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Archive for the ‘watershed’ Category

Sand Lions and Driftwood Flowers

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, collections, Falls of the Ohio, nature photography, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , on July 24, 2010| 5 Comments »

The last several weeks at the Falls have yielded many favorite images that don’t always make it into my posts. Until now.  Here’s a collection of found objects photographed in situ at the moment of discovery.  Most of the items are lost toys that have travelled with the Ohio River to be washed up here and mixed with wood chips and fragments of our material culture.  An example of this is the so-called “Sand Lion” I discovered on the riverbank.  It’s rubbery and sticky and the sand clings to it easily.  It’s meant to be inflated by blowing through the mouth piece located at the tail.  Reminds me of a horned toad the way it lays in the sand.  I also came across this variant of a sand lion with its punkish hair style.

This sand lion is hardly fearsome with its child friendly smile.  I later found another animal object on the driftwood.  It’s a bear with a twist having been formed with polystyrene foam.  This was premade and I didn’t have to do anything else with it except to take its picture for my collection.

And now for a series of images of circular and spherical objects.  These are the things that catch my eye.  Of course the artificially colored plastic stands out nicely against the natural tones found at the river.

One final image before eye fatigue overwhelms you!  More flower images, but this time its decorations on the side of a plastic Barbie cup found on the riverbank’s mud and offered as “Cheers!” to you.  I’m looking forward to this weekend to see what is different at the Falls since my last adventure.  The forecast, however, is calling for temperatures around 100 degrees fahrenheit.  I don’t expect much will be moving quickly on this day.

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Stroll Before a Storm

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 20, 2010| 11 Comments »

The other night after supper I had an hour or so to visit the river before the sun set.  So, I escaped to the river and my favorite park to check out the quality of the light as it slowly sets below the horizon.  During this time of year, the days are longer.  In short order, I was able to make this little figure from Styrofoam found on site.  What looks to be a green feather on this guy’s head is actually a miniature plastic skateboard missing its tiny wheels.  I used found coal for his eyes and his ears are small clam shells.  I tied some string around his waist for a belt.

Although it rained lightly a couple of days a go, things are looking a bit stagnant and dry in places.  The weatherman on the television gave some earlier hints that strong storms were a possibility for our area.  We shall wait and see.  For now, a quick stroll is in order before the rain comes or at least until the sun sets for another day.  Wandering near the river, I hear the calls of Killdeer plovers who are so good at sounding the alarm whenever danger is present…in this case, it’s me.  I managed this one quick photo of a bird hiding in an isolated patch of  grass.  The bright red eye-ring is visible making its eyes appear larger.

I noticed that whenever one of the resident vultures flew over, this bird would duck down in the grass.  Although the vultures don’t pose any danger, the Killdeer instinctively hide from what might be a bird of prey intent on eating it.  I have seen an American Kestrel make a meal of one of these large plovers before way out on the fossil beds on the Kentucky side.

There is a drying out occurring and all the small pools of water are evaporating.  In the process, they become more and more stagnant and I bet there’s a wealth of life in a single drop of this water.  I move the figure closer to the river’s edge to see what we can find.

The fishermen have had their moments.  Left on the bank are the remains of dead fish and the trash the anglers didn’t want to deal with packing back to their vehicles.  Of course, the vultures love all the fish and make short work of them.  What the birds miss…the flies find.

I do get a bit upset by the litter left behind by the fishermen.  I wouldn’t consider them sportsmen because they seem to have little regard for this resource.  I wish the people in charge of patrolling the park would come down here more often than they do.  I’m sure they would find many people out here fishing without a license.  I think some official presence visiting occasionally would be a good reminder to keep this place cleaner.

There are still isolated piles of previously collected river debris waiting for the trip to the landfill.  I hope at some point in the near future that this junk gets picked up for good.  For the moment, it represents a job half completed.  At this point in my visit, I perceive  that the quality of the light is different and a breeze is kicking up.  From the west I can see that the weatherman has a good shot of being right about his forecast.  A storm is on its way and I gather my stuff for the return trip home.  I hope the storm is a good one because this place could use a little freshening up.

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Styrofoam Spirituality

Posted in Absurd, Art, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , on July 15, 2010| 6 Comments »

Early morning at the Falls of the Ohio is often the best time to visit the river in the summertime.  Of course, you beat the hard-core heat of the day and there is a clean quality to the light that makes this landscape seem new.  The other animals seem to understand this and birds in particular are more active and expending energy in search of food.  I watched a pair of ospreys diving on fish under the beaks of the herons and struggle to carry away their prizes to a nest that is no doubt nearby.  Along the riverbank, red-winged blackbirds stop chasing each other long enough to pursue and eat the latest batch of mayflies to crawl out of this water.

Following a meandering path I reach the latest version of my temporary studio site under the willow trees.  The big figure with the lacrosse helmet is still here, but we have had visitors.  A saw blade I sometimes use to trim larger pieces of wood is jutting out of the figure’s abdomen, but otherwise there is no damage.  I remove the saw blade and stand the figure back up and turn my attention to making something new.  I found an unusual piece of Styrofoam that looks like folded drapery and I create this small figure that makes his debut in this post.  I remember thinking while I made him that he represented some kind of kneeling holy figure in his sacred robes.  Among the earliest written descriptions of the Ohio River come from French missionaries who called it ” La Belle Riviere”…the Beautiful River.

I wouldn’t describe myself as being religious in the common use of the term.  I would, however, say that what mysticism or spirituality I have been able to perceive in the world has come from contemplating nature and by making art.  Something in the power of creating something from nothing conjures up the divine for me.  I guess that’s what I like about using these river found materials…it’s all rubbish, but what I select and how I put things together has the ability to elicit a positive reaction in others.  It’s more than recycling at that point and becomes transformative.

Walking along the wood’s edge I come across this Large Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pegala) and I snap its picture.  My collection of butterfly images from the Falls is growing and I follow the same rule I have for the bird photos.  Everything I include in this project has to have been seen within the environs of the park.  I have seen lots of everything everywhere else, but if it wasn’t seen in the park than it doesn’t count for this project.  I want to get to know this place as well as I can and that includes learning the names of the life forms that inhabit or visit this space from time to time.  I’m also building up a nice field guide collection along the way!

Moving my Styrofoam holy man around, I come across the results of the river sweep that occurred several weeks a go.  It’s one thing to collect this stuff, but in order for it to mean anything…some follow through needs to happen.  It won’t be long before these plastic bags rip apart and we are right back where we started from.  It might even be harder to recruit volunteers the next time around because what’s the point right?

I recall from my art school days discussions of early modernism and spiritualism.  Each seems to have informed the other.  Kandinsky in particular stands out for me because of his theoretical writings.  I confess liking his words a little more than I cared for his later paintings.  What resonated with me is the idea that there is an inner necessity for both time and space that finds expression out of the inner necessity of the artist. 

The world was in a little better physical condition a century a go when Kandinsky and the early modernists were active.  People, other artists, ask me why I’m still doing what I’m doing at the Falls because surely by now I’ve made what points I can make?  My reply is that I’m still compelled to come out here, still feel the tug of inner necessity and with each passing day feel that what I’m doing is more important than before.  What is now necessary is that we need to acknowledge and care for the physical world and the other forms of life that also call this place home. 

Artists are important in that they possess the ability to help generate the visions that will help get us through this point in our development.  This is something which seems lacking to me at the moment.  Where is the optimism we should have at this point in the new century?  Is the blatant materialism all we can connect with anymore?  Fortunately, I’m meeting more and more young people who want to become artists that are actively questioning things again and I will offer my help to them however I can.

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Ariana’s River Adventure

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , on July 5, 2010| 9 Comments »

The long Fourth of July weekend has created a few opportunities to visit the river.  On one of my excursions I had a special guest accompany me.  I’m always happy to be able to share what I know and do at this place called the Falls of the Ohio.  In my day job, I direct an art program for adults with developmental disabilities.  For the last two years my program has been lucky to have interns from Yale University who are part of the Bulldogs in the Bluegrass effort to recruit intelligent, motivated, young people to consider professional opportunities in Louisville.  Sometimes it works!  In the twelve-year existence of the program, 35 graduates have moved to our city to begin their careers.  This year our intern is named Ariana Parenti.  She’s a soon to be senior art student and Philadelphia is her hometown.  I think she was curious about working with artists with disabilities and wondering what else in the not for profit world she could turn her art degree towards?  The internship is a ten week, paid work experience and the coordinators of the Bulldog program have scheduled many fun and educational activities for all the interns to participate in.  This trek to the Falls to make art from river junk is not one of them! 

Ariana and I talked about so many things that it’s hard to find a good place to begin.  So, we walked around the riverbank collecting odd interesting bits of stuff, taking pictures and occasionally watching what the fishermen were catching.  Since my last post, catfish have become the fish of choice or at least they were biting.  I wondered what it must be like to walk into a space you first experienced as a site on the internet? For Ariana, this would be a part of her adventure.  The interval between those two points are like the difference between a traditional drawing and a sculpture.  At least with the sculpture you can walk around the object which changes your perspective as you have a three-dimensional experience in your own space.  As we approached my Styro-studio, I could see that something was very different.  Some one had taken the dark-eyed figure from my previous post and left me with a totem-like construction made from materials I had gathered and stored on site.  That’s fine!  I love it when people play along and anyone is free to use what I have left under the willow trees.  I had been wanting to make a larger figure from my scavenged Styrofoam and now I had Ariana to help assist me.  On our walk we found one especially nice prop we used and it’s a discarded lacrosse helmet which is the first one of these I’ve come across out here.

After dumping the contents of my trusty and official Lewis and Clark collecting bag onto the sand, we started mixing and matching the stored Styrofoam.  We had the helmet and needed a head to go in it.  After that, finding a body that seemed to go with the head was next.  The hardest part is selecting the driftwood branches that had enough articulation and gesture to make decent limbs.  That’s not always easy when you are looking for something particular in a mountain of tangled wood.  Here’s an image of the work in progress.  The blue body on this guy is not actually polystyrene but may be some form of fiberglass?  I’ve seen archery targets made from this stuff which is light but dense enough to stop an arrow.

For me, working at the Falls is about making art from the stuff of life in the space of life.  Each informs and influences the other.  The riverbank and nearby woods are my theater whose stage I populate with odd characters that you can interact with and become a part of the show. The sculptures act as temporal focal points…this is what I made on this day.  The images document the context as it existed in the park during that particular moment and form a record of my activities.  My work has a relational aspect to it, perhaps not in the literal postmodern meaning of the term.  I include pictures of the wildlife I encounter in this blog because they are a part of this world too and should not be discounted and dismissed.

Ariana and I talked about our various school experiences, had lunch, and made a few small pieces from the junk on site.  Then I picked up our blue, helmeted friend and looked for good places to take his picture.  I returned to the big tire from the previous post and placed him inside the wheel well and this is what he looked like on this bright, warm, and sunny day.

There are a few other tires stuck in the now drying mud and we posed our figure in this landscape.  The tire seems like some large croquet wicket!  Perhaps this is what the figure is doing…playing some obscure game that has rules to it that nobody understands?

And now one image with Ariana in it so you can have some sense for scale!

Walking along the riverbank we stumbled upon an old friend.  It’s the remains of a large plush Pink Panther toy that was stuck in the clay.  I remember finding this thing out here last year (for another image see my Mutant Toys post from last July).  I lifted it and it was surprisingly heavy.  Ariana took my picture and I think this is one of the rare images of the Artist at Exit 0 featured in this blog.

Stopping among the willow trees closest to the water, we posed the figure atop a mass of its amazing root system.  Here our figure looks like he’s pontificating about something important like the value of clean water for example. 

Since the day was moving along and Ariana had other engagements, I stashed our sculpture back at the studio site.  He may show up in something else if he isn’t found by others first.  We toured the Interpretive Center and I noticed their exhibits are starting to look care worn and I understand plans are underway to freshen them up soon.  I think Ariana enjoyed herself and I know I did.  I can’t imagine having the Louisville experience without coming here at some point because for us this is where it began and continues to be relevant.  I’ll end this post for today with a sign I found in the men’s room.  It’s not something you typically find in such a space, but it conveys an important message.  All around us we are being affected by non-native species and some of them are destructive pests like the Emerald ash borer.  We definitely don’t want to find this little guy hitch hiking to our woods!

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Your Little Tour Guide

Posted in Absurd, Art, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , on July 1, 2010| 7 Comments »

This past June became our hottest June on record breaking a mark that stood since 1952.  Before the month slid into history, there was time for one more adventure at the Falls of the Ohio.  Rising from the polystyrene and insulating foam, I constructed this little figure to be my guide and companion as we toured the sights together.  Here’s his very first picture.

The little Tour Guide’s hat is the cap from a deodorant stick, but it fits his Styrofoam head just right.  He offered to take me around to see what we could see on this sweltering day and I offered no resistance.  Following are a few of the marvels we came across as we walked the riverbank.  The fishing had been particularly good and our guide was able to land a fish of his own.  I’m not sure what he used for bait, but this fish is like no other I have seen before.  Looking closely, I could see it is made from green foam.

The last high water incident deposited a lot of wood and junk upon the bank and there is plenty to discover.  Among the more unusual finds was this wooden Easter Bunny who offered our guide an egg.  I’m guessing that this was originally a seasonal yard decoration used in pagan celebrations?  With a pink dress, this is obviously the female and it made me wonder what the male looked like and was he carrying an egg too?

Near the rabbit was a truck tire.  I know what you are thinking…what could be so special about that?  I feature them in this blog all the time.  Well, this tire is also a record breaker being the largest one that I have come across in the last seven years I have been working this project.  I bet this thing was originally very expensive and now it’s apparently worthless.

It’s usually a treat to find artworks made by others out here.  This time our guide showed me a series of sand drawings he came across.  I think the one where abstract wavy lines are coming out of a drum is my favorite one.  The sand drawing featuring the head with open mouth is a bit naughty and so I’m only showing you part of it.  Here are three images in succession.

We moved off of the sandy bank and headed towards the Interpretive Center.  The little guide told me that the day lilies were looking especially colorful and I couldn’t wait to see them.  I snapped this image of the guide by some very intensely orange blossoms.  These flower beds are just past their peak and I’m glad I saw them when I did. 

This Fourth of July weekend is shaping up to be cooler and so I’m anticipating being able to work out here a bit longer.  Thanks for coming along with us on this outing…we enjoyed showing you the sights.  I’ll close for now with this nice image from the day lily garden overlooking the Falls of the Ohio.

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Fishing in Common

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, ecosytem, nature, Ohio River, public art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , on June 29, 2010| 4 Comments »

Fishing is an important year round activity at the Falls of the Ohio.  When the right conditions are present (and this is best known by the fish) the fishing can be excellent.  Such was the situation this past weekend.  It was unbelievably hot and humid, but the fish were in the shallows and everything that fishes was out here.  Lining the more accessible banks and from boats, anglers were throwing both natural and artificial lures into the riffles and coming up with some nice stringers of fish.  On the less accessible fossil banks on the Kentucky side of the river and from strategically placed rocks in the flowing water, herons and vultures were waiting.

While the herons were actively fishing, the resident colony of Black vultures were doing their part by scavenging on dead fish.  I came across this one bird dining on this fish head from a large carp.  Their sharp beaks have no problem picking out the best morsels.

The human fishermen were catching a variety of big river fishes.  I watched one angler land a large Blue catfish that gave him quite a fight.  He placed the big catfish in a wire mesh cage which kept it fresh in the swiftly moving water.  Large rocks stacked on top of the box anchors it in place.

Among the other fish being caught included striped bass hybrids, channel cats, drum and more.  It is still not recommended to eat the larger bottom dwelling fish for fear of toxins in their tissues.  The smaller fish supposedly are alright if you don’t eat too many too frequently.  With the economic conditions as they are, I know there are many people out here augmenting their diets with these fish.  It’s not just about sport anymore.  The top two bass in this photo are about 3 or 4 pounds each.

I was doing my own brand of angling but not for fish!  I walked the riverbank and collected as much Styrofoam as I could find and carried it  to my studio spot under the willow trees.  This is what it looked like when I posed it all for a photograph.  Until the next bout of high water, I’m going to try to use as much of this material as I can for my sculptures.

I have some large chunks in here, but the heat prevented me from getting too ambitious with it.  After drinking much of the water I brought with me, I did make one modest figure and moved it around the different contexts presented by the Falls of the Ohio on this very hot and sticky day.

Here’s the nameless figure with the dark eyes standing in what was its nursery.  This guy has walnut eyes and his nose is a plastic strawberry.  I’m guessing that this figure is about 3 1/2 feet tall, but truthfully, I don’t pay much attention to scale out here where everything is as big as life to me.  Most of the time, I prefer you gauge scale by comparing it to what else is  present in the context that you may be able to recognize.  Not knowing also lends some mystery that I find appealing.

First, I posed this figure near the spot where I made it.  I found a plastic flower and placed it in his hand.  This area is cool and shady, but the mosquitoes are also waiting for any passer-by pumping blood through their veins!  I quickly picked this piece up and ventured to the riverbank where the insects aren’t as bad.  The soft mud makes it easier to stand this figure up, but traction out here can be a slippery affair.

So far, it’s looking like this June will either be the hottest on record or second hottest.  The difference between the two is about a degree.  The final place I photographed my newest figure is by this improvised child’s fort.  This is the kind of activity my two sons enjoy doing out here.  My sculpture looks at home and is enjoying a respite from the oppressive heat.  The shade does look inviting!  I returned “dark eyes” to my outdoor studio, collected my belongings and trudged back to my car.

Today’s final image came from this morning’s adventure.  I saw this trumpet creeper vine growing on a tall tree and thought it attractive.  When I got home and downloaded my pictures I could see that many small bees were swarming around the blooms pollinating the plant.  This is what I like about the Falls of the Ohio.  In a relatively small area, you can see so much life going about its business.

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River Sweep

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Ohio River, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , on June 26, 2010| 4 Comments »

A group of volunteers did a river sweep clean-up last week at the Falls of the Ohio.  Our June has been brutally hot and I can see how trying to clean up the park would be a daunting task…there’s just so much that needs picking up.  I did document some of their efforts which I now present to you.  I suspect that most of this stuff is now landfill bound.

I know it may seem odd to present photographs of bags of trash in a blog that tries to concern itself with art, however, if we can view this act of cleaning up as an aesthetic act…than I think we can say we are making some progress.  I realize we are used to thinking of conventional art in aesthetic terms, but that life-enhancing quality that the term “aesthetic” embodies is often best seen in other actions.  Although I wasn’t part of this coordinated effort to clean this stretch of the river, I still show up regularly and try to do what I can using what I know how to do!  On this adventure, I had a friend who assisted me in picking up a few things.

Among the items we found this day included our second snowman of the year!  It’s a little container of some sort.  After taking its picture, I popped this beauty into my collecting bag.  It will probably show up again in one of my Christmas cards.

Among my more popular blog entries is my pages section where I feature my Found Fruits and Veggies Collection.  Currently, the physical collection is on display at Oldham County.  Soon I will need to update those photos featured in this blog because I keep finding more stuff all the time.  When I’m in the field, this material is presented by the river in a very causal way.  Here’s a picture of my latest plastic orange in situ.

The figure accompanying me isn’t very large, but he’s a hard worker.  I snapped this image as he was picking up plastic bottles.  It was just so darn hot that I was on the edge of what I can deal with in terms of humidity.  My clothes by this time are just plastered to my body making me feel that much warmer.  I have been better about carrying water with me when I come out here on particularly hot days.  My friend, however, had fewer complaints than I did.  He just worked at his own pace.

Despite everyone’s best efforts and intentions…the river clean-up just scratched the surface.  There is just so much garbage in the world which I suppose is also an indicator of material richness…from affluence to effluence!  That sounds like a good title for a future post.  Unfortunately, you just can’t get all the trash and if you could…the river would just deliver fresh debris the next time another flood happens. We need to be better at getting this stuff at its sources.  Still, we shouldn’t surrender and I know I won’t.  The planet is just too important a place to give up on!

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Bellowing Styro-stag

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, animals, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , on June 21, 2010| 2 Comments »

Reading the old journals from the exploration period…you can hear the authors’ amazement in trying to describe the overwhelming abundance that once existed here.  If you came across a flock of passenger pigeons numbering in the billions and as you watched them cross the sky like rolling smoke until they collectively blotted out the sun’s light how would you record the event?  But it wasn’t just flocks, there were also forests of trees, immense herds of bison and schools of cod and salmon.  In some cases, this was here less than two hundred years a go.  Now this seems remote and out of our living memories.  You don’t miss what you never knew.  Forgetfulness is another type of erosion.

Over the sounds of the river smacking the shoreline, I could discern a few grunts among a high almost “metallic” bugling/whistling in the air.  Or so I imagined as I introduce my latest Styrofoam creation.  In the old days, (which according to my youngest son is anything over nine years a go) the American elk or Wapiti was plentiful in Kentucky and through out the United States.  Several sub-species existed and were classified by geographic region and habitat.  The bulls of this large deer with their immense antlered racks are an impressive sight and are symbolic of nature’s majesty.  Well, mine is not nearly as good…but for the purposes of this post…will do fine!

We are lucky they are still with us today!  As loss of habitat occurred as well as hunting pressures…our elk were driven westward until they were gone east of the Mississippi River.  Eventually, the elk were allowed some federal protections and our herds are rebounding.  Kentucky has led the way in elk conservation by experimentally transplanting a herd to the eastern section of the state where they have thrived!  Their reintroduction has been so successful that a limited hunting season on them has been established.

During the Lewis and Clark trek across the country, elk meat made up a large percentage of the meat consumed.  It remained the meat of choice until the native Americans introduced the explorers to dogs and then that was preferred!  As the country was “settled”, elk continued to disappear from all kinds of pressures.  There was even a brief fad where elk teeth were used for watch fobs!

The elk is a member of the megafauna that was once was a large part of the North American ecosystem.  While I’m taking pictures of my sculpture, a smaller member of this ecosystem came hopping by.  To be honest, I don’t see many frogs out here and I’m surprised this Leopard frog isn’t in a more boggy area.  I think many people by now are aware that amphibians aren’t doing as well as they use to for a variety of reasons that range from climate change to exotic fungi.  If a Great Blue Heron spots this guy, then our frog friend will become bird food.  It’s as if life weren’t already difficult enough without adding to it.

The frog is a reminder that even the most humble of species plays its part in the bigger scheme of things.  So often it seems that the smallest players have the out-sized roles that make the biggest differences to the smooth operation of life at large.  My stag is bellowing and issuing a protest and challenge to protect the environment that sustains us all!  There is far too much in the river that doesn’t belong there especially items dependent on crude oil.

Take this stag for instance, it is dependent on crude oil for its existence.  The body, head, and parts of the leg are made from polystyrene.  In this case it is all river-polished Styrofoam.  The lower jaw is the sole of a shoe and also made from petrochemicals.  The eyes and plastic collar are plastic and derived from petroleum extracts.  Only parts of the nose, legs, antlers, and tail are biodegradable.  The Styro-stag is an animal we can afford to lose and it will be interesting watching the river for signs that the exotic materials that comprise it are on the wane.

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Siren Song

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, birding, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Louisville, Kentucky, nature photography, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , on June 18, 2010| 2 Comments »

I left the “Petro-totem” sculpture on a small island created by the tenacity of a willow’s roots.  Living this close to the river is an invitation to disaster.  Sooner or later the river will wash away this little refuge, but for now we are okay.  Or are we?

The first two images in this post were taken on a Saturday when everything seemed relatively well.  When I returned the following morning, severe thunderstorms had drenched our region.  The river level was noticeably higher.  The sounds of normal life were rudely interrupted by the sound of the dam’s siren letting more water under the gate.  A tremendously powerful torrent is created when so much water is let loose.  While I went about my scavenging, I made a mental note as the river crept closer and closer to my sculpture.  Here are pictures of what I mean.

The large decaying log was lifted off the shore and began to drift away.

Meanwhile, the surging river was getting my sculpture’s feet wet.

It didn’t take long before the large log started moving in rhythm with the waves and entered the periphery of the camera’s lens.  Although I didn’t hang out to witness the ceremonial washing away of the sculpture, I’m fairly sure it’s gone now.  It wasn’t an especially glad looking creation.

Before the river reclaimed this section of the shoreline, I did come across this pair of toy binoculars.  All around me, Rough-winged swallows were picking off small insects including the left-overs of the latest may fly hatch.

I was frustrated by trying to look through the faux field glasses.  When I peeked through the eyepieces, all I could see was the river water that had seeped through the plastic seams.  More river discoveries and Styrofoam sculptures in the next Falls of the Ohio adventure!

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The New “Studio”

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, nature photography, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , on June 14, 2010| 2 Comments »

I was standing by the river’s edge when the dam’s siren went off.  At first it scares the pee out of you!  It’s a loud wail, but you get use to it.  The Army Corps of Engineers gives the warning whenever they plan to release more water under the dam.  Throughout the region there have been heavy thunder showers and the river has risen quickly.  I worked at the Falls both on Saturday and Sunday and so I have a number of things I can share over the course of the week.  Technically, it’s not yet summer, but my clothes are stuck to me with sweat and I’m glad for the nice bottle of cold water to drink.  So often, I’m guilty of not bringing something with me to keep hydrated.  I make a pact with myself to do better this summer.

The weekend’s weather report calls for rain on both days, but I managed to dodge that.  I spent a lot of time exploring a mammoth deposit of driftwood near the dam.  If the past is an indicator of the future, then the river will probably not change very much for now and I look for a site higher on the riverbank to set up another temporary studio.  I did come across a project I did a few weeks back that was featured in the post “Tug of War”.  His buddy must be around here too.  I find the plastic broken toy-part I used for his friend’s crazy hairdo…they are cartoonish fisheyes.

With such humidity, this is a perfect time for mushrooms and fungi to get their hyphi through the soft tissues of decaying matter.  The process of reclaiming old life kicks into gear.  It’s really the small stuff like bacteria, viruses, and fungi that do the dirty work of releasing nutrients back into the system.  The planet is ruled from those kingdoms while we posture around self-importantly.  This fungus was tiny, but so colorful that I thought I would try to magnify it and reveal how fleshy it is in its crack.

 

On a nearby log, a male Five-lined Skink is taking a break from his hunt to bask in the sun.  For him, it’s breeding season and you can tell that by the reddish blush he has around his head.  This guy’s lines are indistinct and he’s  bronze in color.  The young lizards have very pronounced black and white stripes and their tails are bright blue.

One of the sites I considered for my informal studio is this place with a chair set in front of this large upturned tree.  Sitting in the chair you can perfectly study all the intricate roots as easily if it were situated in your home library.  I decided it’s just a little too public and I look higher up the bank, under the willows and their welcomed shade.

I’ve scouted out the area pretty well and on my mental map of this place, I’ve noted where the nicer Styrofoam pieces are.  It took almost two hours to move things into place.  The larger pieces I hoist onto my shoulder and carefully walking on top of the logs and driftwood reach the new cache I’ve created.  Here’s a piece nearly as tall as I am from the Styrofoam mine that I set upright and photographed.  I don’t have an idea for this one yet!

Here’s an in process shot of the gathering of the polystyrene.  There are several nice sitting logs in the area to work from and it’s under the willows enough to avoid the direct sunshine and there are usually birds around here as well.  My favorite Lewis and Clark canvas bag is nearby for scale.

Here’s the same site about an hour later.  There is still one really large piece I haven’t secured at this location yet.  I can’t wait to start making something from all this stuff!  I also have started gathering driftwood to serve as the arms and legs and I’ve stashed that away here as well.  The mallet in the foreground is made of plastic with simulated wood grain.

By the time I got around to making a sculpture, it was fairly late in the day.  The resulting piece I dubbed the “Petro-totem” and it takes its initial cue from the skull-like piece of Styrofoam that makes up part of the head.  This piece also features a plastic heart, genitalia (made from walnuts and a plastic toy fire hydrant I found).  The hat is some kind of funnel.  The finished work is far from one of my happier creations.  I just started working on it and making decisions as I went along and this was the result.

I posed this sculpture in several places and photographed it as I moved it around.  There are many tires on the beach and someone has cut many of them so they can’t retain water.  Mosquitoes love to breed in the dank water that collects inside these tires.  An old paint can with its red pigment is used to “sign” the tires…somehow I doubt these are the same people who altered the tires.  It seemed a provoking enough spot to set up a my Styrofoam figure.  I snap of a couple of shots and moved on.

In a future post, I will show you where I eventually left this work.  In closing, I found this little commentary on the big driftwood pile and recorded that with my camera.  The “behind the eight ball” figure was found near by and I added that to the image.

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