Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, art and environment, birding, collections, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio River, unusual collection, tagged Art, artistatexit0, bath tub duck, collecting, Falls of the Ohio, flots, found objects, lost and found, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, plastic toy, rubber duck, rubber ducky collection on December 30, 2011| 10 Comments »
One last post before all of 2011’s sand runs through the hour-glass! Here are a few of the many rubber duckies that I have come across at the Falls of the Ohio over the years. I thought it would be a fun way to end the year. If you would like to see more ducky images…I’ve posted a new collection, “Kentucky Lucky Ducky Collection” which can be found in my Pages section. Have a Happy New Year and may 2012 be kind to all!
Posted in Absurd, art and environment, Falls of the Ohio, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, Beach combing, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Kentucky, Louisville, nature, recycled art, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual snowman on December 24, 2011| 10 Comments »
The holiday season is upon us and I’m here at the Falls of the Ohio to renew one of my Christmas traditions. For many years, I have been creating and sending out card images from stuff I’ve made or found washed up here. This post documents what I came up with on this particular visit along the Ohio River. Friends and family tell me they enjoy receiving these admittedly unusual cards.
To continue the story a bit from my last post, I came across some evidence that my friend Steve the Arrowhead Man had visited this area before me. I came across this site where he sat on a log and chipped away rock from its matrix to reveal the projectile point that he sees within it. The wind has blown away his foot prints. Talking with Steve, he is an individual who believes that “all hell is about to break loose” and he views man’s poor treatment of the environment as the reason this crisis will occur. To him, it might not happen today or tomorrow, but the road before us is clear to him and it is not a pretty picture. During my last conversation with Steve he urged me to obtain a book on edible wild plants and study it. I know that Steve has been periodically homeless and has tried living off the land. I’ll admit that during my more pessimistic moods…that I agree with him. However, I come out to the river to appreciate the natural world and exercise my creative muscles. This usually puts me in a better frame of mind.
Since my last visit the river level has dropped exposing more of its sandy shoreline. The aluminum boat that was out here is gone and I wondered if Steve was able to salvage it or if the authorities contacted its owner based on the registration numbers along its side? As I walk along the bank, I’m keeping my eyes open for whatever is new that has washed ashore. As usual I find toys like this miniature dinosaur which I scooped up into my collecting bag. There’s an animated holiday special that airs on television each year that has been a favorite of mine since I was a child. I know I’m revealing a lot here by admitting that I’m a fan of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”! There is one setting within this Christmas classic that always gets me. It’s the Island of Misfit Toys where irregular play things (like a train with square wheels and a Charlie in the Box) are sent into “exile” on this island and “exist” with the hope that Santa Claus will eventually rescue them and present them to kids who will love them. Ah, pathetic fallacy strikes again. The poignancy of that image has loomed large in my imagination ever since I first saw it. At times I feel that the Falls of the Ohio State Park is that island and that the lost and misfit toys arrive here via the river. Here are a few other toys I found on this particular day.
Here is the remains of a remote control car that was deposited upon the driftwood. I wonder why it found itself in the river?
I came across this washed-up plush figure with a big nose and mustache. I feel I “know” this character, but can’t place him at the moment. Lying less that ten feet away from him was this very recognizable and classic character. I wonder if they traveled together?
I turned this Winnie the Pooh plush figure over and removed the burrs that were attached to it and then brushed some of the wet sand off of it. Who doesn’t love Winnie the Pooh and what is he doing in the river? He is far away from the Hundred Acre Woods. I carried Pooh and the “mustache man” with me as I gathered the other items I found (including a large chunk of Styrofoam and parts of a garden hose) and proceeded to make my next Falls creation.
Here is version #1 of the Styro-Snowman. He’s a bit larger than most of the figures I have made out here. I used a plastic coffee container for a hat, but wasn’t satisfied with it. I wish I could have found different head-gear, but this is what that day presented to me. I posed my two little outcast friends at his base and snapped this image. This was a relatively warm and super bright day as you can see by the strong cast shadows.
This is version #2 minus the coffee container. The eyes are the blackened remains of nuts from the buckeye tree. I used other buckeyes and a few walnuts for the “buttons”. The remaining elements are plastic fragments and driftwood. Here is another detail.
I also found a length of yellow nylon rope which I employed as a belt. I tucked the Pooh figure under it as well as a plastic booze bottle to add that extra element of holiday cheer.
As the day was moving along and since I was needed elsewhere…I left this figure at this location, but added one more element.
I added this message in the sand and walked away. Inside my camera were enough images that I later printed for my holiday cards. Along the walk back I noticed this white chair near the top of a tree.
This image is another reminder of how high the river can get during one of its flood stages. The chair was deposited here during last Spring’s high water, but is especially visible now because the leaves have dropped. I’m always amazed at how variable this relatively small place can be. I hope everyone out there in the wider world has a great holiday season and I will end with one more message in the sand.
Posted in Absurd, collections, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged Absurd, Art, artist at exit 0, Falls of the Ohio, found objects, Kentucky, Louisville, material culture, nature, photography, sculpture, Styrofoam on December 18, 2011| 3 Comments »
As expected we set a new yearly rain total record and we still have time left in 2011. At the moment, we have had 66 inches of rain breaking the old mark by two inches. I waited for the river to go down a bit before returning to the Falls of the Ohio. The water was still high which restricted how far I could go. One very noticeable difference from my last visit was this lost boat. The high water we did receive loosened it from its mooring up river and it showed up here. I wonder if someone will attempt to salvage it?
I am always hopeful that I will find lots of cool stuff and this is what I came up with on this trip. I’ve started collecting the plastic toy wheels that come off toy trucks and cars. I don’t know what I will eventually do with them, but then again that’s part of the fun! Here’s a closer image of the blue plastic parachutist in the spot where he landed.
This other figure in the blue coat is my friend Steve the Arrowhead Man. I’ve nicknamed him this because he likes to knap or chip projectile points from the local rock as the Indigenous people once did. For him it is a primeval aesthetic. Steve was the only person I saw on this very cold, but sunny day. Steve was hunting for rock, but was having no luck because the river was still too high. I asked how life was treating him and he said that things were a little better for him. He now has permission to be in the park to practice his craft. Steve did tell me he once received a ticket for “littering” because someone found a small pile of rock chips he made during the creation of an arrowhead. We both had a good laugh about that considering his “waste” rock is far less offensive than the daily barrage of plastic bottles and Styrofoam cups that other visitors have strewn about the park. The new administration at the park has actually embraced people like Steve and potentially me too. The two of us are living interpreters of the Falls of the Ohio State Park. For so long, it felt like the only interesting events occurred in this place two hundred or more years a go. The Falls, however, is a living site and should be treated as such. This blog is a sampling of the reality that exits in the park at the present moment. No doubt two hundred years from now people will find a completely different set of circumstances and folks might be curious about us…or not?
This is the figure I made with found materials on this day. I walked as far east as I could in the park before the river and deposited driftwood blocked the way. Along my walk, I came across a discarded life vest and I appropriated it for this figure. I also found the Styrofoam here and there and carried it under my arms. The distinctive black eyes are old nuts from the buckeye tree. The nose is the spray nozzle from a plastic bottle. A friend told me the other day that he prefers the animal sculptures I make over the “human presences” I create from these poor materials. I had to agree, but told him that my figures do contain a certain amount of realism to them because they reflect so well the absurdity of the human condition and our relationship to the planet.
With his thin smile I left this figure waving goodbye and turned around for home. It was time because I was feeling cold and my left knee was aching. One of the parting remarks that Steve said to me was that he was considering trying to save the aluminum boat we saw earlier. I wonder if he tried? I’ll ask him next time I see him.
Posted in Absurd, art and environment, collections, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, sculpture, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artistatexit0, Beach combing, dolls, Falls of the Ohio, Kentucky, Louisville, nature, plastic, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam on November 13, 2011| 3 Comments »
We have had a warm and mostly dry autumn thus far at the Falls of the Ohio. I’m taking advantage of another lovely weekend to go exploring along my favorite spots on the riverbank. I usually begin by going down to the water’s edge to see if anything new has washed up. Here are a few of the objects I came across and added to my ever burgeoning collecting bag. Some of my finds I will use in my sculptures while the more interesting objects will enter one of the various river collections I have been assembling. As usual, I find some doll or doll element along the river’s edge . Aside from plastic balls…dolls are the toy that I find the most which has always struck me as being odd. 
First, I came across this tiny doll with purple hair. If you look closely you can see burrs that are snagged in her hair-do. Later, I found this larger doll that was buried in the sand. I flipped her over and took her “portrait” and then walked away. It’s very possible that I will find her again in a different context. 
My most interesting find of the day was this plastic ax-head. I’m always on the look out for any real artifacts from the Indigenous people who lived here for thousands of years before Europeans arrived, but I have never found even the slightest fragment of pottery or the flakes left over from chipping projectile points. I think the river here is just too dynamic for those kind of discoveries. Nevertheless, this plastic ax-head says a lot about the time in which it was made. First, it is made of hollow plastic which is of course not nearly as durable as flint. Second, it clearly says where it was made which in this case is Hong Kong. Lastly, it promotes an inaccurate characterization of who are native people are. Here are the images that are on this souvenir tomahawk. 
After scoping out the river’s edge…I move up the riverbank with the larger pieces of Styrofoam I have found and submit to my own urge to make something. Here is this day’s figure starting with the head in progress. You can gauge its size from my feet which are intruding in the bottom edge of the frame. As I walk along, I’m also looking for expressive sticks to use for arms and legs. The only tool I’m using here is my pocket knife.
After putting all the pieces together…I move back down to the river and try to capture another portrait in the context of this day. Usually, I take several images and a few of these capture how active the river was.
The sunlight was bright on this day and cast strong shadows which I like. One difficulty of photographing polystyrene is that it is so relentlessly white that it reflects the light so strongly often washing out my images. Sometime’s it is if the light is emanating from the figure itself. I’m sure photographing some of my sculptures with infrared film would yield interesting results.
The last picture I snapped is where I left the figure before heading home. I came to call him “Wedgehead” because of the shape of his noggin. He was last seen standing in what looks to be tall grass, but is in fact young willow trees that sprouted since the last flooding.
Soon, all the leaves will be down and the bare bones of the Falls of the Ohio will show itself. The sense of space will also greatly change creating another stage for the drama that is the Falls of the Ohio. Have a great week everybody!
Posted in Absurd, animal art works, animals, Art, art and environment, birds and birding, creativity, environmental art, nature, nature photography, Originality, recycled art, tagged Art, artistatexit0, butterflies, creative ornithology, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, nature, nature photography, recycled art, Styrofoam, unnatural history, upscaled art on October 25, 2011| 4 Comments »
After a brief cold and wet spell I made it out to the Falls of the Ohio last Saturday. The Ohio River was rising as were the temperatures which had dipped into the 30 degree mark for a few days. One look around here and there is no doubt that it is autumn in Kentuckiana. The willow leaves were noticeably yellower and many of the trees were in the process of losing their foliage. I was scouting around for what else was different in this environment and spotted this tiny butterfly moving about.
This small whitish butterfly was sipping on something on the sand. I was practically nose to nose with it and recognized that it was a member of the skipper family. Last year was such a banner year for butterflies at the Falls and to my eye…this year was a noticeable drop off. After following this skipper for a few yards I was able to take this image of it. At home I identified it as the Common Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus communis) which is considered a very common species. It seemed rather late in the season for a butterfly, but I was able to observe a few rag-tag Buckeye butterflies and a few tattered Viceroys too. Funny how I had never noticed this skipper before. Nevertheless, I felt a sense of personal discovery as though I was the first person ever to see this tiny revelation. It was about this time I heard a distinctive tapping coming from a stand of willow trees. Somewhere a woodpecker was plying its trade.
With its jet-black wings, white body, and bright red bill this bird is easy to identify…it’s the Pied Woodpecker. About this time of year the northern population of this interesting woodpecker begins its southerly migration to the warmer climes of Central America. Although I had added this bird to my “Life List” while on a family trip to Wisconsin…this was the first Pied Woodpecker I have seen at the Falls of the Ohio. I observed it moving up and down the trunks of the willow trees exploring the crevasses in the bark for small insects. It likes to move head down in its search for food like nuthatches are known to do. Every now and then it would use its bill to chip away the wood to uncover the bugs it sought and it seemed quite unconcerned about me taking pictures of it. I snapped as many as I could as I followed it on its path through the woods.
Soon it came to a grove of trees that were covered in wild grape vines. The Pied Woodpecker explored the bark here too, but I saw it augmenting its diet with the tiny fruits this vine was producing. Every once in a while it would make this nasally sound that I tried imitating. Fortunately, this bird didn’t take offense and fly away. Perhaps it “cut me some slack” for at least trying to talk to it in its own language…or at least that was my thought at that moment.
From the vine-covered trees, the woodpecker next flew to a large log with a large exposed root mass. When this tree was living it must have been huge. The Pied Woodpecker didn’t linger here long and I watched its rising and dipping flight pattern as it crossed over the Ohio River into Kentucky. I wonder if I will ever see another of its kind here again? That’s the funny thing. There are birds that are considered common and regularly recorded here that I have yet to see. I’ve seen them elsewhere, but not here at the Falls of the Ohio. That’s the thing about birds…their extreme mobility can make them unpredictable!
Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Ohio River, recycled art, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged Art, artistatexit0, coal, Falls of the Ohio, fish, fishing, found materials art, mountain top, nature, recycled art on October 14, 2011| 6 Comments »
I’m at the Falls of the Ohio again because the Ohio River has been priming my subconscious all week with the sound of running water. I am also very close to finishing the piece I’m making for an invitational art exhibit I’m participating in which revolves around the issue of coal and mountain top removal. This is a topic of some importance in Kentucky. We have a love/hate relationship with coal. On the one hand it is an energy resource we have in some abundance and it does provide much-needed jobs and revenue, however, the toll it takes on everything it touches is also well documented. Over the last few posts you have seen some of the process I’ve been involved with the coal the Ohio River has deposited at the Falls. Today I’m gathering the last of the coal I need for my art.
The spring floods of 2011 washed a lot of coal into the park. My “usual” Falls of the Ohio project touches upon another important issue which is the quality of our number one vanishing resource… fresh, clean water. As is the case with most aspects of the environment, few issues stand in isolation from all the other problems out there. Considerable overlapping is the norm which makes all these problems that much more complex and challenging.
The piece I’m making for this invitational exhibit isn’t intended to be a didactic one. I’m not sure that screaming at people ultimately does much good when it comes to something as complicated as the coal issue. I also don’t pretend to have the answers. I’m hoping that the artwork I’m making with this coal will operate effectively just under the surface of people’s imaginations where it might linger long enough to resonate. We will see. In the meantime, I’ve “enjoyed” working with this material. I have decided that it does have an odd beauty of its own especially when the river tumbles away its rough edges. I have found simply creating small mounds of coal whether in old car tires or just by itself to be a reflective act.
After playing with the coal for a few hours, I decided it was time to do something else. It has been a while since I last baited a hook and went fishing. I got the idea when I came across a long willow branch that a beaver had gnawed all the bark off for food. Looking around the riverbank, I also found a hook, lead sinkers, and enough waste fishing line to outfit my found pole. Fishing floats are something I find in abundance and always have a few in my collecting bag. I also pick up the lead weights that other fishermen lose because this metal doesn’t need to be out here either. Looking under rocks, I scrounged up enough insect larvae to use for bait. Now I was ready to throw my line in the water…and wait.
I guess about twenty minutes passed before I got my first nibble. I lost my bait several times before I was successful in hooking a fish. The sight of my float going completely under the water was a thrilling one!
This fish didn’t give me much of a fight. After a few runs in different directions I could feel it tire and lifted it out of the water. To be honest, I didn’t have the slightest idea of what species this was, but I know that I have never seen anything quite like it here before. It’s coloration was unusual with its light blue body and bright red tail.
It’s eyes are large and I surmised that it usually lives in the depths of the river where light rarely reaches it. I thought it had some similarities to the sauger which is a walleye relative and also found here, but it lacked the sharp teeth that the sauger has. It’s gill covers or operculums were metallic and reminded me of the bottoms of aluminum cans that the river washes into the park.
I quickly took a few more photographs and then released this fish safely back into the river. When I got home I tried to look up some information about my catch, but couldn’t find much about it. Apparently, Rafinesque and LeSueur, two early naturalists who described many of the fish found in the Ohio River and Falls of the Ohio, were mum on this subject which was disappointing. Until I can locate better reference material I decided to just call it something descriptive like the Red-tailed Goggle-eye. Of course, any information that any of you out there might have would be welcomed! Seeing this fish I also had another more disturbing thought. What if this is evolution in action and the continued degradation of the environment is shaping new species from older ones that can deal with the new reality? Evolve or die. This brought the question of man as an agent of evolutionary change to mind since we are culpable for many of the changes going on in the larger world. Well for now, I’ll just sleep on it and see what turns up tomorrow. See you by the water!
Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, nature, nature photography, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artistatexit0, coal, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, nature, nature photography, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam on October 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »
After the briefest cold period, we have had a glorious week of perfect weather. It’s been good to get back to the river after having the focus of the project shift away from the park and into a gallery. Looking around, you can begin to detect those subtle shifts in color beginning to happen in the tree leaves. Actually, there is quite a bit of color all around when you begin paying attention to it. For instance, check out this morning-glory vine.
This purple flower is practically glowing. And the Viceroy butterfly is all in burnt orange as it mimics the Monarchs that currently are migrating on their way south. That large black vein crossing this butterfly’s hind wing is found only on the Viceroy.
Now blooming at the Falls are several species of the Composite flower family that look so close to one another that you need to have a few on hand for direct comparisons. Many are yellow in color like these twin blossoms.
When I wasn’t noticing the local color, I was poking around for old booze bottles. I found a few more to add to another piece I’m making at home. I also came across the remains of another bowling ball and I added this one to my collection. This is how I found it.
At first I thought I was going to dig this ball out of the dirt, but I didn’t need to. What you see is essentially all there is! It’s just a chip of the ball that happens to include a couple of finger holes, the ball’s brand name, and the name of its former owner…Gladys Coons inscribed on the surface. I dropped the fragment into the water to clean it off and the metallic colors begin to shine.
With the Styrofoam I also found out here I fashioned yet another figure and posed it next to an old tire that I had placed river found coal into. First here’s the tire nearly overgrown with plants since my last visit.
Now for a more eccentric view with my Styro-figure posed above it followed by a shot that places things in better perspective.
It’s been a few years since I worked with coal as intensively as I have this year. Our spring floods did a lot to redeposit this mineral in the form of rounded coal pebbles and gravel.
I reposed this simple figure several times mostly in the area that had the most coal deposits. Much of the time I was filling empty bottles with coal for that other project I mentioned. In places you can find “beaches” of coal gravel several inches deep. Intermixed with the coal are white mussel shell fragments and a bit of brown tree bark. I will post images of my bottle sculpture once it is finished. For now, I will leave with a picture of where I left this particular figure in the park. I found a different arm and placed this piece in the context of these beautiful flowers.
Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, public art, recycled art, sculpture, tagged Art, artistatexit0, bones, Falls of the Ohio, found art, found materials, loosestrife, nature, recycled art, Styrofoam sculpture, tree house on August 31, 2011| 9 Comments »
August has been the toughest month and I have two measly posts to show for it. The ankle is better and thanks for all the well wishes I received. I guess my other newsworthy item is that my trusty camera broke while on expedition to the Falls of the Ohio. I received the dreaded “lens error restart the camera” message and of course everything I tried after reading whatever I could about fixing it…didn’t work. Now, I will need to have the pros look at it. Although I have never dropped my camera, I am, however, guilty of working in a dusty and sandy environment. I’ll bet a well placed grain of sand is all it takes to render the most precise instrument useless. If my camera proves to be a lost cause…then this was its last adventure.
A couple of weeks a go I was approached by a person who was looking for a friend that was last seen at the Falls of the Ohio. The missing individual had made a phone call to his friend stating where he was and that he would remain at the Falls for a while, but had not been heard from since then. I was being asked to guide the concerned friend to the places mentioned in their phone conversation. Perhaps the missing individual would still be there or some clues as to what happened to him? Our journey took us to the western section of the park over the sweltering fossil beds. Like I mentioned earlier, August has been a bear.
We walked by large areas of purple loosestrife flowers that were growing in the moist soil and sands near the edge of the river. For a few moments, we lingered over the flowers and watched all the insects drawn to them. There was a profusion of butterflies and more than a few exotic wasps and bees. Each year it seems the loosestrife flowers are spreading and their nectar should make the insects very happy. The place we were walking to was just a head of us. I featured it in a recent post called the “Mahalo Tree House”. It’s a wonderful old cottonwood tree that recently was turned into a “club house” by kids I think? Here are two recent views as we approached the tree.
My guest became excited to see this unique tree house and mentioned to me that it was exactly as described in his friend’s conversation. We walked over a couple old fire pits that proved this site had been occupied recently. I made a few mental notes of other changes I observed since my last visit, but kept those to myself.
My companion grew excited when he spotted the plastic rabbit in his clay niche. This was one of the details mentioned by the missing friend. There was another clue as well.
The garbage bag that had been left behind during my last visit was now full. Who was going to carry it up the bank to dispose of in a responsible manner? There were other signs that started to make me feel uneasy. What do you make of this?
Do you think it is respectful to the tree to spray paint it? I think not. There were other ill omens all around us. Someone or some group had been decorating the place with found bones. Several clusters of bones were hanging on the end of strings attached to the tree. Here’s an example of this.
The oddest bone creation, however, was the weird face we found. It was made from a pelvis and vertebrae that I think originally belonged to a small deer. Some man-made elements in the form of fishing float eyes and a fake flower were also added. It took me a moment to register where the eyes might have originally came from. Black magic marker was used to draw additional designs on the bone. The head’s eyes had a way of following you around the interior of the tree house. The bone additions definitely made the place seem primitive.
My guest and I were feeling uneasy when we made the discovery. We found the missing friend or what was left of him behind the main trunk of the cottonwood tree.
It was too difficult to tell if the friend had succumbed to natural causes or had help of some kind? All that was left were the bones and fortunately none of them was used to decorate the tree. One part of the mystery had been solved…the friend had been found. It was decided to leave the remains were they lay so that law enforcement could conduct their investigation.
All that was left now was to say good-bye and retrace our steps along the river. My companion was quiet for the most part. The one time he broke his silence was when we passed two barefoot boys playing next to the water. The surviving friend said it reminded him of his own childhood when he and his late sidekick would skip rocks off the surface of the Ohio River. Here’s hoping September will be a kinder month.
Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artistatexit0, circles, coal, cycles, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fishing, found art, found materials, fungi, nature, photography, public art, recycled art, recycled materials, sculpture, Styrofoam art, tires on July 19, 2011| 5 Comments »
The fishing had been good and attracted both experienced and novice fisherman. People were catching some of the smaller striped bass and the occasional catfish. Summer has descended full-bore with its twins…heat and humidity and so a visit to the river is a welcome diversion for many. The parking lots around the park are full. To me, this is a mixed blessing. You want those who can appreciate nature and the surrounding area to enjoy themselves, however, there is always that element present that can’t resist despoiling for their own selfish reasons. Sometimes it seems that visitors leave as much trash here as the river does in its wildest moods. Please pack your garbage out. After checking out the fishermen, I head up the bank to locate my last project with its polystyrene figure.
I’m not shocked at all to come across Joe Coalman’s eyeless skull resting in the hot sand. To be honest, I would be more amazed to find him still intact. My postmortem revealed that he had the stuffing knocked out of him. I found his body about thirty yards from his head. I take some photographs and gather the remains. I’ll probably recycle him into another project in the future. As for the tire with the coal in it…
…well, it too has been altered. I can see how a standing Styrofoam figure would make a tempting target, but what about a tire filled with coal? It must have provoked someone because the coal had been knocked out. The black rocks were scattered all around. I regathered them, but I could not find all the coal that was originally in the tire. Curiously, if you look at the rim of the tire you will see something I had not originally placed there. It’s a tiny white clam shell left perhaps by another visitor? I appreciated this simple gesture and moved on. Soon I reached my outdoor atelier with its latest cache of Styrofoam. I laid Joe Coalman, skull and all back into the pile and wondered what to do next?
While sitting on the enormous wooden beam that defines one side of my outdoor studio, I spied something interesting on an equally impressive log. Growing along the margins of an old bird dropping was this wonderful fungus. At the Falls of the Ohio, there are many different types of fungi that help break down the organic bonanza that washes into here. I wish I knew more about them, but realize that this is another entire field of study. Nevertheless, fungi are of immense importance and help recycle nutrients among the many other useful services they perform. With this particular fungus, it looked like it was on the downward cycle having already released its spores from the fruiting bodies that were now arranged like some organic version of Stonehenge. After studying this curiosity for a few minutes, I settled into the familiar activity of creating a figure that would be the benchmark for the day. Before revealing it to you…here are a couple of other things that I want to show you that I happened across during my walk.
I’m always looking at the evidence and trying to figure out what occurred at a particular place? Here a fisherman on his way back to the rest of his life has dumped out his bait bucket and left the four tiny bluegills in the sand. Perhaps they were dead already since fish in a bucket die of oxygen loss without an aerator to cycle air back into the water? I wondered if the use of these bluegills broke any laws since using other sport fish for bait is generally frowned upon? I could imagine the size of the bucket from the wet area in the sand. The silver circular object is the bottom of an aluminum can. Near this scene, I also came across this discovery.
Less than a stone’s throw from the dead fish I found this arrangement in the sand. I love it when people opt to leave their mark on the land in this fashion. Present were two complete circles in the sand defined by upright sticks with mounded sand in their centers. In my mind, I imagined two gears or cogs moving in response to each other. The movement of the sun provided some of the energy needed to activate this metaphorical machine. I decided that this place was a good site to unveil my latest figure which implies movement too. I let it dance throughout this arrangement in the sand.
Maybe this was originally made by a child while his family fished? It doesn’t matter because it gave me something positive to react with and made my day. Feeling satisfied, I started back to my own vehicle, but there would be one more surprise on this day. Perhaps this was also made by the same folks who did the circles in the sand? Again, sticks were employed albeit much longer in length. See for yourselves.
Logs and long branches were leaned against a willow tree and the effect implied shelter to me. Other long sticks were placed upright into the sand and helped define the area. A wooden palette was dragged to this location and left to provide seating. Because the materials used are all local, it would be very easy to walk by this if you weren’t paying attention. That’s one of the things my Styrofoam figures have working against them…their stark whiteness usually gives them away even at some distance. But then again, for me that’s part of what I do which is to call attention to the stuff that doesn’t belong out here and through a little creativity, show what can be done. I appreciate the stick pieces because they only use the natural materials that are out here. I wish I could do this more often myself, but this isn’t the reality I usually discover out here. Leaving the area, I came by this wonderful flower and in its center…was this tiny bee carrying on as her kind has for as long as there have been flowers in need of pollination. Until next time.
Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, nature, nature photography, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artistatexit0, click beetle, coal, discarded automobile tires, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Kentucky, material culture, nature, photography, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam on July 7, 2011| 7 Comments »
I threw my arms up into the air and said “WHAAAAA”! I had been resting in the shade after a couple of hours of junk scavenging when I heard this low vibrating sound and the bump of something landing on my head. Reflexively, I knocked off whatever was on my noggin and it fell to the ground…and this is what I saw.
This is the Eastern Eyed Click Beetle or Big Eyed Click Beetle, (Alaus oculatus). It’s one of my favorite indigenous beetles and one I’ve seen at the Falls of the Ohio on numerous occasions. As beetles go, this one is on the large side approaching two inches or about five centimeters in length. Getting smacked in the head by one certainly surprised me, but it turned out to be a good one. I love the cryptic bird dropping coloring and those two large eye spots get your attention! After the beetle recovered its senses, it flew and landed on a dead tree trunk right behind where I was sitting. It turned and started walking down the tree towards the ground.
I watched as the beetle lowered the tip of its abdomen at the base of this dead tree. I’m hoping it might be laying an egg or two. When it was done, it walked back up the tree trunk before flying off for the next tree or head that catches its fancy.
I was rummaging around one of the driftwood mounds for whatever secrets it was carrying and to separate out materials for the river sweep clean up. Nearby, was the beginnings of another garbage pile that someone else had started. I decided to throw my junk into this lot to consolidate it and make the removal just a bit easier.
It was the usual lot. A few plastic 55 gallon drums, a bit of hurricane fencing, tires, and a palette or two were among the larger items that were deposited here by the last flood.
Of course how these things came to be in the river is another story. It’s amazing what our kind can tolerate and consider acceptable. I suppose this represents the collateral damage we are willing to endure to support our ultra consumptive way of life. It makes me want to retch! I think this partly explains why so much of this trash is colorful. If we have to look at it…it might as well be pretty. When I finished up in this area I moved on like the click beetle did to new surroundings. There is no shortage of trash out here. After this Spring’s floods there is also an abundance of coal gravel and coal chunks in the eastern section of the park. Here’s an example.
The Falls of the Ohio is famous for its fossils, but this black rock wasn’t originally a part of the geologic scene here. More than likely, this piece of coal was removed from the top of a mountain in Eastern Kentucky and shipped by barge to this area to be burned in a plant to produce electricity. For some reason, this and many other pieces of coal got into the river where they were tumbled and ground to bits. In case you were wondering…coal does not float.
In places the coal gravel was several inches thick and reminded me of the black beaches made of volcanic sand. Also interspersed on this river bank were many automotive tires. I couldn’t help but associate the coal with the tires and I began to combine both of these elements in this landscape. Here’s a picture of me in action.
Walking around in this area, I found enough large coal pieces to fill a tire. Doing this was highly addictive for me. Here I was picking up real chunks of fossil fuel to place inside a circle that itself is made from fossil fuels in an area that’s well-known for its Devonian Age fossils. How all these things affect or reference life made my head swim more than the actual heat and humidity. When I finished filling one tire…this is how it looked.
And now, for an aerial view.
To me, this looks like some kind of unusual and bizarre fire pit ready to go. Scientists have already established that “burning rubber” and coal are contributing to the excess amounts of heat, energy, and toxins now found throughout many of the Earth’s systems. In Kentucky, the coal debate is a complex one. We have an abundance of coal, but it comes at a dear price to the land and the people who call the coal fields home. The sun is getting hot and I have already had a busy day watching fishermen and making sand drawings! For now, I will have to leave the coal debate where it is, but I’m sure to return to it since there is so much coal here at the Falls. It will remain here until the forces that shape this planet decide otherwise.
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