Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘plastic art’

Late March Petrochemical Color Composition

Posted in Absurd, animals, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, birding, collections, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, Installation, lost and found, material culture, nature photography, Ohio River, Ohio River flooding, plastic, Plastic art, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sculpture, sense of place, Site specific art, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 3, 2016| 2 Comments »

Small creek leading into the Ohio River, Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

It’s the end of March and Spring is in full swing at the Falls of the Ohio.  Today, I have a bigger block of time and so I’m going back to the western section of the park to see how flooding has affected this area.  I am expecting to find lots of plastic and who know’s what else…and this trip did not disappoint.  Just about everywhere I looked, I found plastic and other trash.  I will begin with a few images of stuff I came across.

Found plastic panda or other bear, late March 2016

Quite unexpectedly, I found myself immersed in a bear theme.  I found this little blue plastic bear intermixed with the driftwood.  It may actually represent a panda, but I think the latest thinking on this unique animal is that it is indeed more closely related to bears than to raccoons.  Looks like it’s sucking its thumb.  And now for bear number 2.

Plastic bear teething ring, Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

Here’s a piece that was originally intended for a little person.  I’m going to venture that this is a teething ring.  From the wear on the surface of the plastic, it looks like this object has spent some time in the river.  If this is not a teething ring…I have no idea what it was originally intended to be?  Okay, here is bear number 3 and it is a lot larger that these first two examples.

Large, plush Teddy Bear sinking into the gravel, late March 2016 at the Falls of the Ohio.

This piece is spectacularly integrated into the surrounding gravel!  About half of it is visible and the rest is hidden by gravel deposited here during the last Ice Age glacier.  I posted this image on my Facebook account and it resonated with a lot of my friends.  I could go on and on with the junk I’ve found out here, but I think I can also do that by showing you my latest artwork which is of course, composed of found junk.  On this beautiful day, I decided to continue my explorations using colorful found plastic and made a new variation on this theme that I think turned out pretty well.  I’ll start with a few in process shots.

Found plastic at the Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

This is some of the found plastic I came across on this day.  I brought two collecting bags and filled them both up.  I then scouted around and found a large blue plastic tub that I pressed into service before incorporating it into my finished arrangement.  The yellow object on the left is a water cooler minus the lid.  I had to do a bit of navigating around an obstacle course of downed trees and built up driftwood.  I’m usually still stiff and tired the day after I do one of these because I guess I’m not used to getting that much exercise anymore!  My two sons are quick to tell me that I’m not a young man anymore and yes I do get goaded by their trash talking into trying stuff that on occasion is more physical than I need to attempt.

Dividing the found plastic into colors, Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

After selecting a site to build my latest arrangement.  I separate out all this gathered up plastic into their various color groups.  On this day, orange and purple items were in short supply, but I worked around that.  I set up this piece next to a log that looks to me like it was split in half.  The side you can see that is rough and beautiful and takes the setting sun well.  From the opposite side of this log…you wouldn’t be able to see any of the plastic.  It is intended as a surprise for those who come across it on this side of the park.

Finished plastic arrangement in the western section of the Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

I will begin with a view that incorporates more of the local scenery.  This piece is located next to an old cottonwood tree that has a severe lean to it.  I can imagine that at some time in the not too distant future that this tree will eventually fall over.  Even from this far away, you can see the color introduced by these plastic containers and such.  Let’s get closer.

Plastic arrangement set up next to leaning tree, Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

Now you can get more of a sense for the degree in which this tree is leaning towards the river.

Petrochemical color arrangement in the western section of the Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

Petrochemical color arrangement in plastic, Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

There are essentially two layers stacked up here.  The big blue plastic tub has a found board that finds its partner consisting of the yellow water cooler sitting on a plastic yellow child’s chair.  The span is pretty level.  The rest is a matter of picking and choosing color hues that you think will work best together.  These plastic elements are not fixed in some way.  Everything is free-standing or leaning against what is next to it.  I have by accident…set off chain reactions where the whole arrangement collapses down like dominoes.  That is where a little patience comes into play by beginning again and hopefully learning from each individual situation.

Red and yellow plastic, Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

Yellow into Green found plastic, Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

Blue plastic with a touch of Purple, Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

I can see elements in these three details that I know I have used before in other projects and were later scattered across the park when the river floods.  Perhaps you might recognize the green plastic Tug Boat or the “Hulk Hand” also found in the green section?  They have appeared in other posts in my riverblog.

Petrochemical arrangement, Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

Plastic color arrangement, Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

I hung out by this piece and the river for many hours.  A few people came by, but nobody said anything.  Perhaps this comes across as being an example of “unusual or eccentric behavior” to some people?  Best to provide a wide berth around this one!  Who knows…couldn’t be any stranger than the people who make all this plastic and set it free into the world.  At the end of the day, I could not make up my mind which I thought provided the definitive view of this project?  I think some of the more successful arrangements look good in their contexts, but also provide some information on what individual elements have been brought together to create this “whole” experience.  After I felt I had enough pictures and the thought of a shower was sounding good.  I picked up my stuff and headed home.

Late sun filtering through the cottonwoods, Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

The trees are just budding out and this past week took a significant turn towards the green.  I’m still on the lookout for migrating birds that come into our area.  I often wonder about the Heisenberg’s Hammerkopf I had the distinct pleasure of observing and photographing out here a few weeks a go.  I wonder where in the world it flew off to?  I was just alerted by WordPress that this week is my seventh anniversary of blogging with them!  For all the people who have dropped by and sampled something from the Falls of the Ohio State Park through this riverblog…I give my heartfelt thanks!  I hope to continue out here for a bit longer still.  This is the Artist at Exit 0 signing off for now.

unraveling barge rope, Falls of the Ohio, late March 2016

Read Full Post »

Two Arrangements in Plastic

Posted in Absurd, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, collections, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, flip-flops, found materials, Found objects, Installation, lost and found, lost sandals, material culture, nature photography, plastic, Plastic art, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sculpture, sense of place, Site specific art, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 24, 2016| 6 Comments »

Trash intermixed into the driftwood, Jan. 14, 2016

Over the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday weekend I was able to make it out to the Falls of the Ohio State Park on a couple of occasions.  It helped that this was a three-day weekend.  I was curious to see what was lying around the riverbank after our first dusting of snow had blown away.  As I was expecting, I found a lot of plastic bottles and containers, Styrofoam, and plenty of driftwood.  I first inspect an area for the larger pattern left by the river.  The stuff that floats most readily often defines the high water mark on the riverbank.

Junk on the driftwood pile, Falls of the Ohio, Jan. 14, 2016

This is a typical detail of stuff that builds up on a driftwood mound.  There are many automotive and boating references particularly plastic bottles that held various petroleum products.  There is also a wealth of plastic beverage bottles to illustrate the carelessness of some folks recreating on the river.  I have a mental image of this stuff eventually flowing downriver, into the Mississippi River, and out into the wider world through the Gulf of Mexico.  What I see at the Falls of the Ohio is only what I see.  I know there is a glacier of plastic and junk that by passes me and will show up somewhere downstream.  With each succeeding flood, I keep thinking that all the stuff that had been accumulating upriver has already been washed into the watershed.  That, however, doesn’t seem to be the case and the amount of “fresh trash” that shows up in the park seems not to have a limit.

Found yellow and green plastic, Falls of the Ohio, Jan. 2016

Both days that I worked at the river were very cold ones.  The piece I made using found yellow and green plastic was the coldest with temps hovering around 10 degrees and it was colder than that with the wind.  After picking up what caught my eye, I retreated to my little studio area near the U.F.O. (Unidentified Floating Object) that is this welded and painted steel platform that washed into this area over five years ago.

Massed yellow and green plastic, Falls of the Ohio, Jan. 2016

I saw a possibility in the space under the UFO that was formed when the river shifted the driftwood mound.  I cleared the space a little bit and found a plank and stump in which to set up what I would eventually call “Arrangement in Yellow and Green Plastic”.  All the bottles and other colorful plastic items were picked up in the immediate area.  The wind was really biting and so I sought shelter by the treeline.  It took a little patience to make this piece because the wind kept blowing away the lighter items.  Eventually, I fit everything together and held it in place by strategically using found bottles that still had weight to them because mud or sand had become their new contents.

"Arrangement in Yellow and Green Plastic", Falls of the Ohio, Jan. 2016

My photos of this piece vary from one another because elements kept blowing off.  I was struck that I could make a colorful gradation using primarily yellow and green plastic found just in the willow habitat.  I favor doing these color pieces because they also reference the electromagnetic spectrum and without light, those ancient plants that lived and succeeded millions of years ago would not eventually become the crude substance from which these bottles were fabricated.  It’s interesting to me to think that much of the energy we derive from fossil fuels is captured starlight from an ancient time.  We owe it to the plants to be able to stabilize this energy through photosynthesis and fix it into their very tissues.

Arrangement in Yellow and Green Plastic by the old railroad bridge., Falls of the Ohio, Jan. 2016

Studio view, Arrangement in Yellow and Green Plastic, Falls of the Ohio, Jan. 2016

Eventually, the cold started to get to me and I was fast losing what little light was present on this day.  I might have moved the blue plastic drum out of the bottom picture, but it was frozen into the ground and full of sand and mud and would have been a challenge to lift.  After awhile, I began to like it for the additional color it lent this scene.  One thing concentrating so much color in one area does is call into attention the brown drabness that subsumes everything else.

Random, found plastic in red, purple, and blue, Falls of the Ohio, Jan. 18, 2016

I returned to the river two days later.  It was still very cold, however, a big improvement over the previous day.  The sun was shining and the wind was absent.  Having completed and photographed one colorful plastic arrangement, I set about creating a new one in a different palette of colors.  Searching the area I decided to work at…I could see plenty of red and blue plastic items spread out among the driftwood.  It took me an hour or so to pull these bottles and objects together.  I wished that I might have come across a few more violet or purple items, but I guess these are colors that are used less than straight up red or blue?  I know that in terms of lightfastness, red and purple plastic fades away quicker than many other colors.

Arrangement in Red and Blue Plastic, Falls of the Ohio, Jan. 18, 2016

Using a bit of the geometry I was feeling from the willow trees and the way the sunlight was hitting their trunks…I decided to site “Arrangement in Red and Blue Plastic” on the sand.  There’s a distant view of the Ohio River through this informal avenue of trees.  Watching how the shadows of the tree trunks were being cast upon the sand was an important element in the overall composition of this piece.

Arrangement in Red and Blue Plastic, Falls of the Ohio, Jan. 16, 2016

detail of Arrangement in Red and Blue Plastic, Jan. 18, 2016

Among the items comprising this work are a blue plastic child’s putter golf club, the cap to a plastic cane that held Christmas candy and several flip-flops of the right color.  When I finished this piece, I left it in place as I did the other arrangement.  Perhaps the next time I return to this area, I may combine the two groups of plastic?  I could create another grand rainbow with the addition of finding more orange in particular.  I probably would throw in some black and white plastic items since they are here in quantity as well.  I felt relatively good about this weekend’s projects and some of the images that resulted.  When I am occupied with a project, I really don’t feel the elements in the same way.  I suppose there is a bit of mind over matter happening too.  When I do feel the cold, however, is when I decide to turn for home and come across a frozen sight like these containers locked in ice!  Stay warm and safe everybody…from the Falls of the Ohio.

Plastic containers frozen in ice, Falls of the Ohio, Jan. 18, 2016

Read Full Post »

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.

Read Full Post »

%d bloggers like this: