flotsam and jetsam | Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

Posts Tagged ‘flotsam and jetsam’

High Water High

Posted in Art, art and environment, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Louisville, Kentucky, nature photography, Ohio River, Photograpy, watershed, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, driftwood, Falls of the Ohio, flooding on the Ohio River, flotsam and jetsam, geese, nature, photography, plastic debris, skyline of Louisville Kentucky, the Humana Building on March 16, 2015| 1 Comment »

Following is a portfolio of images I made the first week of March during a bout of minor flooding that at the time of this writing has not yet subsided. After a late season rain and record-breaking snow storm, the Ohio River predictably has swelled its banks. During the past week, we received several more days of rain that kept the water level high. This is seasonal and normal flooding that we usually experience almost every year. I heard the other day that the river hasn’t been at this level since 2011. I published some images of this series on my newly minted Facebook page and will try to avoid duplicating those images here.

Many of these images are of the skyline of Louisville as seen from a soggy Falls of the Ohio State Park. Currently, in Louisville, low-lying sections of our roadways are underwater and a major downtown exit has been closed. River Road is truly in the river. The city is expecting an influx of visitors to arrive by Thursday for the start of the NCAA basketball tournament. Louisville is one of the host sites and our basketball arena is right on the river. As long as there isn’t anymore significant precipitation along the Ohio River Valley, the river should drop fairly quickly.

Light levels were dropping fast near day’s end and I used my camera phone to record these images. There was no wind and the only motion was created by a fast flowing river. I like the way the inundated trees along with their reflections create this frieze that was fun to use in framing a composition.

The Army Corps of Engineer Tainter Gates are under water. Usually, they hold the muddy Ohio River at bay exposing the world-famous fossil beds for exploration. This image captures a long train crossing over the old iron bridge. My outdoor studio where I stash my materials has long since floated away. I will need to start from scratch again, but I have done this many times before. Once the river subsides, I will be able to find new art materials to work with. Frankly, I like it when the park floods a bit. The Ohio River is so dynamic and along with the changing of the seasons provides a novel landscape every time I visit.

Now there is also a downside to all this activity. All the pent-up junk along both banks of the river is free once more to continue its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. In this image, there’s lots of plastic bottles for drinking and oil products plus the usual Styrofoam and driftwood all mixed together. The brightly colored plastic contrasts with the natural tones of the river.

This sign is up all year round, but frankly it makes the most sense to me during moments like this. Floating junk forms a line about where the dam’s wall would be.

Even though the river was high…there was also lots of signs of life. Soon it will be time for the Spring migration of birds moving north which is one of my favorite times of the year in the park. I took several images of this flock of geese. Most are Canada Geese, but the one guarding the rear is a domestic escapee. I have watched this bird with this particular flock of geese for several years now. Usually, the Canada Geese are very territorial especially towards others of their own kind. Perhaps that is the key to the domestic goose’s acceptance…he really isn’t one of them and so he’s tolerated.

Except for some selective cropping of a few images…I have done nothing else to them. In this image, I have made the geese more prominent by eliminating the water in the foreground that makes up most of the photograph. The other nice bird sighting of the day was seeing a juvenile Bald Eagle doing a fly over. Eagles are becoming more common sights along the Ohio River and several pairs have built nests fairly close to the city.

You can get a better sense for this “gentle flood” by showing a few inundated trees. Here larger pieces of driftwood have been blown or directed by currents to the Indiana side of the Ohio River. You can also see plastic junk interspersed among the wood.

The City of Louisville’s downtown section as seen from under the railroad bridge at the Falls of the Ohio. The pink rectangular building with the bluish-green highlights (second tallest building on the right) is the Humana Building. It’s architect, Michael Graves, passed away a few days a go. The Humana Building is considered one of Graves’ Post Modern masterpieces and one of the nicest buildings in our city. I remember when Humana’s founder, Wendell Cherry kept some of his art collection on view in the building that the public could tour on occasion. You might come across Roman statuary in one room and a tall Giacometti bronze in another. The art holdings were amazing. Cherry was mostly secretive about his purchases and once paid the world record for a painting at auction when he bought an early Blue period Picasso self-portrait entitled “Yo Picasso”. I believe the disclosed purchase price was just under 7 million dollars which seems like a bargain now that the record has been pushed recently to over 300 million dollars for a Gauguin painting. I could go on about that, but that is a topic for another time.

Like this guy in the foreground, I’m waiting for the river to recede before seeing what changes have been made. Many of my favorite willow trees are completely underwater. I know they get buffeted and damaged by the currents which carry lots of debris in their wake. Perhaps by this weekend it will be all right to venture out among the muddy driftwood piles? I will bring an empty collecting bag because I’m sure to find “stuff” to use for my creations. On March 22, I will be participating in a group assemblage and collage show at Galerie Hertz. I will have six different sculptures on view. I will give you a sneak peek in my next post. For now, keep your feet dry…Spring is on the way!

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The Giggle Bowl

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, nature, nature photography, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, tagged absurdity, Art, artist at exit 0, bird nest, children's nature story, driftwood, ecostory, Falls of the Ohio, flotsam and jetsam, found materials, found objects, material culture, nature, nature and culture, nature photography, nature story, odd collections, photography, recycled art, repurposed art, sense of place, smiley faces, storytelling, Styrofoam, Styrofoam art on November 6, 2014| 6 Comments »

The Falls of the Ohio State Park has experienced its first light frost. With the colder temperatures arriving, a maturing autumn anticipates the winter to come. Although there are still some leaves left on the black willows and cottonwood trees…they won’t last much longer. Already the curled up, shed leaves of the willows are gathering and forming brown islands around the parent trees and defining the spaces the willows occupy in this sandy area near the river. As I walk through this habitat, cocklebur and various other seeds attach themselves to my jeans and shoe laces. Picking and rubbing off the various prickly and sticky hitchhikers, it’s amuses me to think of myself as an agent of seed dispersal!

A circular grass ball lying on the ground catches my eye. Picking up the object I discover an intact bird nest. Did it dislodge from some fork of a tree branch or is this from a ground nesting species? I marvel at its construction and note its exterior is made from dried, interwoven grasses which contrasts with the well-defined interior composed of tiny twigs and rootlets that give structural strength to the bowl. I wonder which species created it and were they successful in raising offspring? The nest is now spent like the willow leaves and I place it on the ground to be reclaimed by nature.

Along my walk, I find various mushrooms and fungi growing on the decomposing driftwood. I admire the variety of forms present. Although the notion of decay hardly sounds optimistic…in this instance it is. The fungi are great recyclers and return needed nutrients back into the environment. These mushrooms are not lesser than, but rather co-equal to the many other interesting life forms that make this place their home. I come across other signs of life along my hike.

There are still a few butterflies around like this Comma. Although nectar from flowers is absent, there are still what I call “butterfly licks” on a few of the willow trees. These licks are sweet spots along the trunk or branches where the tree exudes a sticky sap that attracts insects. With its wings folded upright, this Comma looks much like a dried leaf itself. There is a good chance this butterfly will hibernate and overwinter here before “passing the torch” to the next generation of Comma butterflies in the spring.

Along the riverbank, I find lots of evidence that beaver have been in the area. They have been feeding off the willow trees growing nearest to the water. Beaver are very wary and are probably active at night or very early in the morning. In all my years walking throughout the park, I have only seen them on a couple of occasions. The photo above shows a willow branch that has been gnawed away from the tree and its bark has been nibbled off for food. Their teeth leave “tool marks” on the creamy, ivory-colored wood. By the end of today’s hike, I have collected a nice bundle of beaver chewed sticks to use in my art. And speaking of art…I walked by a couple of projects I worked on in my previous post. The rock ring in the water is still holding up, however, the “Silver Star” made from overlaying driftwood lengths in the sand is a shadow of its former self. Here are a few before and after images.

It’s a big difference and doesn’t appear to be the result of natural wear and tear…unless we accept that there is a naturally destructive side to man’s nature? Of course, this is just a pile of sticks arranged in the sand, but on a much larger, planetary level can we say that the wholesale changes we are making to the environment are natural and inevitable? I’m in the “no” camp because another aspect of our complex natures is the ability to discern right from wrong. Still I wonder when our instincts for self-preservation will start kicking in? I was beginning to mull this over more when I heard what sounded like someone playing strange music from an unfamiliar instrument. I was pretty sure my ears weren’t hearing things and so I walked around until I found its source. You can imagine my deep surprise when I came upon this interesting character in the willow habitat.

He introduced himself as the “Giggle Master” and he said he heard me talking to myself about serious things and grew concerned. His method of revealing himself was to play a tune of his own composition from this combination oboe/recorder that grew from the middle of his face! By breathing in and out and working the finger holes on his instrument he could produce a variety of sounds some of which were quite unique and appealing. When I had adjusted to the idea that a strange being about a foot or 20 or so centimeters tall was talking to me…I relaxed my guard and decided to see what would happen next? The Giggle Master told me to follow him and that he had something to show me that he believed would lighten my mood up considerably.

I followed my new friend to his shelter under a willow tree and he introduced me to his “collection”. Like me, the Giggle Master is a finder and collector of odd river-deposited items. He said it gave him great joy to assemble various odd collections where the sum of the collection is greater and more interesting than the parts. I understood this perfectly because I have many unusual collections of my own river junk. Some of which have been presented in this blog like my Squirt Gun Collection or Collection of Fake Foods. You can see other collections I’ve formed and appear in my Pages section.. I have to say that the collection my friend was presenting to me was indeed unusual. I asked what he called it and would it be possible to photograph it and present it to the wider world? He said that he had no objections and so without further ado…here is what my friend called “The Giggle Bowl”.

We moved to the fossil beds for our impromptu photo shoot. The Giggle Master told me that he had been collecting these “smiley faces” for a few years and now had enough to fill a found plastic bowl. He went on to say that although he recognized that this was mostly waste plastic with all the accompanying bad baggage…it was also important to be able to step back and just appreciate the absurdity of it all. The Giggle Master told me that taking oneself too seriously has potential consequences of its own. He also told me that maintaining a healthy sense of humor would balance out the dark moods and I began to see the wisdom in this. The Giggle Master said that he was appearing to me now because through some sixth sense all his own he could tell my own thoughts and feelings were beginning to sink below the horizon line. He believed every person’s well-being would benefit from having a good laugh. I have to admit it worked on me! Okay, let’s spill the bowl and take a closer look at this goofy collection.

Okay, I confess that I have no idea what or how these smiley faces were used? In their mouths, they have what look to be squeakers, however, these balls are too hard to squeeze. The one with the red cap has a small stone lodged in its mouth and was made in China.

I frequently am grateful when something I come across says what it is. In this case, these are three lightweight foam “antenna balls”. Yes, for a while, there was a fad where people decorated the ends of their cars’ radio antennas with these novelties. I like the one sporting a jester’s cap.

I’m calling these simply “face balls” because they are obviously not the more traditional “smiley faces”. They floated into the park via the Ohio River from parts unknown.

The Giggle Master was slightly alarmed because he realized he is missing the third smiling face from this series of objects. I recognized that these are fishing floats and the missing float is larger still. It will turn up somewhere.

Here’s a trio of smiling faces. The yellow one in the center is a simple ball, but the top and bottom pieces belong to something else I don’t recognize…do you? The top piece looks to be a tiny container and maybe once held candy or soap-bubble solution, but there is no other information about it including its country of origin.

After the photo session was over, we returned to the willow tree where I first met the Giggle Master. He stored his collection in a hollow formed in the tree’s trunk. Before departing from my new friend, I thanked him for the much-needed laugh and wished him happy hunting as he expanded his silly collection. No doubt the river will continue to supply new items. He replied with a few notes from his…”nose instrument’. As I turned for home, I looked back one last time and could discern a slight smile on his tiny face. Until next time from the Falls of the Ohio.

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A Tale from the Legendary Life of Micro Polo

Posted in Absurd, Art, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, recycled art, Styrofoam, tagged Art, art and recyling, artist at exit 0, black raft, ecostory, Falls of the Ohio, flotsam and jetsam, found materials, found objects, Micro Polo, nature, nature and culture, nature inspired story, photography, plastic, plastic pollution, repurposed art, sense of place, storytelling, Styrofoam on August 24, 2014| 10 Comments »

Of all the names from the distant past, few shine as brightly or are as well remembered as that of the legendary explorer, Micro Polo. Rest assured, he must have been an actual person because too many stories and discoveries have been connected with his legacy. A few rare, hand-copied journals have been preserved in some of the world’s most obscure libraries documenting his remarkable life. An intrepid traveler and explorer, it is said his ambition was to take the measure of the world even if he fell off its flat edge in the process! Few individuals in recorded history have had the thirst for knowledge or have traveled so far in the name of adventure. By far, the most unusual story that has come down to us comes from Micro Polo’s last adventure. Widely believed to be a fantasy, a recent manuscript discovered in an ancient clay pot and buried for a millennia in the desert ruins of a forgotten city has resurrected the tale and its supposed veracity. This previously unknown manuscript offers the most detailed version of Micro Polo’s last voyage and is augmented by fantastical drawings scribbled onto the margins. We offer this contemporary retelling of this ancient tale for your amusement.

On a moonless and cloudy night upon the open sea…tragedy struck! Micro Polo’s sailing ship caught fire and sank on what would be his final voyage away from home. There was barely time to escape and a life raft was quickly thrown overboard. Only three scared and injured sailors including its captain, Micro Polo, climbed into this bobbing cork before the last of the fiery masts disappeared beneath the waves . During the next week, one sailor perished from his burns and another went mad from thirst and flung himself into the waters never to be seen again. This left Micro Polo alone in the raft as he drifted with the currents to points unknown. He resolved to survive and thoughts of his family back home kept him alive.

Micro Polo survived by catching unwary seabirds that landed on his craft and by collecting rainwater from passing showers. It was during the second week of his ordeal that our hero noticed a fresh change in the surrounding air. Around him floating in the water were bits and pieces of vegetation and he knew he was near land. Spying terra firm and the entrance to a large river that flowed into the sea, Micro Polo furiously paddled and reached the shore of a completely unknown world.

Upon setting his feet upon the solid ground and through parched lips, Micro Polo gave thanks to his gods and drank deeply from the fresh water of the river. His spirits were uplifted! He still had no idea whether or not he was standing on some previously uncharted island or land mass? At this joyous moment, it did not matter where he was and Micro Polo was eager to leave the confines of the tiny raft and look for help and food.

Micro Polo had not travelled very far down the sandy beach before he realized that he had arrived at someplace extraordinary. Before him laying on the coarse sand was the largest fish skeleton he had ever seen! It was a monster and Micro Polo felt lucky not to have encountered him in the water. The size of the creature’s mouth was large enough to have easily swallowed the explorer! Judging from the scales and boney plates, Micro Polo thought this behemoth resembled the common carp of his home country. Soon our hero would come upon many other large and unusual sights.

The vegetation of this new land was outstanding! It was verdant and outrageously populated with the largest blooms imaginable. There were immensely long vines and grasses as tall as trees! As he walked and explored this oversized garden, Micro Polo noticed that like the fish he found…many of the flowers of this new land resembled varieties that he was somewhat familiar with and had grown at home. Over here were giant morning glories and could this be some new type of gigantic rose mallow?

Wandering further afield, Micro Polo came upon a clearing populated by a large stand of loosestrife flowers. The purple color of the flowers was intoxicating and the explorer could not take his eyes off of the huge butterflies as large as eagles sipping nectar from the blossoms. In addition to being a riot of color, the loosestrife flowers were alive with the buzzing sounds of hundreds of insects flying around. Here Nature was undisturbed and at peace going about its business.

Micro Polo recognized the Cabbage White butterfly from his homeland, but there were many new species here and all the more remarkable for their immense scale and beauty. The insects (including some very large bumblebees) all left the traveler alone as they were preoccupied gathering nectar and pollen from the flowers. As the sun was setting, Micro Polo began to get very weary and he sought out a place to spend the night.

Of all the immense delights of that first day, nothing struck Micro Polo with more awe than the size of these trees. The roots alone were thicker around than a man’s body. The captain in him noted that a single one of these gigantic trees would provide enough lumber to build a single new ship. For now, he would be happy to take shelter for the night under its huge and leafy canopy. He found a nice safe space protected by interlocking roots and decided to settle down for the evening.

To pad the ground for sleeping purposes, Micro Polo gathered the immense yellow leaves that were lying around the tree. There was an intoxicating spicy smell from sleeping upon a bed of leaves and our intrepid explorer barely registered the distant thunder storm that was approaching before falling asleep. Micro Polo was so fatigued by the excitement of the day that the brief but intense rain showers were not acknowledged at that time. The explorer later recalled that this was the most restful night of sleep he had ever had.

The following morning was wet from dew and the previous night’s rain. Micro Polo decided to get up at first light and further explore this unbelievable landscape. He found some greens that were palatable and had breakfast. Later he crossed over an area that was rocky and had large deposits of driftwood bleaching in the sun. Thus far, he had seen nothing that made him think that he wasn’t the only person walking this land…but that was about to change.

Tangled up in the driftwood were certain outsized objects that looked like common household items that had been carelessly thrown aside. Micro Polo came upon a large black sandal that was as long as his body! There were other fragments whose purposes and materials he did not recognize. Not far from this discovery, he came upon this find.

Micro Polo recognized this an implement for cleaning one’s teeth, but on a gargantuan scale! For the first time since arriving on these shores, the explorer began to fear and have doubts. It was now clear that a race of giants also inhabited this land!

Micro Polo decided to return back to the area where he first landed. Along the way, he passed by what he previously thought were the possible ruins of some kind of stone fortification only to learn upon closer inspection that it was the remains of someone’s old camp fire. There were immense charred logs within the stone ring. Our explorer decided to hasten his step back to the raft. He had no desire to see what type or kind of “man” could work on this scale! Micro Polo was also determined not to become either this race of giants next pet or worse yet…a meal. He had seen enough and was ready to take his chances upon the sea again.

All manner of bizarre thoughts crossed over Micro Polo’s mind. Had he in fact landed on some fantastic island or continent of giants? Or, was it possible that by some unknown method or means that his very being had been shrunk down in size rendering him diminutive? Could prolonged exposure to the elements while on the raft have this effect upon him? Regardless, if he were to return home he would need proof of his latest and perhaps greatest discovery. Thinking quickly, Micro Polo tore off a length of morning glory vine with blossoms and threw it across his shoulders. He would take this plant specimen home with him or perish in the process.

When the great explorer reached the spot where he thought he left his raft…it was nowhere to be seen! The rain storm from last night had swelled the volume of the river and the raft, left unsecured, simply drifted off. Micro Polo was in a panic and searched up and down the riverbank, but the black craft that bore him to safety once before had simply vanished.

As the story continues, many hours and several miles or kilometers later…Micro Polo came upon an artifact partially buried in the sand that would save him. It had been shaped by the giants and had probably served as a bowl or at least it looked like one. Being a resourceful individual, Micro Polo had the great idea to use this bowl as his getaway vessel. He gathered up some provisions for the journey, wrapped the now wilting morning glory vine around his body and launched himself back upon the waters. He would trust that whatever mysterious forces brought him here would also return him home again.

Micro Polo was discovered adrift after several weeks by a passing merchant ship and he was taken back to his homeland. The sailors that found him reported that he was speaking gibberish and hallucinating badly. All his provisions were gone along with the morning glory vine which he had eaten when nothing else edible presented itself. He kept telling anybody who would listen about this fantastic land of giants he had discovered, but nobody believed him. Those with a kind heart and ear just let him go on with his crazy story. Eventually, Micro Polo’s health returned to him with his family’s care, however, his days of great discoveries were over. The famed explorer spent the rest of his life chronicling his adventures in his notebooks and navigating the known world through hand drawn maps and charts spread out upon his library’s wooden table. In the many years that passed, nobody else came across Micro Polo’s land of giants…however, people had a devil of a time explaining where that odd bowl-like boat came from?

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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.

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River Roller

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, art and environment, birds and birding, collections, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, Ohio River, recycled art, unusual collection, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, birds, collecting bag, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, flotsam and jetsam, material culture, nature, photography, plastic, story telling, Styrofoam on March 16, 2014| 10 Comments »

The Ohio River water level has been bouncing up and down these last few weeks. On this excursion, I caught up with it while the river was receding. The shoreline that I am accustomed to seeing is still underwater, however, if you walk carefully between the wet and the dry, there are areas you can explore. I brought a fairly empty canvas collecting bag along in anticipation of river treasure. After a couple of hours, I took a break and dumped the bag out and here is what caught my eye.

Literally, a mixed bag of junk including many familiar items that I have long-standing collections formed. The Styrofoam is for a small sculpture I have in mind. The flip-flop sandals, well…I have been collecting them for a while and I have a vague notion of an artwork that I want to make with them. I have ideas, but I’m waiting for the river muse to send me more signals. The same holds true for the small, plastic wheels. I have about two hundred of them stacked in a pile on my basement floor. I thought I could finish the wheel piece for the exhibition at the Carnegie, but it remains unresolved. I have also gathered several found combs and the variety of forms a simple object can take always interests me. Recently, I gave my comb collection to my friend Jeff for his birthday. He is probably one of the few people I know who would like receiving such a gift. Jeff was once a middle school art teacher and he keeps a cigar box filled with the smallest pencils in the world. Each pencil had been sharpened to within an inch of its existence by his former students. Here’s an example of an interesting comb followed by other images of objects found on this day.

Later, it was determined that this combination comb and brush is from some kind of vacuum cleaner. Now whenever I go out the river, my friend asks me if I have any other combs for his collection.

My Fake Food Collection keeps expanding. I found several new pieces on this excursion with this one being the most memorable. Plastic corn on the cob with a little pat of butter melting into the kernels. In the background, you can see how much junk is intermixed with the wood debris.

Here’s the latest addition to my hand-formed ball collection. This one is made from duct tape.

I’m starting to develop a large collection of sand toys of all kinds. Here’s a pink plastic octopus sand mold. I think I will photograph this collection soon.

I found two plastic dinosaur toys on this trip. I believe these are intended to be the same species…Dimetrodon which was an early reptile with mammal-like characteristics. Dimetrodon hails from North America and the early Permian period. When the Falls of the Ohio was an active marine ecosystem (about 370 million years a go)…Dimetrodon would still be about another 200 million years into the future. The vast stretches of time and the ebb and flow of life forms is mind-boggling. I am in the here and now and what I have noticed on this trip to the river is how few other life forms I’ve seen. The spring migration of neotropical birds is not too far off and I always have my eyes open for early arrivals. Today…I get lucky.

I was poking around the shifting shoreline when I spotted this heavy bodied bird in a willow tree. With its blue head, yellow ocher body, and light green tail…I knew I was looking at my first River Roller. Rollers are a family of old world birds and this is the only representative on this continent. This species has a rather large and heavy bill that serves it well when it feeds on the nuts of hardwood trees. At the Falls of the Ohio, you can always find walnuts, hickory nuts, and acorns. I believe that this was what this bird was doing…looking for food.

I think this is a female roller because the colors are not as bright as the pictures I’ve seen of the males. In size, this bird is comparable to the American Robin. I observed this bird checking out the holes and hollows in the willow trees which is pre-nesting behavior. The females are the ones that choose which sites are suitable to raise their chicks. This bird will eventually move on to the northern portions of the Ohio River Valley. The River Roller has never been documented nesting in this park.

The River Roller hung around for about five minutes before flying off for parts unknown. During the time I watched it, the roller demonstrated a strong curiosity for the environment at the river’s edge. It seemed especially interested in the willow trees themselves.

I wish this bird well and hope it reaches its intended destination. I feel this way about every bird that migrates through this area. After seeing this once in a life-time rarity I felt that my day like my collecting bag was full and it was time to go home. That wraps it up for another river adventure. See you next time.

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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.

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Into the New Year, 2014

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, birds and birding, collections, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, nature, Ohio River, recycled art, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, duck decoy, Falls of the Ohio, flotsam and jetsam, found objects, fresh water, Mr. Potato Head, nature, photography, plastic, Styrofoam, the river on January 5, 2014| 12 Comments »

Happy New Year everybody out there in blog land! I want to thank everyone over the past year who have dropped by to check out the latest from the Artist at Exit 0 at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. This year is shaping up to be much like the previous one. Which means both man and nature are predictably unpredictable with a sense of timing not easily plotted. Since the holidays, the Ohio River has been up and much of the park that I access has been underwater. That in itself is not news, but the length of time the water has been high has been. It all points to heavy rains and snows in the northern part of the Ohio River Valley and water flowing downriver. The forecast at the time of this writing is not encouraging with showers turning to snow today followed by a precipitous drop to sub-zero degree temperatures. This cold could be historic for us and so far we have received more snow than in recent winters. I think I will stay indoors today! Since my last post, I have been to the river twice (including New Years Day itself) to see what there is to see and experience. Here’s a synopsis so far. Between rising and falling waters I have been able to skirt around the edges. One thing that unfortunately hasn’t changed is the junk in the river. I’m always interested in what gets stranded in the trees like this wooden pallet that has a corner delicately balanced on the surface of the river. It’s cold out here and despite being warmly dressed, my eyes and nose water from the bit of wind that is also present. At the water’s edge is a mix of debris. Most of it is natural with driftwood, wood bark and bits being the most prominent. Trees that have surrendered to the river are rolled against other logs by the waves and the grinding (which can be very audible as well) knocks the limbs off with a loud crack and chews the bark away from the trunks. Intermixed is various man-made and colorful junk that is mostly plastic in composition which also gets masticated by the river. The above photo is fairly typical with lots of polystyrene fragments which also make up the core of my art materials. Most artists have positive feelings for their materials, but I have a love /hate relationship with mine. Let’s move on and see what other sights are along the river in this new year. Floating tires always catch my eye. Their blackness and circular perfection contrasts sharply with the rest of the objects on the river’s surface. A short distance away from this wheel I find a dead steer at the water’s edge. I debated with myself whether to include this distasteful image in this post, but decided to do it since it represents some of the truth that is in the river. Pictures of man-made trash are one thing and have an almost benign aura to them by now, but something that was once alive registers in a different way. The gravity is far heavier. This poor cow is the largest dead animal I have encountered in the park. Dead deer and other smaller animals are not too unusual in the river. No telling how far this unfortunate animal has floated to arrive here? Rising high waters could once again carry it away. I take this picture and walk on. There are other objects that the river has delivered to the park like this plastic turtle sand mold. Having gone through my river collections recently I discovered that turtles are among the most common subjects for sand molds. Who knew? I have found six or seven of them and they are all different like the plastic hamburgers from a recent post of mine. Here’s something else to add to a growing collection. I have a Rubber Duck Collection as well and all found within the park. Truthfully, none of them are actually made from rubber and are of course composed from plastic. This is a hunter’s decoy of a pintail duck and would have been cooler had it been made out of wood…alas. I haven’t seen much of actual bird life in the park except for a few hardy species that are around all year round. I noticed that the ring-billed gulls that come here for the winter are not present. I wonder if the cold has them migrating further south this year? To mark how exceptional this winter has been, our area has seen a rare migration of snowy owls from the far north. The snowy owl is listed on the official Falls of the Ohio bird checklist as extremely rare and accidental. For me, this would be a good enough reason to journey here and this just might be the year to see one, but I haven’t heard if any were actually seen in the park? A short distance away from here, a snowy owl in a weakened condition was rescued by our local raptor rehab folks and is being nursed back to health.

Here’s a test for you. Do you know what this is? Time’s up…this is the plastic body of a Mr. Potato Head toy! I count Mr. Potato Head as one of my artistic influences for my Falls of the Ohio Styrofoam projects and this is the first one of these that I have found out here. According to Wikipedia, Mr. Potato Head has been in continuous production since 1952 (that’s a lot of plastic) and was the first toy advertised on television. I can remember as a kid…using actual potatoes to make funny faces and now I use Styrofoam.

I walked up the riverbank to access my outdoor atelier and discovered that the river has swept over it. All the materials that I had cached here over the last couple of years have floated away and the large logs that defined my space are rearranged. I will need to create a new studio if I continue here. I suspect, however, that the river is far from being done and would wager we will experience more flooding in the near future. I picked up a few small pieces of Styrofoam and willow sticks and made my first figure of the new year and posed him at the river’s edge as waves lapped the shoreline.

He is not a large figure and the expression on his face is one of amazement. I first posed him near the river in an old life-preserver that washed up. In addition to being expedient on a cold day it also seemed symbolic. For me, it always comes back to the river and its waters. The quality of our fresh water remains our number one vanishing resource and the river’s course is the journey we all take through life. I will continue to use my creativity at this one small spot on a large river and publish my results on this riverblog. Thanks for checking it out every now and then. As the year progresses, I hope to be like the river by being predictably unpredictable. May we all have a wonderful 2014!

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Plastic Meat

Posted in Absurd, Art, collections, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, recycled art, unusual collection, tagged absurdity, Art, artificial food, artist at exit 0, Collections, fake food, Falls of the Ohio, flotsam and jetsam, found objects, photography, plastic, plastic hamburgers, toy food on November 28, 2013| 20 Comments »

I have so much to be thankful for that I don’t need one particular day set aside to remind me of this. Nevertheless, I happily will take the next two days off from my day job, hang out with my family, eat, and of course… fiddle with my art projects! I have an exhibition coming up soon (late January 2014 at the Carnegie Museum of Art and History in New Albany, Indiana) and I have been going through my Falls of the Ohio river junk and thinking about what this show might feature of my work? It’s going to be a two-person show and so there will be a great space to fill.

I recently went through my various river collections including my Fake Food Collection which is ongoing and I have added many new pieces over the past year. The Ohio River has been bountiful in fact over a ten-year period, it has been a regular liquid cornucopia. Although I haven’t counted each item, I’ll wager my Fake Food Collection has about a couple hundred pieces now… all of it collected one piece at a time, off of the riverbank. It’s interesting to think of this stuff as being a part of the fake food tradition. I’ve seen examples of fake Japanese sushi that look amazingly like the real thing…but not at the Falls.

After all these years, I’m still blown away…perplexed…morbidly fascinated and repulsed…insert other adjectives here…that so much of this stuff exits and that most of it is made from plastic. I’m just one person living near a river in the interior of a big country and this is what I’ve found at this single location. Do other American rivers flow with plastic produce and is it all floating towards the oceans? It’s so curious that we use a natural resource like petroleum to produce artificial food even if it is intended to be playthings. It personally strikes me as an affront to nature especially once it materially starts breaking down and merging with the substrates we depend on. Perhaps some of you wordsmiths out there will put your finger on exactly why this stuff is so provoking?

Okay…enough of that, now where’s the beef? Where’s the plastic meat the title of this post promised? I was curious about that myself and so I went through my collection and this is what shook out. Bon appetite!

Since Thanksgiving here traditionally means roast fowl of some sort…I thought I would start with a couple of roasted birds and drumsticks. Of course these items are miniature and I realize that a coin for scale would help. Okay, I’ve found my ruler and if you must know…the biggest object in the above photo is 3.5 inches or 9 centimeters long. The middle drumstick on the bottom row has a dark patina acquired from spending much time in the river.

This last image of roast fowl looks like something (probably the family dog) tried to eat! Notice the teeth marks on the carcass. Now that we are done with the appetizer… let’s move on to the fake hamburgers and cheeseburgers. I know the old salivary glands are probably kicking in now!

Here’s a couple of shots of the items in question. In ten years time, the river has washed up and I have found seven cheeseburgers and hamburgers, three loose bun tops, and yes…two crinkle cut french fries (only one is shown) all are made of various plastic recipes. Several of the burger toys I’m pretty sure were intended as dog toys. Some of the them still have the little squeaker in the bottom bun. The others probably came from children’s play sets. As you can see…they are variously dressed with condiments and the buns go from plain to featuring sesame seeds in white, brown, and black colors. I have some individual burger portraits too. Here’s several examples of how you can have it your way. The larger burgers are roughly life-size to slightly smaller than the real deals.

Ahhh…a black poppy-seed bun heavy on the lettuce and tomatoes.

Here’s a plain bun, segregate the tomato on one side and the lettuce on the other option. The meat here is more of a textural suggestion.

This is a gaudy burger with hints of mustard and two layers of tomatoes!

Not sure if that’s melted yellow cheese or more mustard squeezing over the edge? Looks de-lish nevertheless! If you are wondering what artificial food looks like in a natural environment…here are a two images of plastic meat as I found them in place.

This one has white poppy seeds on the bun, frilly lettuce, and a nice grimy river patina. Let’s leave the burgers and head into new territory. First an image of our next plastic meat subset.

I can remember the joyful moment of finding this rare double score. Two conjoined, Siamese twin plastic hot dogs resting on a bed of Styrofoam and river sticks. Of course, I had to take a picture! Now, for a snapshot of my hot dog collection.

As you can see…these tube steaks and buns vary in size. The largest example at the very top has all of its paint gone, but you can see where a fake mustard squiggle would be. Perhaps some of them are actually intended to be Vienna sausages, but who knows? One particularly prized find is the Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile whistle in the bottom right hand corner. I’ve propped it up on a plastic french fry to get a better side view. There are plastic meats that I know are out there (like fake steaks or even slices of plastic pizza with f aux pepperoni), but I have yet to find examples by the river. I do have a code I go by…unless I find it at the Falls of the Ohio…I won’t compromise my collection with non-Falls items. It’s a part of the quest and fun of what scrumptious simulacra will turn up next. Is Rack of Lamb or Pot Roast on the menu…only time will tell? For now, I will content myself with this Double Decker Dog…Happy Thanksgiving from the Falls of the Ohio.

Postscript: Less than a month after publishing this post…I found plastic hamburger combination #8 in the late December driftwood. Here’s a couple of images made in the field.

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Life in a Bucket

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, ecosytem, environmental art, nature, nature photography, tagged Art, art and the environment, artist at exit 0, ecostory, Falls of the Ohio, flotsam and jetsam, found material art, life, nature, nature story, photography, recycled art, repurposed art, willow tree on September 14, 2013| 12 Comments »

The Orangeman was really excited to see me and asked me breathlessly, “Where have you been lately?” I filled him in about my busy life and work and then turned the table by asking my friend what all the hubbub was about? He knows that if I could I would spend most of my time down by the river and probably go completely native and become a river rat in the process. He also knows that if there is something not to be missed down by the Falls of the Ohio…that I would do my best not to miss it! The Orangeman explained that he had several things he wanted to show me beginning with a monumental discovery he came across in a discarded plastic five gallon bucket. This would be Exhibit A.

The slightly sun-faded blue bucket or pail was sitting on an angle in the sand…just as the river had left it. River mud and dirt more than filled the bucket up passed the midway point. Orangeman walked me over to the bucket and said “Peek inside and tell me what you see.” I did as he asked and more than a little perplexed I replied…”Well, I see a few small plants and vines growing in the dirt.” Orangeman groaned…”That part is obvious, however, the deeper meaning lies in how resilient life is and even within the confines of a plastic bucket…life wants to grow and express itself.” I had to admit that the Orangeman was making an interesting point here. At home, I keep flowers and plants in flower pots and other containers made for the purpose and get pleasure from seeing them thrive and be beautiful. What I hadn’t considered was the idea that any container also acts as a barrier. Life wants to join with life and be a part of the interconnected whole. The roots of these bucket plants were only going to be able to spread so far. Still, as the Orangeman explained…”The will to live and grow is strong even if there are limitations present. There was more to see and the Orangeman walked me over to Exhibit B.

I must admit that I was impressed by the second example that my friend the Orangeman showed me. In a shattered plastic drum, various grasses and so-called weeds were sprouting through a large hole in the top of the container. Years ago, dirt and sand filled the barrel through the actions of river water and wind rendering it too heavy to pick up and move. Different plant seeds found their way into the barrel and discovering this small niche…set out to colonize and thrive as best they could. Perhaps these grasses will find enough of what they need to move through their life cycle and produce seed for another generation? Or perhaps they won’t due to all kinds of other variables, but the point remains that life will take that chance.

I hadn’t seen the Orangeman in such a didactic mood before and I was impressed with his earnestness. Previously, he had struck me as a happy-go-lucky guy and not especially bothered by all the serious stuff in the world. I certainly was seeing a different side of my friend that I hadn’t seen before. We walked and talked together and before long reached the last sight he wanted me to see. We might as well designate this as Exhibit C of the day.

The Orangeman stopped next to an old discarded tire and with a flourish of his arms and hands and said, “Here it is!” The “it” part was a small willow tree that was growing through the center of the tire. I didn’t tell my friend this but, I already knew about this particular tree and another one I had discovered very similar to it in the western section of the Falls of the Ohio State Park. I had even photographed this very tree on several occasions. This is how it looked in late spring.

We had a relatively cool spring and it seemed to my eye that the plants at the Falls got off to a slow start. The willow-in-the-tire took its time ‘leafing out”, but eventually it did. Now I must say that a tree growing through the middle of a tire is a remarkable thing, however, there is more to admire about this particular tree. The Orangeman invited me to make a closer inspection.

Amazingly, this willow tree was growing through the holes in the metal wheel that were still in the tire! The tiny, wispy seeds from a willow tree must have passed through one of the holes and taken root in the mud and soil beneath the tire. Hungry and thirsty for light, the various branches moved through the holes. I told the Orangeman that this was indeed an amazing example of life making do in very unpromising circumstances.

I’m going to monitor this tree with the Orangeman’s help because I’m curious to see if it can continue to thrive and grow. Will it eventually lift the tire into the air like some perverse hula-hoop as the trunk thickens and becomes more pronounced? Or, will the holes in the metal prove too restrictive and choke the life out these branches? Or, will something else out of the blue change the situation? The river usually gets the last word and flooding could easily send a flotilla of battering logs the willow tree’s way. The Orangeman and I parted company, but not before I thanked him for his time. Indeed, he had given me much to mull over. The idea that life is very resilient and will find a way to endure was comforting to me…especially as the physical world continues to change around us.

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Junk from the Memory Card

Posted in Absurd, collections, Falls of the Ohio, unusual collection, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, doll head, earth, Falls of the Ohio, flotsam and jetsam, found objects, lost and found, photography, plastic character bottle, plastic novelty, plastic trash, rivers, the environment, toys on May 18, 2013| 4 Comments »

Every now and then it’s good to purge stuff that has been building up over time. With my river project, I do this by emptying out my collecting bag(s) to make way for new finds and by deleting images stored on my camera’s memory card. I have gotten into the habit of using the memory card as another form of digital storage just in case something bad happens to all the other places I store data. In this post, I will feature favorite images of plastic flotsam and jetsam I have gathered at the river’s edge the past two months. I will start with the image with the flip-flops and Croc-like shoes. These are tiny to small kids’ sizes. A few weeks a go, I picked up eight of them along a favorite walk and realized once I reached my outdoor studio that they were all meant for the right foot! I have since added a few extras, but the initial shock of realizing there were no left shoes remains. I wonder if subconsciously I selected for right-footedness? Anyway, here is a still life photo portfolio of other plastic river junk toys.