Today was the first classic hot and humid day at the bottom of the river. It can be amazing how much can change in a week. All the vegetation was approaching it’s greenist and the waves were rolling across the sand. Another river sweep occured today and I did my part by making this sculpture. I found the foam, sticks, plastic, etc…along a walk I did Saturday morning. This post is as much about the power of context…same figure, but different backdrops within the park’s confines. Different possible narratives are suggested by changing the locations. The first picture is one my wife said I should put in. She likes that yellow disk I found and set up for the photograph. I found it on the water’s edge and equate it with the sun. Moving right along…
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A scheduled river sweep brought a dedicated group of concerned citizens together to pick up trash around the interpretive center. I intersected them at the fossil rocks. I wonder what they think when they trip across my studios with their caches of polystyrene? Bless them for their labors, but try as you might…you just can’t get it all. I know because I looked over the other side of the dam!
Alive this was a really impressive fish. Probably one of the larger Freshwater Drum I’ve seen here. They are kind of common and considered more of a trash fish than table fare by the local fishermen. I put the sculpture next to the drum…it’s one way to get the river’s fish in the picture.
With a foot wedged into the crack along the fossil cliffs…the figure becomes a graceful dancing character. The leaning tree adds another point of interest in this design. It still needs a little more light on the figure.
The milk jug cap folded in two made a great mouth. The nose is a cap of a pen or marker. One eye is a fishing bobber the other is a round piece of plastic with a hole in it. I added the blue insulation foam crest to increase the presence of the head. One last image…from what proved to be fruitful day on the river.
Here’s a project from this April that shows some variation from my usual working process. I started this dog sculpture, but wasn’t completely happy with it. I did cut into the dog’s styrobody to inset the foam pieces that make up part of its legs. I also started with small fishing bobber eyes, but later changed them to hickory nuts.
Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog 