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F and J, part two

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , on February 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

For me, the toughest part of the winter is getting through all the grayness.  Spring is a month and a half away.  Thanks a lot groundhog.  Family and work  obligations coupled with the crummy weather are keeping me closer to home than usual.

When I look at my Falls images from this winter, the park has an almost exhausted feel to it.  The river spent itself washing wood and our material culture upon this shoreline.  The large object my son named “The Plug from the Bottom of the River” has been around for months…but I love the sense of theatre it presents in this landscape! What is this thing really and what is it doing here?  Before it disappears in the next flood, I should stage some Styro-spectacle on it.

The parade of found river objects will never cease.  I tell myself that I should use this time to organize all the loose ends (objects and images) that an investigation of this scope produces.  Of late, I have had a few more inquiries about presenting aspects of this project in one form or another.  It all sounds good, but I know some things are presented more as trial balloons, but that’s also a part of the creative process.  It’s about stuff bumping into each other and seeing what connections are created.  The last time I was out to the river I stopped by and photographed some earlier works from last year.  For the most part, I think they hold up fairly well considering their construction as well as many of the parts used are ephemeral.

In a world where we all live speeded up lives, it is easy to forget that we also need a chance to be fallow.  That’s what winter is best for…incubating ideas and marshalling energy.  I may have to go down into my basement and take care of business there.  The physical evidence of this project is spilling out of bags and boxes.  I think I may be able to substitute my wish to go outside with rediscovering and reorganizing what I have already found.  There’s sure to be a few gems hidden among that driftwood.  Well, I’m telling myself that…until the sun shines again!

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The River is Rising, the River is Rising!

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , on December 14, 2009| 2 Comments »

“The river is rising…the river is rising!!”  “All within the sound of my voice, hear me!”  “We may not have long to prepare before the water claims us.”

I visited the Falls last Saturday and indeed was surprised to see how high the river had risen.  The Army Corps of Engineers had let some of the water through the dams and this action, I figured, was a result of the rains that fell upriver hundreds of miles away?  The river had crept its closest to my studio spot since I established it back in the spring.  The Styrofoam that I had cached there became panicky and started organizing itself before the inevitable inundation.  The call about the river rising came from an especially large Styrofoam figure that I hadn’t seen before. 

“This could be it…this could be the big one.”  “All inhabitants of Styro-land make preparations.”  “Gather all things that are precious and can float away and seek higher ground.”  “Is there anybody out there that can hear me?”   

 In the background, the sound of logs crashing and rolling over each other in the waves made a particularly un-nerving grinding and squeaking sound.  Every once in a while a large pop would register as something wooden broke apart. 

“Is there anyone out there to harken to my call and needs help?” These words came from the figure I dubbed “Pot Belly” and I soon realized that he wasn’t alone.  At the edge of my vision, a figure moved.

“Dude, I’m here and what’s all the noise about?”  “Sounds like you need to take a chill-pill and relax.”  “The river rising is no big deal.”  “It’s happened a million times over thousands of years.”  “So, what could be that different this time around?”  This reply came from an equally large Styrofoam figure that was relaxing on a log and watching the waters inch closer by the moment.  I decided to give this figure the name of “Cross-legged Lorraine”…for obvious reasons.

Pot Belly then proceeded to tell Cross-legged Lorraine that unlike previous floods, this one was going to effect them directly.  This wasn’t a hypothetical scenario or some dim recollection from a by-gone day.  This is real.  Soon their bodies would get caught up in nature’s momentum and be carried away and altered in the process.  Whatever happens and wherever they may next wash ashore…they would be different.  For some, reaching the ocean would be one step closer as the river flows westward before reaching the Mississippi and it’s journey south to the Gulf of Mexico.

The realization of Pot Belly’s words could be read on Lorraine’s face.  I think the photograph I took of her conveys a little of the panic in the situation.

I watched as the two Styro-figures slowly walked to an area that was slightly higher in elevation.  Pot Belly lifted Lorraine onto an especially large log and that was where I left them.  I may or may not see them again and I suddenly felt sad.  I was the only human being around this day to witness this event.

Through the leafless trees, I could see the little area that I had made my temporary home for my flights of imagination this year.  I’m going to miss sitting on a familiar log with all this “potential” gathered around me. To all things there is a season and I know that the river will soon rearrange this spot as though I was never here.  All the materials I gathered will move along and perhaps I will recover some of it a little further down river.  Over time, the waters will deposit other materials and I will gather those too and make what I can make in this dynamic location.  I gave my studio site another good look and selected a few nice driftwood branches and walked away.  I can’t wait to see what happens next.

My thanks to my eight-year old son, Adam for his editorial advice.  He suggested that Lorraine should say “Yo, dude…” in her reply to Pot Belly, but I thought that sounded too skateboardish.

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Yellow Boat

Posted in Absurd, Art, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, Ohio River, Originality, recycled art, watershed, tagged , , , , on October 11, 2009| 2 Comments »

willow trees and water, 10/09

Last week’s rain means that the river is high.  The once exposed fossil beds are now covered by swiftly flowing water.  Along the shoreline, new layers of driftwood have been mixed up, added to, and then deposited on the Indiana side of the Ohio River.  This is usually a good time to see if anything new has washed up.

Yellow Boat, 10/09

I found many of the objects that comprise this blog such as bottles, shoes, balls, Styrofoam, driftwood and more.  Among the more fun discoveries was this toy yellow boat.  I came across it adrift in a puddle and judging from how dinged-up it looks…must have survived a fierce storm.  The boat’s occupant looks like he has a case of sea sickness.

toy boat in puddle, 10/09

Here’s how it looked at the moment of discovery.  After a few snapshots, I pocketed the boat and set out on a quest to find more waters for it to float on.  It was nice taking this break from the last few days.  I have about a dozen Styrofoam sculptures opening in an exhibit at Galerie Hertz next Sunday.  I’m also giving a talk the same day on my art for the Bluegrass Bioneers event.  More on both events later in the week.

Yellow Boat in fallen tree, 10/09

In a fallen tree I found a water-filled hole and a safe harbor for the yellow boat.  So far, it’s still a bit hard to gauge how small the boat is.  That’s what I like about photography…you can’t always judge scale.  To settle it in your mind, I offer this last image that will give its size away!

Yellow Boat in hand, 10/09

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Ohio River Sea Life

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »

plastic octopus, sand toy

The inspiration for this post comes from a couple newspaper articles that appeared in the Courier-Journal a few years ago.  Seems somebody found a dead, but genuine octopus at the Falls of the Ohio!  Since our fair area is over a thousand miles away from the ocean and its salty water this was quite a discovery.   How did it get here?  On occassion one hears about other unexpected sea life (I’m thinking of sharks) that have been recorded swimming up rivers.  The octopus, however, is another matter.  In the follow up article to this story the truth of the situation was learned.  A young film enthusiast was making his own monster movie and had procured a dead octopus to use as a prop.  When he was finished with it, he left it to the elements where it was discovered by a passer-by.  Mystery solved.

plastic marlin

In honor of that discovery I thought I would present a few of my own finds from the Falls that carry the sea life theme along.  I regularly collect and photograph in situ the objects the Ohio River washes up at the park.  Here are six plastic toys I have come across.  You have already seen my octopus.  The yellow fish in the above image I think represents a marlin?

green plastic seahorse

Over the years I have found two seahorses.  This green one was discovered just recently, while the orange seahorse is from three years ago.  The fact that millions of years ago this place was a thriving marine ecosystem isn’t lost on me.  Potentially, this will happen again perhaps several times before the earth itself becomes history.

orange plastic seahorse

I have come across a couple of crustaceans as well!  The plastic lobster is a toy sand mold and appeared brightly against the driftwood.

plastic lobster

One of my personal favorites is the realistic red crab I found and photographed around sunset.  It is somewhat by chance that these things would appear here and that I would find them.  Makes me wonder about the other plastic sea life that I know I missed and continued on a journey to the ocean.  After several years of drifting with the currents, these items would find a new home in the ever growing plastic dead spots that are now a fact of today’s oceans. 

red plastic crab

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Passing Gas(oline) Container Collection

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, Originality, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »

gasoline container at the Falls

I have just posted a new collection of images that can be found in my Pages section.  This selection is of gasoline containers found in context at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.  All theses containers reached here by floating down or with the Ohio River.  I find there is a certain level of irony represented in these images since they underscore how important fossil fuels are to us and that a container used to specifically hold this precious liquid should happen to wash up at a site that is famous for its fossils.  Civilizations rise and fall with their ability to harness energy and we have decided to hang our star on fossil fuels.  For now, I’ll leave it at that and let it join my other eccentric collections that are gifts and lessons from the river.

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Front Row Green Seat to Nature

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 19, 2009| 2 Comments »

western park scene, Falls of the Ohio, 8/09

For a change of pace, I decided to explore the park’s western section.  It’s a little more of a walk, but you will see more wildlife and less people.  I was priviledged to observe a pair of ospreys gliding in high circles on very long wings.  Usually, there is less Styrofoam to be found in the western end, but I was able to locate a couple pieces along with assorted sticks and plastic bits to make a figure.  This is what I came up with today.

Figure on Green Seat, 8/09

The green plastic seat more than likely came off a child’s riding toy and was the right size for the figure I constructed.  As I was working on this piece, I was treated to the sight of a beautifully marked Eastern box turtle that came walking out of the tall grass.  I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures!

Eastern box turtle, 8/09

head of box turtle, 8/09

I love the golden- yellow markings on its bony- shell and how it shows signs of wear and polish by moving through its environment over many years.  I carefully picked it up and the turtle’s head and front legs pulled within the shell while it’s trap door closed shut.  I set the turtle down and made my art work and slowly the turtle revealed its head, legs, and tail and sneaked back into the grass from where it came.  I heard that box turtles aren’t as common as they used to be.  And, that they prefer to stay in relatively small territories and don’t transplant to new areas very successfully.

Head of figure on green seat, 8/09

This sculpture is made from Styrofoam (polystyrene), driftwood sticks and roots, with various bits of found plastic.  There are several areas in the park that have gravel deposited from the last glacier of the Ice Age.  That’s the kind of rock that this figure’s ears are made from.  At this front row seat were several varieties of blooming plants that were animated with insect life.  Bumble bees and many species of butterflies were taking advantage of the nectar.  All along I have been photographing (when possible ) the different types of butterflies I come across.  Here is an image of the Comma with its well worn angle-wings.  This species is quite common here.

Comma, 8/09

Usually, the lower, hind wings are darker, but this individual has managed to lose a lot of it’s scales.  The edges of its wings are a little more raggedy than normal.  This species has a pugnacious quality to it and I have seen it chase its own kind, other butterflies, and once in awhile…birds!  It has a strong survival instinct…as do these two Monarch butterflies.  This is the image I will leave you with to end this post.  I watched this joined-pair still flying (rather poorly) feeding from flower to flower while mating.  Now that’s multi-tasking for you!

mating Monarch butterflies, 8/09

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Dreams of Turtles Past

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, animals, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 13, 2009| 1 Comment »

Styro-turtle head with fossils

I just read that the most primitive reptiles still around are the turtles.  The oldest turtle fossils extend back nearly 230 million years.  It wouldn’t come as a shock to see that pushed further back in time as new discoveries are made.  The fossils at the Falls of the Ohio predate the turtles and represent life during the Devonian Period about 370 million years ago.

Styro-turtle in shallow pool

Normally during this time of year the fossil beds would be exposed and you can walk very far out upon them.  This, however, hasn’t been a normal year!  I’ve dipped into the archives to show you a turtle sculpture I made a couple years ago that remains a favorite creation.  In this image, the Styro-turtle is crawling out of a shallow pool of water that it was using to stay cool.  It can get very hot out on these rocks during the summer.  The remains of ancient corals can be clearly seen in the limestone.

Styro-turtle on fossil rocks

When I make this work I’m really more interested in the images that result.  For me, it’s about seeing the trash I rearrange and reconfigure in the context where these objects were found.  This turtle needs to be seen in this particular environment which has played a large role in shaping the materials I use.  This is meant to be “a collaboration with nature”.  Andy Goldsworthy has used this phrase to describe his work and friends have  compared my work to his.  There are similarities in that we both like working out in the elements, using what is on hand, and taking a photographic image that is the visual record of that day and place in time.  There are also differences.  My work here is figurative while Goldsworthy’s is more abstract.  He prefers working strictly with natural materials while I use artificial ones too.  The state of moving from the natural to the artificial I feel describes our current condition well.  Goldsworthy travels to some of the beautiful places on the planet to make his art, while I decided to interpret this one place near where I live.  I feel we are collectively like the turtle in the above image…on the brink.  Will we turn back or go over the edge?  By using the garbage I find here I believe I’m not only illustrating part of the problem, but also suggesting an alternative.  It’s by encouraging and using our universal creativity that we have the best chance to reconnect with the environment that sustains us.

Styro-turtle, out of context

This piece turned out nicely and so I kept it.  Later it found a good home with my gallery representative…who prefers the sculptural models over the images!  To each his own.  With real turtles, one of the distinctions that shows up even in the earliest animals is the presence of the shell or carapace.  In my polystyrene version, the shell is special too.  It is the remains of an old bicycle helmet.  Other materials used include:  coal for the nostrils and mouth, plastic aerosol nozzle tips for the eyes, a plastic bleach bottle mouth forms the collar where the turtle’s neck joins the body, driftwood legs, tail, and neck, the rest is Styrofoam.  All found on site.Underside of Styro-turtle

 

The head pivots around where it meets the body and there is one other special feature of this piece.  It can only be seen by turning the turtle over.  The body is a Styrofoam human head used by wig stylists!  For me, it adds another layer of meaning.  This is one of two such Styrofoam heads I have found at the Falls of the years and worked well with the foam helmet.  A pocket knife was the only tool I used to make this found object sculpture.

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Rain Deer

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, animals, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, Originality, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , on July 26, 2009| 2 Comments »

deer materials, 7/09

I got soaked to the bone on this day.  A realization I had in the middle of the downpour was that I couldn’t get any wetter than this and so I just relaxed.  I had the whole place to myself, since people smart enough to get out of the rain had done so!  The above image are the materials I laid out for the piece I wanted to make…although I did change this in mid process.

Rain Deer, 7/09

I put the finishing touches on this “Rain Deer” right as the wind picked up and the rain came down in earnest.  All day long I had been dodging small showers and the willow leaves and branches were a good enough umbrella…until then.  Once I located what would become the head, I realized that the Styrofoam “body” I had picked out for it was too small.  I instead used this larger piece of “blue foam”…I’m not sure what exactly it is, but I find enough of it.  It doesn’t seem like polystyrene and has a stiffer texture.  I think I have seen this material used for bow-hunting targets before.  It’s dense enough to stop an arrow.  While I was making this sculpture, a Cooper’s Hawk glided through the trees doing some silent hunting of its own.  I saw the barred-tail fan out as it took a left turn out of view.

Running Rain Deer, 7/09

I guess I have been thinking of deer lately.  More and more, I come across their tracks in the sand and mud.  I haven’t seen a live one within the park’s limits, but over the years, I have found plenty of dead ones.  The most memorable experience occurred early on…really years before I started this project in earnest.  A friend and I were hiking around the willow habitat and we could smell something dead nearby.  Searching around we couldn’t locate the source.  For whatever reason, I remember looking up and seeing a dead deer about 10 or 12 feet up lodged in the tree branches.  A  recent flood had deposited the deer there and receded.  At the time, it was a good ground eyes’ view of how high the river could get.

Rain Deer at water hole, 7/09

The passing shower left lots of opportunities to play with reflections and the idea of wildlife coming down to waterholes…which is a staple shot in nature films.  The way this piece is standing, it appears like it has three front legs or is in motion!  I made the head so that the Rain Deer can either look  forward or over its shoulder.  The nose is a split butternut and the eyes are old buckeyes.

Rain Deer at waterhole, 7/09

Rain Deer looking back, 7/09

Our white-tailed deer population is exploding with dramatic consequences.  The number of human injuries from deer collisions with  motorists is up.  More and more deer are appearing in the outlying neighborhoods were they feast on the various gardens and make nuisances of themselves.  Deer are literally eating themselves out of their habitat and damaging the ecosystems other animals rely upon.  For the first time, I’m coming across ticks and I’m attributing their appearance here with the deer they parasitize.

Rain Deer at Waterhole, 7/09

Deer are a good indicator species for the health of the ecosystem.  As we open up the forests we create the kind of habitat deer thrive in.  Deer have taken advantage of this…deer population is much higher now than when the Pilgrims first arrived here.  Although I couldn’t do it, I can see why hunting  them is necessary to control their populations.  Too many deer in one place degrades the habitat also needed by other ground dwelling animals.  But then again, why should we hold the deer accountable for the conditions we created and promoted? The deer is just being true to its nature…can the same be said of us?

Rain Deer head, 7/09

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Wet and Dry, Spring and Summer

Posted in Absurd, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , on July 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Looking through some recent images from the Falls of the Ohio, I came across three objects (other than my sculptures) that I had photographed twice before, but in contrasting situations.  I’m curious to see how they look paired together and what they may “say” about process and the passing of time.

floating tire and sticks, 6/09

dry tire with sticks, 7/09

twin metal tanks, 6/09

dry twin tanks in sand, 7/09

plug from bottom of river, 5/09

river plug, 7/09

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Mutant Toy and Friends

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Green, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , on July 6, 2009| Leave a Comment »

mutant toy, 7/09

I tried something different the other day at the Falls.  I found the headless body of a plastic toy sheep and decided to improvise a new head for it.  The results are not much different from some of the imagery coming out of Japan.  I found a collapsing, materially fatigued yellow rubber ball and added a few acorns, polystyrene ears, and other bits of plastic and then photographed it in the riverine landscape.  My kids think it’s cute!  Here is another image of it showing the other side.

mutant toy, 7/09

I’m always finding different toys.  Some of which you can see in my Pages collections.  I recently came across two other plastic animals and here are their portraits as the river gave them to me.  I think they work with the mutant bunny as a kind of genre since they depend on non-naturalism for their effectiveness.

plastic pony, 6/09

I like that it is difficult to judge scale from these images.  They could be very large or very small.  That ambiguity has been a part of my project from the beginning.  With my other Styrofoam pieces you need to look at what else is in the picture to find clues to judge scale.  To my mind, they are all the size of life.  It’s interesting to see how the internet treats these images since that can be variable as well.  The objects get tumbled by the river, while a similar thing occurs with the images electronically.  Here is a recent plastic pony I found and a blue-eyed pink elephant too!

pink elephant toy, 5/09

Okay, you talked me into it…here is a bonus image!  This was taken during my last outing.  If the Pink Panther were one of those bog bodies found in the peat moss of northern Europe…it might look like this.  I think this was originally a large, plush toy, but the stuffing is gone now.

pink panther?, 7/09

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