material culture | Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

Posts Tagged ‘material culture’

Great Wolf Spider of the Falls of the Ohio

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

Big Spool and Tiny Willow Island

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

The Harbinger of Spring

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, Green, nature, nature photography, recycled art, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, ecostory, Falls of the Ohio, groundhog, material culture, nature, photography, plastic, recycled art, spring, story telling, Styrofoam on March 23, 2014| 12 Comments »

Here’s an adventure from March 15 which was a beautiful Saturday in the Kentuckiana area with temperatures in the low 70’s! I spent so much time at the Falls of the Ohio on this day that I even managed a very slight sunburn. Like much of the country (particularly east of the Mississippi River) we are so ready for winter to be over. This particular day turned out to be a tease, because less than 24 hours later, temperatures plummeted and we had an accumulation of snow! Most of the people I know are tired of their winter wardrobes, which also means triple the laundry load. We are ready for the greening and warming of the earth. On this particular foray to the river, I was on the look out for any signs of spring. I came across this young groundhog basking in the sun near his hole. He turned out not to be very social.

He need not worry about me. I wasn’t going to blame him for the extra long winter. Here’s the back story. February 2 is Groundhog’s Day and the myth goes if the “official” groundhog that resides in the small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania sees his shadow on this particular day…winter will be extended another six weeks. Well this year, that captive groundhog which was yanked from his burrow by human hands did see his shadow and surprise…spring was predicted to be late in coming. I did a little back checking on the Groundhog’s Day tradition and here’s what I found from the official website. The idea is based on the Candlemas Day observance that Pennsylvania’s early German settlers brought with them in the 19th century. This passage was quoted as the rationale for Groundhog’s Day…”For as the sun shines on Candlemas day, so far will the snow swirl in May.” I’m not sure what the source for this quote is…but snow in May? What is this some kind of ice age legacy handed over through deep time and what’s with the groundhog? The official Groundhog’s Day observance was established in 1887 and groundhogs and woodchucks the country over have been stigmatized by it. This particular groundhog was having nothing to do with people and retreated down his burrow.

On this trip to the Falls…I visited the far western section of the park and wanted to see if I could find any signs of spring there. I did find lots of river-carried junk, but will save some of that for another time. I did stop by my favorite cottonwood tree that has been for many years, a popular place to hang out. I saw a sign saying that it is now being called the “Hobo Hut”. I came across a nice group of young people with theater and writing backgrounds who were going to party there. This seemed to me to be as good a sign of spring as anything that can be learned from a large rodent. After exchanging pleasantries for a few minutes I moved on. Before long, I ran into this character and he educated me about spring.

This is the Harbinger of Spring and I chanced to come across him on my walk. He told me he had “heard” my thoughts and musing about spring and decided to introduce himself to me. It was a warm day and once again I was out here without drinking water and if this were indeed a hallucination…at least it was a friendly and pleasant one. He had a reassuring smile on his face to go along with the glowing yellow flower on his chest and shock of leaves sprouting from his head. I decided to just go with whatever would happen next and here is that story.

Contrary to popular belief, the official arrival of spring has nothing to do with groundhogs or even the vernal equinox. Spring arrived by boat to the Falls of the Ohio and I just happened to stumble across him as he prepared to do his work. The Harbinger allowed me to tag along to see the preparations and ground work needed for winter to transition to spring.

According to the Harbinger, the first thing that needs to happen is an increase in the intensity and duration of sun light. While I stood quietly nearby, the Harbinger willed the sun into the correct position in the sky. This was manifested by my magic friend’s ever lengthening shadow and the warmth I felt on the back of my neck. Not much can occur if the sun doesn’t cooperate.

The next step is to awaken the plants and begin the “greening” process. I watched the Harbinger sit on a dormant clump of loosestrife and open his arms. I heard a barely audible melody that I could not identify and heard it more through my mind than my ears. According to the Harbinger, the “greening” begins by warming up the simplest plants that are connected to the water. In this case, mats of algae were turning bright green before my eyes.

The land plants came next. I observed the Harbinger walking over to a clump of grass and green blades began to grow out of the gravel. This process would continue through all the flowers, shrubs, bushes, and would culminate with the appearance of the first tree leaves. The familiar animals would then return. My friend told me that this process took great effort and patience and could not be accomplished in a single day. For now…he was through, but over the next week or so he promised dramatic results. I parted with the Harbinger as he settled into a cavity formed in a living tree. For now, the sun tiring of its efforts was setting and evening was fast approaching. The Harbinger would spend the night here and resume his work when he felt the conditions were right to do so. I had one more surprise coming. As I turned and walked away…a red flower appeared at the Harbinger’s hole and the sun began to sink in the west. See you next time from a greening Falls of the Ohio.

Read Full Post »

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.

Read Full Post »

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

Isaac’s Hummingbird

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, art and environment, birds and birding, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, tagged Art, birds, creative ornithology, creativity, ecosystem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, hummingbirds, material culture, nature, nature story, photography, Planet Earth, recycled materials on August 26, 2012| 17 Comments »

At long last I’ve made it back out to the river! It’s been about eight weeks now since my last visit. Today I have a double purpose…the first is to drop off one of my Styrofoam and recycled material sculptures for an annual fund-raiser that the Falls of the Ohio State Park Foundation hosts every year. I’m glad to do this and hope my donation does well in their auction. Despite the years I’ve been making stuff out here it still strikes me that most of my materials are literally trash. I suppose I will never get over that. It seems to me that it takes a certain kind of person who would want to own one of these creations! The other more fun purpose is to check out what’s different along the river and maybe make something new. Immediately, I can see that the hot summer continues to take its toll. At first, it was the relentless heat, but now that is coupled with a serious lack of rain. The river is low and everything looks dry.

Over the course of this summer we have had just enough rain not to be considered a disaster area. This is hardly a ringing endorsement and I find a small laminated notice tacked on to a bulletin board that reinforces how dry it is. I think to myself that some of the people I’ve encountered out here over the years who do shoot off fireworks or build fire pits are not likely to read or heed this warning. When I’m in the park, my preference is to move away from the most public areas and so with my walking stick in hand I head down the Woodland Loop Trail. I’m still not confident enough to want to test my repaired knee too vigorously, but this trail is fairly easy.

The trail is shaded which I welcome since it’s still over 90 degrees out here. I pass many what I would consider late summer blooming plants that have flowered earlier than usual. I did see several stands of tall Pokeweed plants with their black berries, but even these weeds have wilted leaves. I guess what moisture these plants could muster up went into the production of their fruit? These berries are a favorite food of several bird species. In the past, I have used the intensely dark purple juice from Pokeweed berries as a pigment in some drawings I have made. This color, however, is fugitive and ultimately fades in the light. As I walk, one distinctive sound I keep hearing is the tell-tale sound of gray squirrels gnawing on the rock-hard walnuts that are clustered around the few walnut trees along the trail. There’s not much meat inside one of these nuts and it seems like a lot of work for little reward.

Out on the exposed fossil beds the sun is baking, but under the shade of the trees it is still fairly green. Since my last visit, however, I noticed a lot of dropped tree limbs and a few whole trees that have keeled over and appear to be the result of wind damage. I have seen a few birds including two Hairy Woodpeckers and as I walk along the trail I keep getting scolded by Carolina Wrens who resent my intrusion. In the distance I recognize the calls from the Killdeer plovers that are looking for food along the water’s edge. The rarest and most unusual bird, however, is just up ahead.

I’ve only seen a couple of the more common and native Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds this year…and so I was taken aback and delighted to come across what I later identified as Isaac’s Hummingbird (Archilochus isaaci ). To my knowledge, this is the only recorded instance of this Cuban species reaching this park. I’m guessing that Tropical Storm Isaac (purely coincidental, but also appropriate) which is threatening the GOP conference in Tampa Bay at this moment may have blown this rarity our way? Hummingbirds of which there are over 300 hundred recorded species have been known to wander thousands of miles away from their more familiar haunts.

I came across this hummingbird dozing on a fallen branch. It would open its eyes every once in a while and regard me. I kept my movements to a minimum and completely forgot about my aching knee in the process of creating a few images of it. I was able to snap off six pictures before it took off. As you can see, this bird (also known as the Yellow Saberbill) has a bright yellow bill it uses to extract nectar from flowers. Its light blue body, brown wings, silver tail, and whitish-head are diagnostic of this species. I don’t know what it is about the Falls of the Ohio, but I have seen other unique hummers out here before. Digging through the archives…I present two of them again.

This is the ultra rare Arctic Hummingbird appearing at the Falls of the Ohio to sip nectar from the equally scarce Ice Blossoms.

I encountered this Cumberland Greencrest back in 2010 not far from the place that I saw the Isaac’s Hummingbird. Both of these rare hummingbirds stayed in our area for a couple of days before moving on. This is what keeps me coming out here…I just never know what I’ll find or discover! This was a short, but eventful trip and I thank you for tagging along. Here’s another view of the river with the exposed Devonian fossil beds.

POSTSCRIPT: The inspiration for this particular post comes from another WordPress blog I enjoy entitled “Ekostories”. Isaac Yuen is its creator and he’s an aspiring environmental writer. Issac has a talent for weaving stories and making connections about responsible stewardship of our planet. At the time of this writing, Isaac has a wonderful post about a book entitled the “Flight of the Hummingbird” that I think you may enjoy…so please check it out. Here is his link: http://ekostories.com/ Finally, one last peek at this elusive hummingbird checking out a flower blossom.

Read Full Post »

Digital Driftwood: Part II, Wood Mix

Posted in Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, nature photography, Ohio River, unusual collection, watershed, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, driftwood, environmental change, Falls of the Ohio, flooding, found objects, material culture, nature, Ohio River, photography, trees, wood, wood turning on August 12, 2012| 2 Comments »

Welcome to my second look at wood as expressed at the Falls of the Ohio. The first post concentrated more on the river and water as an agent of change moving material through the landscape. This post looks more closely at the driftwood that gets stranded in this southern Indiana park. I once curated an exhibition at the Louisville Visual Art Association entitled “River Sticks” where all the artworks were made from locally procured driftwood. The majority of these works of art utilized raw, natural sources, but there is also wood in the mix of a slightly different character.

There is a wooden staircase placed here by the Department of Natural Resources (which maintains this state park) that is a popular access way onto the riverbank and fossil rocks. It is not unusual during bouts of flooding to see part of this staircase submerged by the Ohio River. During those moments, all you can do is look from a distance or visit the Interpretive Center.

Over time this staircase has needed frequent repairs as it gets battered by floating logs and tree trunks. Only after the water has drained away can you walk among the driftwood and see what else made from wood has been left high and dry.

Here’s a dramatic shot of a different staircase that has floated down the river and has been snagged by a willow tree. Objects stranded in trees bear witness to how high the river rose.

I frequently find wooden pallets and they get snagged in the trees too. This one is a little different in that it appears the tree is growing through and around this artificial form. Over time, the pallet will fall apart. Perhaps wood is wood, but one can’t help noticing how much milled and processed wood is a part of the mix. Here are a few other images showing this contrast between natural and man-shaped wood.

Sometimes it seems like there are enough planed boards at the Falls to build a small house. Fishermen and visitors use these planks to span muddy areas and puddles to keep their shoes clean and dry. All this wood is a disposable resource? I’ve seen visitors taking lumber out and I’ve done the same. I like using river-worn cut boards as bases for the Styrofoam sculptures I choose to keep. To me, even the smallest board tells a story of our relationship to trees and nature. I tell myself that someday I’ll make some rustic piece of furniture from this wood. The same processes that break a tree down in the river…do a similar “service” to disposed of wooden furniture.

Here’s a piece of a child’s crib or bed that I found at the river’s edge.

This is one of many table legs and turned pieces I’ve come across. Sometimes I pick them up and take them home. I’ve used them on rare occasions in my art, but I have also given many pieces to artist friends to see what they could make of them. I suppose I could make an homage to Louise Nevelson’s sculptures, but would prefer to create something more personal. Nevertheless, I have picked up a few wooden artifacts from the river and here’s how they look collectively.

I left the toes of my shoes sneaking a peak for scale! Here’s some of the hand-turned and machine-made table legs, chair staves, and spindles I’ve saved. These artifacts do break down over time and eventually revert back to nature. Now for a detail.

Here’s a slightly different collection of wooden artifacts I’ve saved over the years. Some things I recognize and others require pondering to figure them out.

The objects on the right are mostly finials from fence posts. The circular objects with the holes in them…I’m not sure how those were originally used? Could they be part of a float system for barge ropes or are they wooden wheels for toys…could they be lids for some kinds of containers? In this grouping I have also included a small rustic picture frame I found as well as a whittled stick I could tell someone cut and scored and is perhaps the most minimal artifact in my altered wood collection. I find many board fragments, but I kept one small piece because someone named “Bill” tried routing his name in the wood and drilled a few holes that became bigger as the wood softened and aged from exposure to water. This piece of wood exhibits several ways we leave our mark on nature.

I also have a sign collection that can be seen in my Pages section. Most all of them are also made from wood and were once part of this unusual driftwood mix that came from the Ohio River. I’m thinking of putting my found “Bill” board in that collection because it too is a sign of the times as we lose our ability and desire to write in cursive. Very few schools in my area even bother to teach this skill anymore.

Not all the driftwood in the river consists of logs, branches, and roots. Much of my riverblog bears witness to the extent our handiwork pervades the larger environment. What I see happening in my part of the world I assume is transitioning simultaneously across the surface of the planet. We have added our own distinctiveness to the overall material aggregate which challenges our now quaint notions of what is “purely natural”. I was right when I mentioned in an earlier post that the month of July would find a way to be memorable. It’s official now, July was our hottest month ever in what is shaping up to be our hottest year ever. Much of our country is experiencing an intense drought and so I end with a picture of what it looks like when there is too much water.

Read Full Post »

Plush Portfolio

Posted in Absurd, art and environment, collections, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, nature photography, unusual collection, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, Falls of the Ohio, flotsam and jetsam, found objects, found toys, material culture, photography, Pink Panther, plush toys, Raggedy Ann, recycled art, river junk, stuffed animals, teddy bears, water pollution, Winnie the Pooh on July 21, 2012| 18 Comments »

I confess that I like the word “plush”. In my mind it evokes a sense of luxury and well-being. I roll the word around my mouth like a fine wine and I also get overtones of comfort, safety, warmth, softness, and abundance. I feel similarly about the word “verdant”, but that’s the subject of another post. Returning to “plush”…it is also a word used to describe a variety of soft, sewn toys usually made with polyester fibers. This includes most of the teddy bears and stuffed animals that one is likely to come across today. In my own family, plush toys are and were among our most beloved and trusted playthings and misplacing or losing one was like losing a member of the family itself. Which brings me to this portfolio of images taken with found plush toys in situ that I stumbled upon at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. Each toy was probably loved by some child and if these images hold any power it probably derives from feelings of separation and loss. I’m also interested in them as aspects of our material culture that manifest themselves as more junk for the environment to try to absorb. All these plush toys were deposited by the Ohio River and it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that some of these objects probably floated hundreds of miles to reach my camera’s lens. Here are some of my “favorite” images in this “genre” and I’ll start with the object I’m holding in the first picture.

Once upon a time this was an impressive toy. I think this is “Pink” from the famous Pink Panther cartoon series. Lifting it from the mud took some effort because its stuffing has been replaced with impacted mud. This toy had effectively merged with its muddy matrix.

I also found this cute plush dinosaur embedded in the mud. Later I set him up on a log and took his portrait in the context of where he was found. He’s a friendly tyrannosaur photographed against a fossil landscape that predates the real dinosaurs by millions of years.

This was an unusual find. Later I identified this as a child’s slipper featuring a Rug-rats character, but it fits my plush category nevertheless! Now let’s look at some teddy bears.

This was once a member of the Care Bear clan. Here’s a different kind of bear minus his stuffing.

I came across this unfortunate bear in the sand. Somehow he lost all his stuffing and was essentially just a hollow skin which I salvaged and used as a costume for one of my Styrofoam figures I later entitled “Cubby”.

This bear was still in the process of arriving by water when I came across him. The black background is coal gravel and dust while the white dots are the remains of broken clam shells. I’m sure you will recognize my next find.

My eldest son has the exact sized Pooh bear that he has treasured all his life. Even though he’s now a teenager, I noticed that Pooh still occupies a prominent place in his room. Here’s one last bear and its a little different and may not “technically” qualify as a plush toy. Nevertheless, I found it appealing and I include it with the others.

Let’s try a change of pace and include a few rather small stuffed toy objects I’ve found over the last couple of years.

This looks to be some kind of flamingo head.

I’m not really sure what this might represent…it could be a moon or a vegetable?

Here’s another object I had trouble identifying. I like how the cockle burrs are hitching a ride on its knitted surface. Here are few toys that either are or were inspired by Beanie Babies.

The purple reindeer was photographed against the blackness of coal dust and gravel.

I believe this is another beanie baby-styled toy in the form of a purple cow?

I believe this tiny plush toy is meant to represent a killer whale. Here’s an image that came out of the floods from two years a go.

This guy is clearly an elephant. When I was a child I had a Dumbo character soft animal toy.

Another hard for me to identify figure, but the destroyed aluminum can help give you a sense of how large this plush toy is. Could this be some type of Halloween toy?

Over the years I have found many surprises buried in the sand. When I spotted the above object…I had no idea what it was until I lifted it up. This is what I found. I remember staring at the blue eye!

To my surprise emerged the form of this friendly and shaggy green parrot. I placed him upon a branch for others to find and moved on. We are getting close to being done! Here are a few more found figures.

A sharp-eyed observer identified this as the Magician character from the Frosty the Snowman cartoon. Makes sense to me because I found him right after Christmas of that year. Could have been some child’s gift that wasn’t properly appreciated and in to the river you go?

I don’t know why I remember this now, but I believe this figure was once used to advertise a barbecue restaurant? Could have had additional info on the back of the shirt, but I also could be completely wrong about this. It might simply be a birthday wish novelty. I think you will recognize this next one.

This isn’t the original Raggedy Ann doll, but a similar conception. I found it face down in the sand and flipped it over for this photo.

I live in a basketball crazy region, but this is the first time I’ve encountered this object. I know it references basketball, but what else is it intended to do? What purpose do the white cords serve? It definitely has plush elements.

This is me standing in my beat up Falls shoes next to a found plush “dog bone”. My dog makes short work of any plush toys she comes across. She knows how to get her teeth around their seams and split their contents open. This makes me wary to think that this orange bone might be a dog’s toy…but what else could it be? The Ohio River is always presenting me with such conundrums, however, I enjoy putting on my thinking cap and trying to puzzle them out. I hope you liked some of the images and I will leave you with this final one of the parrot in the place where I left him for others to find.

Read Full Post »

String Theory Photography

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, environmental art, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, barge cable, Falls of the Ohio, frayed rope, interwoven, material culture, nature, photo collection, photography, rope in nature, string theory, tangled on May 6, 2012| 11 Comments »

Previously, I mentioned how interested I had become by the frayed barge cables I was finding tangled up with the willow trees at the Falls of the Ohio. I really liked watching the process of change as these big synthetic ropes broke down through river power and dissolved back into nature as artificial raw materials. I have also used these ropes to broach the subject of quantum mechanics (something I profess to really know very little about except that I like the idea of the universe being composed of nearly invisible vibrating strings ). It’s also about all the interconnectedness of the world and the literal fibers that hold it all together. At the Falls of the Ohio, our material culture engages the natural physical materials and forces of the planet in a way that can be photographed. Here is a portfolio of some of my favorite rope and string images.

Read Full Post »

The Time Traveler, Another Found Object Story

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, nature photography, Originality, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, barge cable, black tunnel, Falls of the Ohio, found objects, Louisville, material culture, nature, paradox, photography, plastic egg, recycled art, string theory, Styrofoam on April 13, 2012| 19 Comments »

In the beginning he was so unclear about what had happened. There was this vague image in his mind of some kind of presence he felt that may have created him? Even that “fact” was up for debate. All he remembers with any kind of certainty was that he couldn’t remember anything at all until the breath of life was blown into him.

What he remembers next is feeling the warmth of the sun on his face. He tried looking at the sun, but his eyes couldn’t stand the gaze. Averting his face, he saw a shape on the ground and was surprised when it echoed his own movements like a dance partner. It was in this moment that he felt his body and became fully aware that he was physical and could move around in space. He took a minute or two, three, four…to survey his birthplace.

What he saw astonished him! Positioned in the sand were lots of pieces that looked like the same material he was made from. It was a bit creepy and confusing for him and his next impulse was to escape. This decision set him upon the path that would be his life’s adventure. He walked and walked and everything he saw was new, confusing, and miraculous to him. There were trees and plants and other life forms that occupied the same space and were delightful to behold. It took a while to absorb and understand some of the things he was encountering. After a half day’s journey or so, the traveler came to a place different from where he began and after surveying this field…he had an epiphany.

It was a debris field full of all kinds of materials…some of which resembled the pieces he saw before and which constituted his very physical being. He realized that he was made of the stuff of the world and felt the kinship. He further intuited that these materials were themselves extracted from what had lived and came before. Life is built upon life…dust to dust…ashes to ashes…plastic to plastic. The Traveler moved on.

The Traveler was gaining experience of the world which then led to knowledge of it. He encountered many other objects and filed them away in his being for future reference. One such object was this immense cable or rope and our hero recognized that all the individual strands of this rope gave it great strength and unity when they were woven and twisted together. The sun was at its high point and the day was getting hot. The Traveler decided to move into the shade of the trees to cool off and discover what he could learn there. After an hour’s walk or two or three…he came to a large black tunnel leading into the ground and it beckoned to him.

Reflexively, the Traveler overcame any misgivings and entered the tunnel. It felt cool which he liked and there was blackness which he feared. In the next heartbeat there was an incredible burst of light and he found himself on the other side of the tunnel. What he saw next was the most perplexing sight of this new and memorable day!

Impaled upon three sticks were three heads that were regarding him with interest. The Traveler was a confusion of feelings that ranged from horror to outright fascination! One head was blue and looked like an elephant minus its ears. The other two heads were childlike and misshapen. Within his own mind, the Traveler heard the largest childlike head speak to him and it said, ” Welcome Traveler…we are the Oracle of the Sands of Time. Together we are the past, present, and future. All that you were before…you will be again…and more.

The Oracle then spoke in unison and told the Traveler that the Past, Present, and Future simultaneously coexist. They were appearing to him now to act as a guide to the life that had been given to him. Naturally, the Traveler was a bit confused since he was new to paradoxes! Then the larger head placed an image into the Traveler’s mind and said, “Do you remember that rope you saw today?…imagine a slightly different one more colorful and expanded. Now imagine it’s a model of the universe and everything in it.”

The Traveler then tried to grasp the idea that the universe is made of vibrating strings that phase in and out of time. Because there are differences in spacetime and your point of view changes depending on how you focus on a moment…the possibility of multiple “you’s” can exist in different dimensions in space and time. What you were before…you can be again…or not. Yes, it’s all rather confusing and the Traveler moved away from the Oracle and tried contemplating what he was just told.

What was he supposed to do with this knowledge? He then remembered the last thing the Oracle told him and it somewhat made sense. As long as he was fully present and open in each moment of his life…he would be fine. If he was having a bad day…somewhere in the universe those other “you’s” could be having better or worse days. In the big scheme of things…it just doesn’t matter. As the sun was setting in the west, the Traveler was able to face the sun with his shadow confidently following behind him. He decided that he would keep walking towards the light and treat each day like it was brand new.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »

Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

Art and images from the Falls of the Ohio.

Posts Tagged ‘material culture’

Great Wolf Spider of the Falls of the Ohio

Big Spool and Tiny Willow Island

The Harbinger of Spring

River Roller

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

Isaac’s Hummingbird

Digital Driftwood: Part II, Wood Mix

Plush Portfolio

String Theory Photography

The Time Traveler, Another Found Object Story

Archives

Categories

Pages

Art and images from the Falls of the Ohio.

Posts Tagged ‘material culture’

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Archives

Categories

Pages