Synthetica

When words fail me, my pictures often bail me out.  I’m certainly not much of a  philosopher or poet who can consistently turn just the right phrase.  I suppose this is one reason I gravitated towards the visual arts.  I do, however, try through words and images to create some kind of synthesis that touches upon how human nature intersects with nature at large.  The Falls of the Ohio State Park continues to provide that stage for me and the river offers up many examples where the natural and artificial routinely bump into or meld with one another.  This happens most commonly when we carelessly set free our man-made detritus into the environment.  Following are a few examples I encountered on this outing.

Looks like a rock or a piece of wood, but on closer inspection, it’s what’s left of a synthetic deer head used for archery practice.  This head probably once attached to a life-size foam body.  The river has eroded the neck and muzzle away but you can still see an eye spot, ear stub, and a location where artificial antlers could attach.  Once upon a time, this archery target was convincingly realistic.  It’s what’s left of a fake deer where real deer exist.  In the mud very close to this find were actual deer tracks.  Deer have moved into Louisville and it is becoming more common to encounter roadkill within the city’s limits.

It’s Kentucky Derby time in the Bluegrass so it is fitting that I find a horse image by the river and what a horse it is!  Shockingly pink with a long flowing mane that cockle burrs and other wayward seeds have become entangled.  How long will it be before our Wizard of Oz science creates real horses of different colors?  I’ve seen that we can already do this with some fresh water aquarium fishes.  Although this toy’s inspiration is the horse…this isn’t a very naturalistic example and was designed to appeal to children.  I bet I could take this horse and plant it in the ground and have some of the attached seeds germinate.

Because this is tiny, it would be easy to walk over this “prize”. This plastic ice cream cone compliments the small plastic toaster pastry I came across a couple of weeks a go.  I think this might emulate chocolate covered mint ice cream in a wafer cone? I’m still finding plastic fruits and veggies, but I’m also encountering more plastic fake “processed” items including fast food standards like cheese burgers and the occasional petrochemical french fry.

Flying by at great speed and requiring a camera with an extremely fast exposure is the Swept-wing Dove.  This is my latest avian creation.  It’s another fake bird that came together in the context of where Audubon left his footprints.  I casually put this together using found materials which includes plastic, Styrofoam, insulating foam, and I’m not sure what the brown body is made of but it’s some kind of foam as well.  The bill is a pen cap found along the trail.  The forms were shaped by the Ohio River and I used them as is.

Coursing over the bottom land near the river’s edge is my fake bird which is also the habitat of many real birds as well.  The spring migration of neotropical birds heading northward is one of my favorite times of year.  It’s a chance to see species passing through that normally don’t hang out for very long.

The insulating foam that forms the right-wing is practically the same value as the river in the distance and causes it to nearly disappear.

For thousands of years the river has been a baseline supporting life in the way nature intended.  Now I see a more complicated scene where dislocated images, objects, and substances blur along the shoreline of the conventional. It’s also an odd feeling realizing that much of this trash can also possess a natural beauty of its own.

Along this stretch of the river I had these two guys tagging along and asking me questions such as “What are you doing?” and “Mr. did you make the bird and what are you going to do with it?  I asked them if they were artists too and one said yes and the other didn’t believe he was.  I later observed them swinging from a stout vine growing along a sycamore tree and playing in their fantasy world.  Their fathers were nearby fishing at the water’s edge.  I will leave now with a fuller look at the tree I often use to gauge how high the river is.

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Into the Warmth of a New Spring

Spring has definitely arrived and the land is turning green.  I love watching this verdant transformation as the Falls of the Ohio becomes a garden again.  We had a weary winter and so seeing the sun more regularly warms the heart and imagination.  These are images from my last visit to the park.  I believe I downloaded about seventy or eighty pictures which is about normal for one of my excursions.  I can find personal interest in most everything I come across which makes editing and creating some sort of post a fun challenge.  I spend hours on site and then a good amount of time at home looking at the pictures and wondering how to put order to any of it?  Usually, I try to give some representative sense of what the day was like.  I believe I could create all sorts of permutations and stories from just a single trip…but, that would cut into my time to be outdoors and fill my lungs with fresh air.

I began the morning in the western section of the park.  Driftwood and junk have been driven against the Indiana bank of the Ohio River.  Prevailing currents and high water have formed this log raft against the shoreline.  Future high water will eventually send this material over the dam and under the railroad bridge and then throughout the park.  Moving to the river’s edge I surprised more than one sleeping duck and see my first Great Egret of the year.  I tried sneaking over the driftwood to take a picture of the egret which was feeding at the water’s edge.  I must be losing my touch because the wary egret spotted me and took off.  This duck standing on one leg, however,  was more obliging.

Here’s a view from the western section of the park.  Walking along the water’s edge I came across all manner of bric-a-brac some of which made it into the collecting bag.  Upon returning to my outdoor studio, I photographed a few of my newest “treasures” on the sand which included many toys.  I have a compulsion to pick this stuff up and order it into various collections…but other than that I’m not sure what I will eventually do with much of this plastic.  I am a believer, however, that someday I will have an idea or inspiration and I will follow that.  I still feel there is something here to explore between the poles of what these items are intended to represent and what they are in reality.

I keep finding toy wheels of all different sizes and slowly an idea for a wall installation is taking place in my mind.  I have an offer to show work in a show during the 2014 season and so I set a goal to realize this “wheel piece”.  Here are two views of one of my more interesting finds of this day.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find this blue crayfish while it was alive.  By far, most of the crayfish I have seen have been brown in color.  I wonder if it was crushed by the logs rolling in the high water?  I don’t know which species of crayfish this is, but apparently blue crayfish are a genetic color morph.  There is one species that is now bred to be blue for the aquarium pet trade.  The way the grains of sand fit around the exoskeleton gives a sense of how a fossil might be formed if given the right conditions and deep time.  I picked it up and held it in my hand and just appreciated such a small, but spectacular animal.  I was curious to see how the Flood Brothers from my previous post were holding up and soon I had my answer upon reaching my site.

The Flood Brothers were gone as were several other pieces of Styrofoam!  My small studio area had been rummaged through, but this is not unusual and I kind of expect this to happen.  The stuff I gravitate towards is not the junk other folks look for, however, anybody is welcomed to whatever I’ve cached here.  I have nothing of value here.  There is more.  Apparently, the discoverers of my studio were carrying bits of frayed barge cable when they stumbled over my spot.  In order to take the Flood Brothers with them, they had to drop the cables.  After straightening up my studio…I wrapped the three cables into loose coils and photographed them where the brothers once stood.

From experience, if folks are out to destroy something…they usually just get on with it.  I was hoping that whomever took the Flood Brothers had just moved them to a different location to create a vignette of their own.  I decided to scout around to see if I could find my wayward figures and I was partly successful.  Here’s how I found the larger of the Flood Brothers.

About a hundred meters or so from my spot, I came across Flood Brother #2 leaning against this tree.  He was missing many of his features including his eyes and arms.  After hunting around I was able to find a few of his parts.  As for his shorter brother…there was no trace of him.  I kept moving east in my search and discovered evidence that other creatives were in the area recently.  Perhaps the people who made the following statements also played with my figures?

I found this and other sand drawings in the area.  Most of the sand designs were statements of a libertarian frame of mind.  I also found this large spiral made from driftwood that was in the immediate vicinity.

Further west from the spiral was this installation where driftwood was stood on end teepee-style and incorporated with two larger logs that had recently floated into the area.  People seem to like arranging wood in this manner and I have also seen bonfires begun in this way.

I thoroughly checked the area for signs of my missing figure and imagined him riding home in the back seat of someone’s car.  I picked up my remaining Flood Brother and headed back to my studio.  I fixed him back up again.  He’s repaired, but also slightly different now.

This is how I left things on my way back home.  I’ll return in a week and we shall see what if anything happens?  Returning to my car, there was still one more surprise left for the day.  Emerging into the light of a new season, I came across this small Eastern Garter Snake warming itself (much as I had) among the driftwood at the Falls of the Ohio.  See you next time!

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Great Lakes Oystercatcher

I come to the river because I like the sound of the water.  It does more than act upon the sand and driftwood here.  After hanging out at the Falls of the Ohio I feel relaxed because the rhythm of the water is also the rhythm of nature.  The waves that move back and forth slow my own internal sense of timing and puts me in sync with the universe.  The work-a-day life begins to lift away and a calm seeps in.  I don’t even need to be aware of the sound.  I know it is there and I trust it.  This restorative quality of water is not to be underestimated in this fast-paced, multitasking world and it is free if you are open to accepting its magic.

Spring is late in arriving this year.  It’s been an up and down cycle of mostly cool to cold temperatures.  Also, it seems that the river has been a little higher for a bit longer than I remember over the past several years.  2012 was positively balmy compared to this one.  It’s amazing how much difference a year can make .  Today is nice and the sun is shining and I get an early start on the day.

Currently, there is plenty of driftwood lining the riverbank.  By studying how the driftwood was deposited, I get a sense for the water and how high it rose over the land.  Since this is Spring…I’m also on the lookout for seldom seen birds that are traveling through our area.  On my last outing, I was walking over the lines of driftwood when I spotted an unusual shorebird.  I managed a few images of it and I would like to share those with you now.  It was right in the middle of the driftwood and if it hadn’t moved…I might have gone in a different direction and missed it.  I live for these moments.

This is the increasingly rare Great Lakes Oystercatcher, (Haematopus polystyrenus) as seen at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.  It has a large red bill like the two other oystercatcher species that live along our country’s marine coastlines.  Unlike them, this bird is strictly Midwestern and prefers fresh water wetlands, creeks, streams, and rivers.  The large bill is used to pry open the shells of fresh water clams and mollusks…although it is known to take crustaceans and other invertebrates upon opportunity.

The reason this bird is becoming scarce has everything to do with it losing its main food source.  The Tennessee and Ohio River Valleys are the world’s epicenter for fresh water mollusk diversity which is a little known fact.  Unfortunately, because of the many changes that have occurred with our rivers, these clams have become our most endangered animals with many species having become extinct already.  These clams are fascinating in their own right and have complex life cycles.  Wherever you find them is usually a good indicator of the quality of the water.  The Great Lakes Oystercatcher won’t find much in the way of its preferred food at the Falls.  The original clam diversity is missing and these days you are more likely to encounter Zebra Mussels or Asiatic Clams and both are well-established, invasive, nonnative species.

I was delighted by this almost comical bird which is rarely observed in this park.  It went about its business examining the driftwood and probing the sand for morsels of food.  I also watched it fly to the water’s edge and it was intent on checking out what the river was washing ashore.  The whole encounter lasted about 20 minutes before the bird flew off for parts unknown.  Satisfied with the day, I gathered my collecting bag and headed home.

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Big Fish

It’s an unbelievably gorgeous morning at the Falls of the Ohio and I have the park to myself.  The Ohio River has been running high although we haven’t had a lot of rain pass through our area.  Most of this water is probably coming from snow melt and precipitation in the northern section of the Ohio River Valley.  The river is receding and one of the first sights I see are logs that have been stranded on the dam as the water level drops.  These logs will remain balanced here until the river shifts them around again.  As I begin my walk, I see driftwood and trash everywhere I look.

Accessing the bank is tricky and muddy.  I maneuver by walking on the backs of logs and balancing myself with my walking stick.  In areas where the river has dropped back… plastic trash, Styrofoam, and driftwood remain where this detritus floated in.  I like studying the patterns I see in the deposited wood and imagine the swirl of the river in these areas.  Of course, I find other treasures and oddities too.  Here are just a few objects that made it into the collecting bag.

My fake food collection keeps getting bigger and bigger.  Here’s a plastic pickle  I found.  On this day, I also picked up a plastic chicken drumstick, a plastic plum and in the bag already from my last visit are a plastic onion and a plastic cheeseburger!  I find all this plastic food to be an interesting indicator of the times we live in.

This is kind of cool.  It’s a pirate skull with movable eye-patch.  The river has really colored this object.  Here’s something more humorous.

These silly frog sunglasses may be the only amphibian inspiration I receive all year.  In all the years I’ve worked this project, I have come across one actual common toad and two small leopard frogs.  Perhaps the river is just too big and wild here for the frogs?

I decide to walk west along the riverbank and reach areas that are more driftwood than trash.  I always marvel at how the river lays the wood in fairly parallel rows.  That bright reddish-orange object in the foreground is the remains of a life preserver…it is one of two that I find on this day.

Another tree with an intact root mass has been beached by the river.  Notice how all the branches have been knocked off.  This is fairly typical.  The river keeps subdividing these trees into smaller and smaller parts.  Up ahead I notice something that a muddy wave has just returned to the land.  I walk over and check it out and see something I’ve never seen here before.

It’s a big fish, but I don’t recognize the species.  It’s not too bloated and so I examine it more closely.  I think it may be one of those Asiatic carp species that have become so invasive to our bigger rivers?  Recently, in western Kentucky in the Land Between the Lakes area, there was the first ever commercial fishing tournament to try to harvest as many of these large carp as possible.  Strong nets are needed to catch them since they grow big and rarely if ever take a baited hook.  The idea behind the tournament was to  educate people that these fish are good to eat and to try to help create a commercial demand for them.

Here I am holding the fish at arm’s length.  Notice that it has a relatively small mouth.  This fish feeds on microscopic plankton and other tiny food items which is why they are hard to hook by traditional means.  This is a thick-bodied fish with a large head and powerful tail.  I have known that these fish are in the Ohio River, but I haven’t had the chance to inspect one this closely before.  I’ve attached a couple more views of this fish.

By now, you are probably used to my game!  I made this fish from a hunk of Styrofoam I picked up on this day.  The Styrofoam reminded me of a fish and so that’s the direction I took this sculpture. The other found elements include:  fishing bobber eyes, red plastic gills, fins made from wood, shoe soles, and plastic junk.  This is how it looked before I started.

I try to respect the basic shape the river gives me and feel that whatever results… is a collaboration between me and the river.  I don’t cut too much into the polystyrene because I also try not to release many of those tiny white beads back into the environment.  I try to work minimally and to clean up after myself.  It’s not a perfect system, but is what has evolved after so many years of coming out here.  I did find even more Styrofoam on my latest adventure and now just need the time to create something from it all.  My parting shot is the latest image of my outdoor studio.  See you next time from the banks of the Ohio River.

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Styro-Samurai

Perhaps it was the fine quality of this pre-Spring day that caused renewed stirrings within the old Styro-Samurai Warrior?  It had been many years worth of seasons since the Emperor had granted him this land to protect and bequeath to his descendants  in gratitude for the loyalty of his service.  He came to the realization that his advancing age was rendering him mortal and that if he wanted to walk his vast estate one last time…he had better do it sooner than later.  The Styro-Samurai attached his heirloom katana to his back and ventured alone away from his home.  The journey could take him many weeks to complete.  This sunny day began with much promise.  The trees were starting to produce buds and yes, there were early season wildflowers too.  The birds were returning.  A favorite Yellow-bellied Sapsucker the Warrior had seen for the past five years was once again in his favorite Sweet Gum tree.  Geese were everywhere and an Osprey flew overhead with a fish in its talons.  Life seemed to be moving in the timeless rhythm that it always had.  The Warrior decided to venture closer to the river for a better look.

The first thing the Warrior observed were trees submerged by the river that normally stood high and dry.  In all his years, he had not seen this happen very often and he stood transfixed by the sight.  Rousing himself, the Warrior continued his walk to a favorite creek.  In his mind he recalled the agitated call of the Belted Kingfisher on the wing and its wildness made him smile.  Upon reaching the creek…this is what the Warrior saw.

Hundreds of logs representing hundreds of once living trees lined both sides of the creek.  What is happening here!?  These were trees from the pure land and their wood is a treasure, their roots hold the soil together, and their leaves provide cooling shade in Summer among all the other blessings they bestow.  These trees represent so many potential fulfilled wishes.  So much wasted wood and where did it come from?  The Warrior surmised that this was further evidence of flooding.  These trees probably washed away from their respective banks from distant fiefdoms and were carried here by the spirit of the river?

Walking the shoreline he came upon more evidence that the river was claiming the trees that dared to grow nearest to it.  For the Styro-Samurai, it was an alarming sight, but nothing had yet suggested that this way anything other than Nature being moody.  His view was about to change as he rounded the bend of the river.

The Warrior entered a field that was strewn with discarded plastic and Styrofoam.  This was an outrage and the Samurai drew his katana! Who dares to be this disrespectful to the land!

At last, someone to blame for this clearly was the by-product of men. The Warrior was seeing red and looked for someone or something to strike back at…but there was no one else present except for the gulls flying over the river and they were making no sounds.

Marching with his sword drawn, the Warrior advanced down the riverbank.  There was a quality in his rage that was tempered by battle and had made him a legendary and feared adversary in the prime of his youth.  But that was then and this is now and as he neared one of his favorite trees…he sheathed his katana again.  Up ahead was a treasured spot where a large and special Cottonwood tree grew.  The Styro-Samurai’s pace quickened in anticipation.

This great and revered Cottonwood tree that in the Warrior’s time was the setting for many tea ceremonies was now covered in plastic tarps and a sign warning to “keep out” was posted.  Again, here is the hand of man at work!  Who has the impudence do this in the Styro-Samurai’s land?  By what right would these interlopers claim this tree as their own and defile it with their junk?  Full of righteous indignation, the Warrior entered the space under the trunk of the tree.

It was empty…no one was there at all.  Although the smell of wood smoke was present…the ashes were cold.  Improvised seating was arranged around the fire pit.  Growing depressed, the Styro-Samurai sought the warmth of the sunshine and sat down to ponder what he had observed thus far.  Indeed, the world had changed much since he last walked it far from the comforts and isolation of his fortified castle.  The old soldier had a revelation that mindfulness had been usurped by consumption based upon all the trash he saw everywhere.  The world was moving away from him.

While the Styro-Samurai was engaged by his thoughts…he was approached by a common man who gestured that he wished to speak and so began a conversation.  The man also remembered a different time and place where respect was accorded to both man and beast alike.  There was an understanding that nature worked in certain ways and that it was wise to stay within the sustainable limits.  The man confirmed to the Warrior that the changes he was seeing in his own land were in fact simultaneously occurring everywhere else too.  The common man then asked for forgiveness for what he was about to say which the Warrior granted.  He reminded the old soldier that in their day…there was a common and accepted code that shaped the behavior of all.  It began with the Emperor and then passed through the Samurai down to everybody else.  It seemed to the man, that the flow of wisdom had been interrupted by a changing and challenging time and needed something like a new code to help bring it all back into balance.  With those words the common man took his leave.

The Styro-Samurai had seen enough and walked back to his castle.  He mulled over the words the mysterious common man had left him with and acknowledged to himself that they seemed to ring true.  A different day was indeed at hand and perhaps the time of the warlords was ending.  The idea that a different code was needed, but what can one do to achieve enlightenment in an impure land? When the Warrior reached his home he cleansed himself and before the assembled public, removed his sacred katana from its scabbard and replaced it with an ordinary garden rake.

For several weeks the old Warrior meditated by creating a rock and sand garden.  Working the earth helped create a different connection to the land that he didn’t have before and was now cultivating.  The Styro-Samurai invited his courtesans and the other people in the castle to assist him.  To his surprise, most everyone found this activity relaxing and beneficial.  It no longer became his garden and became our garden which brought with it a sense of shared responsibility and value.   He wondered if this idea would work for a land the size of a country ?  Soon he would try talking to the Emperor about this and hope for the best.

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A Need to Form: Handmade Balls from the Falls of the Ohio

At first it looked like any other ball among the wood chips and I almost passed it by.  After all, balls are the most common toy that I find at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.  But something told me to look more closely at this one and that’s when I noticed the network of filaments that were eroding away on the surface of this silvery sphere.  Picking it up, I then realized I was holding something different and to my mind and eye a bit more fascinating too.  Yes, it is a ball, but one made from duct tape!

Over the years I have found several other handmade balls made from different materials and they always elicit wonder in me as artifacts.  There is something in the human need to create form from formlessness that is at the root of creativity and can be seen in this eccentric collection.  I think this can happen reflexively too without deep thought being involved. The largest of these balls would fit comfortably in the palm of your hand and is slightly smaller than an American baseball.  Since most of them are made from various tapes…I’m guessing they are the waste products of work.  What began as something relatively flat gets transformed by the mind and hand into a fully satisfying three-dimensional object that you can grasp, throw, or roll.  For me, there is something appealing art-like in these objects which began life as one thing and by shifting its original purpose and function becomes something entirely different.

Here are two duct tape balls I have found by the river.  The one on the left is pictured on the wood chips and its partner has vestiges of dried paint or primer on its surface.  The spheres are created by layering one flat piece of tape over another until a ball is formed.  It is not necessary to create a ball to dispose of this waste tape, but this is what their makers did…and then it wound up in the river which is yet again another story to ponder.

These two balls are made from stretchy electrical tape and are tight and dense.  I remember that the very first handmade ball I found was also made from this smooth black tape.  When my eldest son was a small boy and needed a project to do involving recycled materials… I helped him construct this circus pull toy from materials found at the river.

At the heart of this toy is a handmade ball made from electrical tape.  My son thought this would make a great prop for a circus lion to stand on while it jumped through a flaming hoop!  Of course, the only fire we actually used came from our imaginations.  The yellow plastic lion was also found at the river and has a nice oily patina on it that comes from being in the river for a while.  Here’s a smaller ball made from green tape.

  I’m sure people are making balls from paper-based tapes too, but these don’t survive being exposed to the elements for very long.

This ball made with cellophane tape is barely holding together.  It’s surface is fragile and the adhesive is losing its bond.  As it starts to peel apart, sand caught between the layers is released.

 

The four balls pictured here are made from compressed aluminum foil.  Perhaps they were used for cooking and once their original purpose was over, the owners rolled the foil around the palms of their hands like one would do to form a ball from either clay or snow.  The funny thing about aluminum foil and the river is that the water somehow squeezes it even more and the ball becomes denser and more solid.  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed looking at this rare and somewhat tongue in cheek odd ball collection where the sum is definitely greater than the parts!  Spring will be arriving soon and the Ohio River is calling…until next time.

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Top Secret Report: Proof of Extraterrestrials

Unknown hackers have recently posted images on the worldwide web reputedly obtained from government sources that state extraterrestrial aliens are among us.  The pictures go a long way in answering the question: “Are we truly alone in the universe?”.  The answer would be a resounding “no”! The information was lifted from top-secret computers from around the world, but seem to be centered on information purloined in the United States and New Zealand.  The group responsible for this posting call themselves members of “In Vino Veritas” and state their purpose is to let the truth be known.  In their communique “In Vino Veritas”  believes we are now  ”evolved enough to handle the truth”.  Regardless, the cat is out of the bag…whatever that means?  Following are excerpts from their sensational posting which has gone bacterial on the internet.

Much of this stolen information centers around a lone alien that is believed to have crashed landed at the Falls of the Ohio State Park in southern Indiana.  After several years of trying, U.S. government scientists were able to break the transmission code used to transmit images off world and were then traced to their source in this small park.  The images show a “classical” looking humanoid-alien with large dark eyes and no nose exploring the environs of the park.  The image above shows the alien contemplating a dead crayfish, but it is unknown at this time whether “it” is responsible for the death of this crustacean.

Many of the “Falls of the Ohio Alien” show this visitor exploring nature.  There are many more images that seem to suggest that the extraterrestrial is engaged by this context in an almost reverential way.  Intentions, however, are difficult to gauge and there are some at the highest level who believe this is a scout for an impending invasion. Thus far, scientists have not been able to physically locate said alien.  Another image is believed to be of the wrecked space ship.

This picture which cleverly resembles an upturned hot tub, could be either a space craft or some sort of time machine?  Remarkably, the New Zealand alien is also believed to have come to Earth in a bath-tub like ship.  These images from the Falls Alien are thought to have been taken with a “camera” mounted on a small drone based on their bird’s-eye point of view.  Thus far, this actual “hot tub” craft has eluded detection.  There is, however, other enigmatic circumstantial evidence that has been gathered that seems to imply an alien(s) “hand” at work.  Consider these strange formations found in the park.

This is a remarkable find and is obviously a map of our solar system.  The center golf ball is the sun surrounded by corresponding blackened buck-eye planets.

Could this found rope be a landing or navigational marker for a space craft or a piece of art?  The idea that aliens have an appreciation for art is further evidence of their more evolved status.

Here is one of many “Star Symbols” made from locally procured coal.  Their exact function is also unknown but recent speculation also suggests a fusion of art and science at work here.  Notice the energy field radiating away from the star.

This is one of the most impressive artifacts of all and recently excavated at a site near the Falls of the Ohio.  It is an alien effigy made from a composite materials including rubber and plastic.  The fact this alien has a nose also suggests the potential for much variation among different races or species of aliens to have secretly visited our planet.  Here are a few more images of aliens that were part of the recently posted hacker trove.  Let’s start with the image obtained from New Zealand which is identified as being ” a Dede”.

This “Dede” alien is unusual in sporting antennae.  Notice how the pose seems to suggest appreciation for light and life.  Very little is known of alien activities around the world and this image is of extreme importance for this reason.  It is believed that a similar form of transmission was used by the “Dede” alien to “beam” this image back to the visitor’s home world or waiting space craft.  Scientists speculate the dark spectacles are needed because the “Dede” alien comes from a world whose sun isn’t as intense as our own.

This image described as being an “alien ballet” also comes from the Falls of the Ohio.  Government sources date this image to 2009 which predates the current Falls alien.  The exuberant dance also suggest a love of fun and art.  After what must have been a long journey through dangerous outer space…it must have felt great to be safe and in a new environment.  The elaborate head-gear may suggest sexual dimorphism in this particular species of alien?  Can we safely assume that the male is on the right and female on the left…or does this picture represent two different aliens who are comfortable with one another?

So ends a quick overview of the “leaked” evidence of alien visitors to our planet.  It will be fascinating to see if this information will be taken to heart or denied outright in typical governmental fashion?  Are we indeed grown-up enough to handle the idea that we are no longer alone in a wide open universe?  Thus far, the evidence suggests that our visitors from other worlds have had nothing but peaceful intentions and actually have been caught in acts that suggest they appreciate the variety of life around them.  If we could only learn from them…again, time will tell.

This post (which was fun to do) is in honor of Dede Puppets one year anniversary.  Congratulations from the Falls of the Ohio!  The Dede Puppets link can be found on my blogroll in the right hand column.

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Spray Bottle Triggers

The range of plastic refuse one encounters at the Falls of the Ohio State Park is both numbing (it’s obviously trash and shouldn’t be here) and morbidly fascinating (the design sensibility and colors ) catches one’s eye and occupies the mind.  Consider the variations in something as mundane as “spray bottle triggers” if indeed this is what you call these things?  I’m not sure when I started noticing these objects and photographing them…but here they are.  Each adventure to the river is sure to garner multiple images and story lines that I sift through at my leisure.  Consider this a personal cleansing of the spray bottle trigger palette.  Ironically, much thought went into designing each of these beauties to facilitate dispersal of their contents from plastic bottles.  I like the rotating tips that give me options such as “spray” or “stream” and so forth.  These triggers are ingenious and they do their jobs well.  Without further adieu and fanfare…here are more images from an admittedly odd collection.

 

One final image in closing.  You know you have “arrived” when a cute miniature is produced.  Here’s a recent find from a sandy bank of the Ohio River at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

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In Search of the March Hare

What a beautiful day and I stayed out for many hours by the river.  It’s been a bit of roller coaster with the weather the past few weeks.  We have fluctuated between below freezing temperatures you can feel in your bones and highs in the 50 to 60 degree range.  Folks around here have been blaming our worse than usual cold and flu season with the variability of the weather.  I don’t know if this is true, but for me…going outside to breathe fresh air is restorative to my physical and spiritual health.  Since I last set foot here the river has again risen and receded.  The large raft of driftwood under the railroad bridge has been dispersed by the high water and actually made it a little less of an obstacle course to maneuver around.  The air over the river is also once again alive with Ring-billed Gulls searching for food.  I’m also hearing both the Northern Cardinal and Song Sparrow practicing their songs in anticipation of Spring.  Their songs make me want to sing one of my own.

More evidence of a high river comes in the form of man-made junk that has floated into the park.  I have found tires in all their forms to be good indicators of the entropy in this system.  What once took great amounts of energy and heat to form and use is literally sinking into the sand.  The wheel is one of mankind’s great inventions and here it is just another piece of garbage we have discarded.  I’m out here today not because I’m looking for things to get me down, but rather the opposite!  I’m looking for signs and symbols of the renewal to come.

Today, I’m looking for a member of the genus Lepus which includes hares and rabbits.  For some reason…intuition I think, has brought me here on this particular quest.  I have heard that members of the rabbit family start behaving oddly during Spring in anticipation of the breeding season.  The expression “mad as a March hare” is an old English expression used to describe this moment.  Of course, rabbits and hares have older associations as well.  The ancient Greeks equated rabbits with the goddess Aphrodite and rabbits have long been symbols of fertility. Logic tells me that if I can locate a hare that Spring will be here in no time at all. I guess I’m putting more trust in the hare than I am the groundhog! The month of February is nearly over and I’m hoping to find signs that hares are in the area.  So far, I’m not having much luck…just the tracks of people who came before me.  I’m not giving up yet though and the day is young.

I’m operating with my “hare brain” switched in the “on” position as I walk around my familiar haunts.  I look in areas that seem likely to me to hide rabbits and hares like this willow tree with an old barge cable wrapped around it.  I’m not sure why this tree is “talking” to me, but I’m going with my intuition.  There are no hares here, and maybe this spot is too close to the river anyway?

I walk by a wooden spool for holding large cables.  This is also new and wasn’t here the last time I passed by.  I see there is an opening large enough for a small mammal to hide in and so I go to investigate.  Carefully I approach the spool, but there is nothing here either.  I’m beginning to feel that there aren’t many other places I can look, when I remember there is a section of the park I almost never visit and so letting intuition be my guide…I go there.

The area I trek to is just east of the railroad bridge and dam that catches most of the driftwood that has been pushed from upriver.  This barrier is no obstacle at all when the river is at flood stage.  It is all this driftwood and pent-up junk that flows into the park when the Ohio River gets high.  It’s a tricky, shifty area and frequently muddy too.  All these conditions were present on this day.  It’s not an area the public is encouraged to visit and most people have enough sense to stay away.

As you can see…this area also gets lots of trash too.  This is what I eventually can look forward to receiving, perhaps in the next flood?  This plastic separates so completely with the rest of the environment that I’m surprised it doesn’t compel people to pick it up like it does at the grocery and department stores?

Naturally, I find weird things here.  It’s not everyday that you come across an alien’s head, but here it is next to other junk.  I find three dolls in various poses tangled in mud and driftwood and other toy bits that floated down with the currents.  I find a little bit of this and that, but no March hares or rabbits.

The soles of my shoes are caked with mud and so I find a suitable stick to scrape away the sticky earth.  I sit on a broad log to do this and take a rest at the same time.  While I work away at my shoes, a train crosses the bridge and I watch it as it crosses.  My mind wanders freely and I remember the unusual art of Joseph Beuys which became a favorite of mine during graduate school.  His work is frequently perplexing and takes getting used to.  I like his art, but found I was more attracted by his ideas and writings.  The value he placed on art as a potential agent to further our own evolution away from the strictly materialistic way we treat ourselves and the planet we depend on inspired me.  His ideas about an expanded notion of art seemed to give art more of a sense of purpose which I also found to be smart and optimistic.

Bueys often referenced animals in his art and believed that they were more aware and in tune with the world than we are.  The hare in particular was an important symbol to Bueys because it mediates between the earthly and spiritual realms.  Hares are burrowing animals and line their nests with their wool.  The insulating properties of felt became another material that Bueys incorporated in his art.  While I was sitting still and reflecting on the work of a favorite artist…the hare appeared!

It must have just emerged from its burrow under the logs and debris and was still covered with mud.  It looked in my direction with ears pricked up and our gaze locked upon one another.  Holding still for just a split second, I was able to capture this image before it disappeared back into the earth.  I exhaled in the knowledge that Spring was one day closer to arriving.  I savored the moment, gathered my things, took one last look across the river and headed for the skyline of Louisville over the Second Street Bridge.

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Sauger Saturday

Today has been a full day.  The Project Reclamation art exhibition I participated in is officially over for now.  I picked up my work from the Carnegie Center for Art and History in New Albany and moved on.  Efforts are underway to see if this might make a traveling exhibit that university galleries might be interested in booking.  I hope so.  Having organized many art exhibits over the years I understand how much work goes into the process of creating a good display.  Once a show ends, I often had this feeling that lots of energies and passion were spent by the artist(s) and gallery for a relatively short amount of time and then it’s on to new art and the next exhibition.  We consume exhibits like we experience so many other things in life.  I think this is one reason why I enjoy this Falls project so much.  It exists outside the normal gallery conventions and isn’t bound by white walls, pedestals, labels, and consignment forms.  The show is ongoing in the context of life at large.

With my artworks in the back of my car…I stopped by the Falls of the Ohio State Park.  The Ohio River has been up due to rain and snow in the northern part of the Ohio River Valley.  Under the railroad bridge you can get a good sense for the strength of the current.  New driftwood was accumulating and enlarging the wood already present.  I could also see a lot of man-made junk intermixed among the natural debris.

Just beyond the distant trees in the above image is the approximate location of my outdoor studio.  My “treasure trove” of river-polished polystyrene chunks that I have gathered over the past year may or may not still be there?  Once the river level drops, I will be able to access my spot again.  Regardless, the area will be rearranged by the river…it will be the same, just different if that makes any sense at all?  I may even be able to relocate some of the Styrofoam if it hasn’t floated too far away.  From experience, I know whatever I may have lost is unfortunately too easily replaced.

With my usual access points underwater, I explored the river’s edge just west of the Interpretive Center.  Along the way, I found enough materials to create this Styro-Witness to help me experience and document the day.  Although it was a very sunny day, it was still cool and windy.  The river’s high level had me walking among the bottom land trees and walking over the logs that had been deposited here by previous floods.  Every once in a while, I would walk into cold water hiding under last year’s leaves as the river creeps inland.  The squeaky sound of wood rubbing over wood as logs rolled in the waves was occasionally interrupted by loud cracks as branches were separated from tree trunks.

I was anticipating seeing ducks and geese, but none were around today.  The Ring-billed Gulls that were so numerous a couple of weeks a go were less prevalent on this day.  Just when I thought I might strike out with the birds…I had another personally notable sighting.   I observed three Eastern bluebirds engaging in “fly-catching” behavior flying from their respective perches to the ground and back.  I couldn’t see any insects at all, but I did see spider silk tangled among the branches and perhaps this is what they found here?  Anyway, the Eastern Bluebird is listed in the park’s checklist as being rarely found at the Falls of the Ohio State Park and in the ten years I’ve been paying attention…these are the first bluebirds I have seen here.  It’s really cold up north now and heading our way.  Were these birds driven here by that frigid weather?  Regardless, I wouldn’t have guessed that mid January would be the time I would sight bluebirds here.  Their wonderful predominantly deep blue feathers were complimented by the orange and white on their breasts.

This wooden pallet has been snagged in the branches of this tree for at least a year now.  I use it as a reference for how high the river can get.  In the early days of this project, I recall seeing an old refrigerator perched in the top of a tree courtesy of the Ohio River at flood stage.  Seeing an appliance crowning a tree top is a surreal sight not easily forgotten.  I kept walking westward with my latest creation and eventually reached the limit of my walk.

The Woodland Loop Trail eventually turns at a small creek that feeds into the river.  Here I found about ten fishermen casting their lines into the high water.  I decided to sit for a spell and watch while making small adjustments to my newest figure.

These fishermen were casting small, bright green and yellow, soft-bodied,  tailed jigs into the creek and having amazing success.  All of them were catching Sauger which is a member of the Perch family and smaller cousin to the Walleye.

Sauger are predatory fish and have sharp teeth.  Their eyes seem to glow whenever light hits them just the right way and underscores that they normally live in deep, dark water.  Sauger eyes have adapted to gather as much light as possible in the depths.  Apparently, they are very fine eating and all of the fisherman I observed were filling stringers of fish.  Most of the fish I saw being caught were thick-bodied and in the two to three-pound range although they are also capable of getting bigger.  The fishermen were having the best time and there was obvious camaraderie among them especially since everyone was catching fish.  I had a good time too, but it got to the point of my adventure when it was time to get home and intersect with the family.  I stuck my Styro-figure into the soft wood of the log I was sitting on, took one last photograph, and walked away.

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