for the ‘unusual collection’ Category
Squirt Gun Collection
Posted in Absurd, collections, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, Ohio River, unusual collection, watershed, tagged Art, artistatexit0, collecting, Falls of the Ohio, found objects, material culture, Ohio River, photography, popular culture, squirt gun, water pistol on June 26, 2011| 3 Comments »
Year of the Box Turtles
Posted in animals, Art, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, unusual collection, tagged artistatexit0, Eastern box turtle, Falls of the Ohio, nature, photo series, photography, turtles on June 1, 2011| 66 Comments »
With the record rains and high water at the Falls of the Ohio State Park, 2011 has already become a memorable year. Of all the wildlife I have observed this Spring, the sightings of so many Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) has added to the mystique of this year. My history with this engaging turtle in this park is slim. During the eight previous years I’ve come across live specimens only twice. On two other occasions I’ve found the intact carapaces of deceased turtles, one of which had a pellet-sized hole in its shell. Their relative scarcity reinforced the idea that although this is a widespread turtle in our country, it was becoming less common for many reasons including habitat loss, road kills, and wild animals collected for the pet trade. What I’m about to present is a portfolio of eight individual box turtles that I have seen and photographed over the last two months. No doubt the flooding helped concentrate them in ever shrinking territories and this is why I came to find them. I tried to be careful in handling and left them where they were found. The first turtle I came across was in the western section of the park and here are two images of it.
This one was found after the first flood. It has really interesting and colorful beading on its neck.
The Box Turtle #2 was found swimming to higher ground during the height of the second flood in May and in the eastern section of the park.
Box Turtle #3, I found twice in the same day in the eastern section of the park. Here is what it looked like. Note that the second scute bears what looks like a lower case letter “a” on its shell.
And now for the opposite side of turtle #3…
Here’s the same turtle the second time around and this time he has found a friend!
At first I thought this was a male and female turtle, but I didn’t check anything but eye color which in this case was on the red side indicating the chance they were both male. When I came across them, they were certainly aware of each other. The larger of the two box turtles may have been the older specimen based on how worn its shell was. I’ve heard that counting the growth rings on these turtles is not a reliable way to determine their ages. My field guides indicated that this is a long-lived turtle with individuals easily living to 40 to 50 years and in rare cases possibly a 100 years old. Here are three images with Box Turtle #4.
Box Turtle #5 …I only have one image of it mostly retracted in its shell. This one is also from the eastern section of the park.
Box Turtle #6 is very colorful and was found near the Interpretive Center during the height of the flood. Although it’s hard to tell…it’s standing on the remains of a refrigerator that floated in with the Ohio River.
The next two turtles are the smallest ones I’ve found thus far and each was found in the eastern section of the Falls of the Ohio State Park. This is Box Turtle #7.
Here’s the underside of the same turtle showing the plastron and the hinge that allows the box turtle to completely hide inside its shell.
To close, I have three images of Box Turtle #8 and its the smallest yet. One other thing I noticed about this little guy was that it was missing part of its left front foot which had healed from whatever injured it.
Another image to help provide scale using a quarter for a guide.
Of all the info I learned about box turtles, the fact that most surprised me is that if left alone they can live their entire lives in a relatively restricted area the size of a football field. They become so habituated to this territory that if they are moved from their familiar surroundings they can become dislocated and fail to thrive. This is a good reason not to take these turtles out of the wild. I placed #8 on the ground wishing it well. It pleased me knowing that there were at least this many box turtles in this small park. I wonder how many others I will come across before year’s end?
Triple Mickey, Triple Piggies, and Other Fun Finds
Posted in Absurd, art and environment, collections, Falls of the Ohio, Ohio River, unusual collection, watershed, tagged Art, artificial food, artistatexit0, Beach combing, Falls of the Ohio, flood finds, flotsam and jetsam, found objects, lost toys, Mickey Mouse, photography, plastic toys, river collection, Santa novelties on May 26, 2011| 6 Comments »
Okay, by now you know that we have had our share of floods, etc…at the Falls of the Ohio. The Ohio River has gone up and down a couple of times over the past two months. This post is devoted to toy finds that I have made during the moments I could access the riverbank and surrounding environs. I think one of the biggest reasons I love visiting this place is that I always find something interesting left behind by the river. This activity keeps me from spending money at the flea markets and antique malls and yet satisfies my need for visual stimulation. I came up with my post’s title by looking at what I found recently. Weirdly, this time I found three Mickey Mouse related objects and searching my brain…I don’t think I have even found one previous one before? It all started with the first image in this post and …
…then I found these broken glasses. A week or so after that find came this.
I think this was some kind of self-inking stamp. And now for the piggies and they come in graduating sizes. Let’s start with the smallest.
This pig is next in line.
Now this was a bit of a disturbing find bobbing in the waves and it’s considerably larger in size than the previous pigs. I’m not sure what kind of toy this used to be…but here it is.
I have found other plastic farm animals and here’s the latest selections.
I’m surprised I found this because it’s a small, neutrally colored fragment.
I also find a lot of different kinds of heads. Perhaps the most common are doll heads. These are the most recent.
I even found a couple different types of Santa Claus heads.
Although he’s no Santa…this guy does have a beard.
Even more heads!!!
I think this is some googly-eyed clam or something?
This find was different. It’s the first fake nose I’ve found out here and reminds me of Woody Allen’s early comedy entitled “Sleeper”.
I have an “impressive” fake food collection going and here’s my latest goodies. In my last post I showed one fake banana…and here’s the other.
A bunch of celery followed by conjoined plastic hot dogs.
There is just so much of this stuff out here…now for some other random finds. I especially like this Flintstone toy and wonder if it’s old?
A whistle shaped like a banjo?
Telephone number one.
Telephone number two…proof of evolution?
I could go on for a while, but realize this is a lot to take in and so I’ll close with the keys to my heart. Take care everybody!
Along the Muddy Banks
Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, birding, birds and birding, collections, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, watershed, tagged Art, artistatexit0, birds, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, flotsam and jetsam, found objects, Louisville, nature, photography, Pileated Woodpecker, recycled art, Red-shouldered hawk, site specific art, Styrofoam sculpture on May 22, 2011| 4 Comments »
The Ohio River has receded by the Falls of the Ohio. For many weeks the river was loath to relinquish the territory it had recently flooded. I ventured down the river bank and explored the more eastern section of the park. The following post is some thoughts and images made during this expedition into a very moist and muddy area filled with debris and wildlife.
While exploring the park it is not unusual to run into others who are curious to see what the river has left behind. Sometimes just a nod of recognition and some small gesture to reassure that one poses no threat is made and each party then attends to their own business. And then sometimes a more sustained conversation occurs where information of mutual interest is exchanged. Such was the case on this trip where I ran into this fellow of short stature with a bulbous blue nose who had been investigating the same stretch of river as me. We tagged along with one another for a short time before family duties called me home. I believe our initial conversation had something to do with the muddiness of the area. In places, things looked safe and dry enough to stand on…and then the mud below would reach up and grab you by the ankles. Sometimes small, blue crabs would pop out of their holes to check out whether the trapped parties would be good to eat.
In my case, I am simply too big for them and once the crabs realized this they scuttled away. Getting back to “Mr. Blue Nose”, (funny how we didn’t think to ask each other’s name?), we were both astonished by the debris left behind by the retreating river. After witnessing several other high water incidents over time…this is fairly representative of the stuff we found.
As you can see it’s mostly plastic containers, polystyrene (aka Styrofoam), and lots of shredded bark and wood chips. Every once in a while, something more interesting would turn up. While exploring, Mr. Blue Nose and I found two sign fragments and I kept these for my Found Painting and Sign Collection. Here are the two precious finds. The first one is kind of self-explanatory. I like to muse that this is one way the universe communicates to me by leaving these things in my path for me to ponder.
I’m not sure what it is asking…Please don’t litter or Please, only you can prevent forest fires, whatever its actual message, this is at least a polite sign. The other one is more reclusive, in fact it is “shy”. Here’s a picture of this enigmatic sign.
I like the hand-routed and painted “sign” for a person. I think this fragment may originally have asked dog owners to leash their pets…but its shy and won’t tell me for certain. Other found treasures included my second banana of the season…naturally it went into the old collecting bag to later join the other artificial produce I have found out here over time.
I also find other kinds of foam out here. Here’s an interesting found sculpture made from polyurethane. I have come across busted aerosol cans of this stuff where the foam has expanded out resembling entrails.
Mr. Blue Nose called my attention to a log that something had torn into and he wondered what could do this kind of damage. Chunks of bark and soft decayed wood were scattered all around.
I was happy to inform my new friend that this looked like the work made by a Pileated Woodpecker and I showed him images of this great bird I had taken just a few hours earlier.
Since no one can verify that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is still alive along some wild river in Arkansas…the Pileated Woodpecker has the distinction of being our biggest living woodpecker. For years, I have observed a pair of these crow-sized birds in the park. This one is the male and can be identified by his red mustache. The female lacks this and has more black on its head.
The Pileated Woodpecker has a large bill that goes through wood in a hurry. Carpenter ants and beetle larvae can be found in these decaying logs and make up the main diet of this magnificent bird. If you look closely at the photo above you can see a nice grub about to be swallowed. This bird was so intent on looking for food that I was able to get closer than usual to it. A couple of weeks a go, I found a Bessbug beetle which is a nice sized insect that uses decaying wood in its life-cycle. This beetle is also known as the Patent-leather Beetle. Here’s an adult I found sunning itself on a piece of Styrofoam. These beetles can get nearly two inches long or about five centimeters. I wonder if our country will ever adopt the metric system? Anyway, these beetle grubs make nice woodpecker snacks.
Thanks to my new companion we were able to make one other nice bird sighting on this day. Mr. Blue Nose alerted me to some commotion happening in a nearby stand of trees.
My friend said that he saw several blackbirds (grackles) chasing a larger bird from tree to tree. I have observed this behavior before when birds of prey are present. I gathered my camera up and went to see if I could find out what was the object of all this attention. It turned out to be this beautiful Red-shouldered Hawk. Here are a couple of pictures of it before the smaller birds drove it out of the area.
I always feel lucky when I see such beautiful birds in the park. Before flying away, I saw this bird’s mate arriving and the two flew away together. Soon it was time for me to fly away too and I left my companion on the river bank.
We parted near the railroad bridge and perhaps we will see one another again? My last image is from an overlook area popular with visitors who want a better view of the tainter gates. I have taken many pictures here over the years, but this one is different. To give you an idea of how high the river was…this log was deposited on the fence by the retreating river! Or, I hope so…I would hate to think it jumped up here! So long for now!!
The Choir
Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, tagged Art, artistatexit0, Falls of the Ohio, photo series, photography, recycled art, sculpture, site specific art, Styrofoam on March 17, 2011| 3 Comments »
As I write this post the Ohio River is still high and lingering due to unexpected heavy rains. I’m anxious to see what the new standard will be along the riverbanks. Until my old haunts are once again accessible, I’m forced to dip into the old archives. Here’s a selection of images made between October 2010 and February 2011 of a sculptural grouping I came to call “The Choir”. Some of the members of this group made appearances in my last post and were in fact made from Styrofoam and other found objects I collected along the river and kept at the plein air studio. Each began as a unique piece that was constructed and photographed on site at the Falls of the Ohio. After each piece fell apart or was destroyed by other park visitors, I retrieved the parts and moved them back to the studio. I didn’t try to repair them but instead chose to stand them back up to see what would happen. Happily, people interacted with them by changing, rearranging, and adding new figures to the grouping. On the down side, they were also attacked several times, smashed and eventually knocked down. Now, who knows where they are, but it’s possible I may find parts of them in other places of the park. In my imagination I see “The Choir” being lifted by the water and floating away piece by piece. Here are the images which are in chronological order except for the very last picture.
Plein Air Studio
Posted in Art, art and environment, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, tagged Art, artist's studio, artistatexit0, driftwood, Falls of the Ohio, nature, Ohio River, outdoor studio, photo series, plein air studio, Styrofoam on March 13, 2011| 6 Comments »
The Ohio River is even higher now than my last post. I hope to venture out today and snap a few pictures to share later. It’s sobering watching nature do what it can do. I began the morning looking online at the damage the earthquake and tsunami have wreaked upon northern Japan. Those folks need our help…please contribute however you can.
Back in Kentuckiana, we are safe. The flood gates are up and we are not expecting any heavy rain showers that would further swell the river. Low-lying areas such as the aptly named River Road are under water. Residents who live directly by the water have either evacuated or moved their possessions to higher ground which in some cases is the roof of their homes. For these people, their love of the river is worth the periodic inconveniences it can pose. The Ohio River is expected to crest today and begin falling back to normal pool which will take several days.
Until then, I have had the opportunity to look through images from the past year and put together a few “scrapbooks” This one is of my plein air studio that I extensively used for ten months beginning in June 2010. It’s now gone. I’ll know more when I get the chance to visit. I originally selected this site because it was relatively out of view, but close to where I was finding my materials. Having a somewhat “fixed” location also gave the public who stumbled upon this spot, a chance to interact with the materials I was finding and provided more choices than finding the single figures I made throughout the park. People could make their own sculptures…happily some were made. So, here are a few pictures taken over the course of several seasons or about nine months worth.
More Found Toys
Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, fresh water, Ohio River, unusual collection, tagged Art, artistatexito, Falls of the Ohio, found objects, found plastic toys, Louisville, photography, river objects, toys in trees on March 2, 2011| 10 Comments »
The Ohio River is currently on the rise. I think by now, the plein air studio I’ve been using all these past months is under water. I’m sure the next time I walk this landscape it will have been rearranged. With spring coming this will be a new place once again and with it a new cycle of debris and artifacts will have washed ashore. I was looking through several months of images shot at the Falls of the Ohio and chose more pictures of toys that I have come across. I’ll end this post with a bonus feature!
And now for the bonus!! Usually after a flood it is common to find logs and sticks that have been snagged by trees as in the above image. On occasion the retreating waters deposit other objects like strange fruits for me to find. Here are a couple more found toys that illustrate this.
Here’s the last toy in three images. Thanks, and see you after the flood.
Beyond the Pail
Posted in Absurd, collections, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, unusual collection, watershed, tagged Art, artistatexit0, bowl, container, Falls of the Ohio, litter, photo series, photography, plastic on February 19, 2011| 13 Comments »
I debated what to call or title this post and I had other ideas which included “Bowled Over” and “Kicking the Bucket”, but decided “Beyond the Pail” would work. I chose my post’s title because as word play, it also suggested something beyond acceptable standards perhaps even implying complicity. When you see the images perhaps they will “speak” to this? As it goes, this is a relatively focused set of images. They were all taken within a few hours of one another in a relatively short expanse of riverbank at the Falls of the Ohio. I call this area the “Elephants’ Graveyard of Plastic” because it seems a lot of plastic washes up here to die and the scattered remains are hard to not notice. This post features common containers and I’ve organized them by color. And now, without further ado.
Faux Duck and Plastic Bread
Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, watershed, tagged Art, artistatexit0, driftwood, duck decoy, Falls of the Ohio, found objects, Ohio River, photography, Styrofoam on February 11, 2011| 9 Comments »
The clock read ten minutes after four, otherwise, I wouldn’t have remembered what time it was when I began my last exploration of the river. This is one of the world’s largest clocks and once was the pride of the Colgate toothpaste factory in Clarksville, Indiana which is just a quarter-mile at most from the entrance to the Falls of the Ohio State Park. The company moved to Mexico and now the building is for sale. The clock’s fate is uncertain as are all the jobs that were lost when the company relocated to another country. The fire truck happened to be going by at the moment I took this image.
After parking my vehicle, I descended down the wooden staircase and into the driftwood field that was deposited last summer. It has been a gray and melancholic winter. I noticed that the river was higher now than during my last foray and my heart lifted a bit knowing that there would be fresh river booty to find! I was correct and this post has a few of the objects and sights I came across during the hour and half I spent here.
I have observed that many people who visit here never venture far from these stairs. They may go down to the water’s edge to take a look, skip a stone, or write their names in the shifting sands. I came across the word “people” written in the sand and recorded the image before the advancing waves erased it.
After so many years of walking this beach, I’m amazed at how much of the same kinds of stuff I find out here. This was one of five basketballs I came across. I wish I had a dollar for every one I’ve seen at the Falls. The river was playing with this one and its waters would float it to a different location and then cast it back upon the shore before licking it back into the water again. Here’s another ball I found. It’s small and looks similar to a plastic representation of a ball of yarn? I like the contrast between the ball and the willow rootlets that captured it.
I’m always finding dolls and doll parts. On this expedition I found three dolls. Here’s a picture of one of them as I found it. I’m not certain if this is a Barbie doll or a knock off of one? Doesn’t matter, what catches my eye here is the arrangement of doll and driftwood. Because there isn’t a lot of color involved…it would be easy to overlook this while walking.
More flamboyant is this cloth and plastic artificial “plant” embedded in the sand. Now this was easy to find because it’s winter and the eyes are starved for color. I wonder what these plastic “nuts” are supposed to be?
Now comes the part where this post’s title originates. For the last couple of weeks the Falls has been home to many Mallard ducks. I was walking along the shoreline when from a distance I spotted this next to a large log.
My first reaction is why is this duck just sitting there and not trying to get away? Is it hurt or sick? Did it narrowly escape the talons of one of the local Peregrine falcons? It took me a moment before I realized that it wasn’t real!
This is the first decoy that I have come across out here and thought photographing it next to tracks left by webbed feet was appropriate. The indigenous people of this country were the first (as far as we know) to make decoys to lure prey species closer to the hunter. There is an aspect to some of my Styrofoam sculptures that takes a page from them. I want people to come closer and check out what I’m doing and come away with a greater awareness of what’s happening to the environment around them.
My subconscious must be scanning this stuff as I move along, because I don’t know how I found this! It’s a plastic slice of bread or toast and not much different in shape or color to the other forms that were around it. Naturally, it went into the collecting bag and joins the other artificial food items I have found out here over the many years.
After hanging out at the water’s edge, I cut up the beach to my open air studio in the willows. The so-called “Choir” grouping had been smashed to bits since my last visit. All the figures have been beheaded, but things weren’t a total loss. I did find this to cheer me up!
Some other creative soul left me this next to the plank I sit on when I make my Styrofoam sculptures. This small figure looks surprised like it’s caught in mid slip. Perhaps there was ice and one foot flew out from under it? All the materials were on site and I’m glad that someone else took advantage of them to make something no matter how silly. Whenever I’m out here it’s easy for me to lose track of time, but I knew it was time to go because I was cold and getting hungry. On the walk back to my car I took this photograph.
I call it the “Staircase to Heaven” and yes it’s a wooden set of stairs that was snagged by this willow during a flood two years a go. I once found a refrigerator stuck in the top of a tall tree and the river put it there during another bout of high water. The river level can surprise you and with all the snow that has fallen this winter north of here. It’s very possible we may see high water again and soon. This weekend, (can it be true!) it’s supposed to be sunny and warmer. I definitely will plan another trip and maybe make something of my own from all this river junk. Until then…
Confession of an Obsessive “Potentialist”
Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, Originality, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, tagged Art, art studio, artistatexit0, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, hoarding, Kentucky, Louisville, obsessive compulsion on February 6, 2011| 12 Comments »
I debated with myself about going down this road in this post and decided it would be okay. I did solicit opinions from fellow artist friends on the topic of obsessive compulsions and hoarding in an attempt to come up with a self-diagnosis. Opinions varied. Since photographs do a good job of describing things… I will start with images from the basement of my house and my dilemma (and subject of this post) will become clearer.
I have been doing my Falls of the Ohio project since 2003. During this time, I have made many sculptures from the materials I found deposited in the park by the Ohio River. Most of those materials and sculptures were left on site, but not all. I do have a desire to remove the trash I find from this environment even if I realize I can’t get it all. The result is that I have brought a lot of it home with the notion of using it in my art, sometime in the near future.
I “maintain” a small studio space in my basement where I store materials with the aim of making something from them. One issue I have is that I see “potential” in so many things and I’m reluctant to give up on materials that could become art. I am plagued by seeing all the possibilities which on occasion out strips my ability to realize all this “potential”. Part of this is economic in nature. I have never ever had any money and as many of you know, art materials can be very costly. With this Falls project, I have spent the bare minimum since what I’ve been picking up is free.
These are my “rainy day” materials from which I’ve made many birthday gifts, Christmas presents, and donations for not for profit fund-raising events. Over the years all this material culture has built up and it’s getting hard to move around my basement! So, I ask myself…am I a hoarder?
I have to admit looking at this image…things look bad! It’s nearly the classic picture of the hoarder house that has paths of stacked newspapers and magazines with little paths running through the spaces. I assure you that the rest of my house is quite normal…for the most part. We have what seems like thousands of books and I have more art hanging around than the “average” home. The men of my family have always been drawn to collecting things (coins, medals, old photographs, etc…), but I think I came down with a more serious case than most. I will say the books are in their cases and the art is hung on the walls with some care. I try to take care of the objects I seriously collect, but not with the art materials and their as yet unrealized potentials.
There has never been a time that I wasn’t making something. That sense of thrift and trying to recycle and reuse I see as being virtues of my creative process. Years a go, I once found employment as a picture framer and I was disturbed by all the waste in that profession. I couldn’t see throwing away perfectly good picture frames because they were old. And, all those scraps of 100% cotton rag matboard…are too hard-won to be thrown in the dumpster with impunity. So, naturally much of these materials also found their way into the basement. In my defense, I will tell you that this stuff does eventually get used. For many years, I supplied all the neighborhood kids with all the free matboard they could draw and paint upon. Because the matboard in particular was quality material, there are many childhood drawings and artworks that might actually survive to say something about the ephemeral experiences of being children. Although I have vivid recollections of the art I made as a kid…nothing from my childhood survives and that does bother me a bit. I have saved most of my sons’ childhood art. Perhaps that’s another sign of a hoarder!
So, what am I going to do with all this “river treasure”? I have resolved to use it this year and get it out of the basement! I have a few upcoming exhibition opportunities and may pursue more. To help with this goal, I have rented an additional studio space in a local church where several other artists keep spaces. The enigmatic image I began this post with is from that church and it’s from a small library/study area used by the congregation. Here is a partial view of my new studio room in this church with the beginnings of me moving materials out of my basement.
The church (whose name I will keep private) dates from the turn of the 20th century. The current congregation is small and aging and I wonder how long it will remain a viable church? To help bring in income, the vacant spaces are rented out. I’m sharing my space with two good friends of mine both of whom are primarily painters.
Although I do think of myself as a spiritual person, I wouldn’t describe myself as being traditionally religious. My sacrament is my creativity. I do, however, find the idea of redemption interesting. With my project, I am trying to redeem these poor materials I find by our river and maybe point to something that is within all of us…a univeral creativity that I feel is the hope for our planet.
Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog 