A New Figure for a New Day

After watching the goldfinches in the willows and collecting the latest the river had to offer…I headed to my outdoor studio.  I have the day off from my day job and it is also Kentucky Derby weekend.  The weatherman is telling me that today will be the day to be outdoors because a cold, wet front is coming through the Ohio Valley.  It has been a few weeks since I last visited as life has taken me in other directions.  When I was last at this spot,  I stashed the surviving and repaired “Flood Brother” next to a tree.  In the interim, other people have come across my spot and looked through the junk I’ve assembled here.  As for my Styro-figure…I found what was left of him nearby.  Here’s a look at the remains.

I found his body first resting upon the older driftwood.  He was missing his head and arms.  Scouting around, I was able to find bits and pieces including his head staring at the world through his remaining cyclops eye.

Rather than reconstruct him for a third time, I decided to recycle him.  I gathered the pieces and parts and hauled it back to my studio.  For now, I will let these chunks of polystyrene rest.

The first step in creating some sense of order is to straighten out the mess my previous visitors have left me.  I sort through my sticks that I will use for potential arms and legs.  I gather up the smaller pieces of Styrofoam and put them in the river-chewed milk crate.  I rummage through my collecting bag and select the elements that will make up the face of a new character.  I take a few moments to watch robins chasing a young Cooper’s Hawk through the willow trees.  Near me, I hear the first notes from a Northern or Baltimore Oriole.  It’s reassuring to know that they have returned.  Also, there is a noticeable increase in insect life and I’ve observed bumble bees, hornets, and small butterflies going about their business.  The sound of running water is always in the background.  Picking up a head-shaped piece of Styrofoam I begin to form a new figure.

So far, it’s a smiling figure with a segment of pliable found plastic for a mouth.  The ears and nose are also plastic toy pieces.  The eyes are river-tumbled pebbles of coal.  I use my pocket knife to do this work. The next step is to add a body.

I chose a hunk of Styrofoam from my larder that seemed torso-like.  Feeling that it required additional detail, I added two walnuts to reinforce the chest idea.  I further added a third piece of Styrofoam that simulates a pelvis and gives the figure added length.  Some internal sense for proportion told me I needed to do this even though the entire idea and the resulting figure strikes me as being absurd and who else would notice or even care about this?  Beaver-gnawed willow rods connect the head and hips to the torso. Over the years, my working methods have evolved and I definitely have material and form preferences where none existed at the start of this project in 2003.  Through trial and error I selected wooden driftwood arms and legs to give my static figure some life, energy, and a suggestion of movement.  Here is the first photograph of this spring figure made in the place it was created.  Later, the two of us would go out to explore the landscape around the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

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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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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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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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The Sun is Up and the River is Down…part 2

As promised here is the second part of the previous post.  I did fill an empty cloth bag with river finds and here are some of today’s choice tidbits.  Once I straightened up my outdoor studio, I dumped the bag out onto the sand and started the sorting process.  I guess I also do a similar thing with my camera except it’s a memory card that gets filled and downloaded into the home computer.  Let’s begin with a few pictures of my newly discovered river treasures in situ.

I like all kinds of references to time.  I have a few other toy clocks and watches I’ve found courtesy of the river through the years.  Interestingly, I haven’t owned a watch personally in over thirty years and don’t want one now.  It seems I can find the time most anywhere I go and at the Falls of the Ohio…I pass by one of the largest clocks in the world.  Let’s see if I have a picture of that I can pull up for you.

Although this is a bit off topic, I thought you might enjoy seeing this mechanical wonder.  This is less than a mile away from my river spot.  It was once a part of a toothpaste factory that moved away a couple of years a go.  The building is a former prison…which is another way to mark time.  My reluctance to wear a watch has more to do with not liking to wear much in the way of jewelry.  Besides who needs the constant reminder?  Meanwhile, back at the river.

Houston…we have a problem.  I’m a plastic astronaut and it looks like the family dog has chewed one foot off!  Having some issues with my helmet too…don’t think I can last long in this alien environment.  This is an American astronaut so designated by the flag patch on his left arm.

I believe this is the smallest doll’s head I’ve ever found.  Here having a potential brain the size of a walnut could be a good thing!  I think I have found enough doll heads over the years to make a totem pole several feet tall and they would graduate from largest to smallest with no two alike.  This guy could be the cherry on top of it all.

 

As regular readers know…I have a thing for wheels too.  These are just the toy wheels I came across today.  I’m surprised by how many of these I have found in just the past two years.  I like them as a collection, but I may use them all in a single artwork.  I watched a depressing documentary today that included such nuggets of information like the average automotive tire takes seven gallons of oil to make.  And you may be thinking that all this petroleum is needed for gasoline?    I see too many real tires in the river as well.

Now how odd is this?  I found three toy hammers within a few hours of each other.  This is the most common toy tool that I find…not screwdrivers or pliers, etc…  At the river, it’s always hammer time, well the one on the far right is technically more of a mallet.  I’m not sure what the blue wheel on the far left hammer is supposed to do?

This is an interesting grouping of character toys.  It includes three dogs, two bones, a Weeble, and a Teletubby(?).  There’s a dog friend from Clifford the Big Red Dog and quick draw Snoopy from the Peanuts cartoon.  The dog sitting on the block has a nice oily river patina that takes years to develop.  The yellow character on the right is still full of mud.

Not everything I find is a toy.  Here are four fishing lures.  These get tangled up in the rocks or snagged on old fishing line.  Notice only the top left lure still has its treble hooks.  In the others, the hooks rusted or dissolved away.  I found a fifth lure after taking this photo.  I need to rephotograph my fishing lure collection because it has become seriously larger over the past couple of years.  You can see an older image in my Pages section.

I picked up all these disposable cigarette lighters today.  I have more at my studio at the church and intend to put them to use one day as well.  This was more of a photo opportunity.  I wanted to see some of the color range this particular make of lighter comes in.  No doubt the color is not light fast and over time would all probably come to resemble each other until the plastic broke down into ever smaller bits.  I also picked up other items such as interesting rootlets and sticks and heavier still…nice potential bases for the sculptures I decide to hang onto.  Well, this wraps up my finds from one particular adventure.  There is always stuff to pick up after the river rises and recedes again.  I wonder what I’ll come across next?

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In Snow Cock Country

The Ohio River at the Falls of the Ohio is even higher now since my last visit with the fishermen.  We have had some wild weather in the interim.  First it gets unseasonably warm and then a cold front collides with a wet weather system originating in the Gulf of Mexico.  The results of this can be very dangerous as this is the perfect recipe for a tornado outbreak which did occur south of here.  My family was awakened to the sound of tornado warning sirens at 4:30ish in the morning.  We began that day in the basement of our house which was a rude awakening even for the family dog.  Luckily, we didn’t experience any damage although it rained hard and was very windy.  And after the cold front blasted through it became extremely cold and was followed by snow.  I think we have seen the gamut of winter weather and I was glad to hear the “groundhog” did not see its shadow in Pennsylvania meaning that winter would come to a normal end this year.  That is if you believe animals can predict the weather?

I am certain this time that my outdoor studio under the willows is history by now.  The Ohio River has claimed the spot and my cache of art materials.  Unfortunately, there is a ready re-supply floating in the water.  It seems I begin many a post with what amounts to a weather report, but please bear with me.  My blog concerns itself with the local conditions which are the context that my adventures and stories are set in.  I’m also amazed and concerned that I can detect variations in our weather patterns having lived in this area for so long.  Much of the time I feel I’m bearing witness to events of importance to us all.  What is happening here is also occurring in other places in the world.  As I was walking through the woods on this day, I was surprised by the bird life I was encountering when I expected to see nearly nothing.  My Eastern Bluebird friends were still hanging around and they had company.  I saw White-breasted Nuthatches, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Brown Tree Creepers and many more especially near the river’s expanding edge.  I also saw and photographed another amazing bird which makes up the bulk of this post.

Fellow bird watchers had put the alert out that an unusual visitor was seen hanging out at the Falls.  A young, male Snow Cock was seen near the Woodland Loop Trail which is a bird not seen in these parts since the late 19th century.  As you can imagine this is a northern bird used to the cold and snow…in fact it depends upon these conditions for its survival.  The Snow Cock (like some ptarmigan species) turns nearly white in winter.  The rest of the year it sports plumage that is more like leaf camouflage.  Regardless of the season, the Snow Cock is a cryptic animal and is shy and retiring.  Except of course when it’s time to choose a mate when the males make it a point to be as noticeable to their own kind as possible.  I was hoping the bad weather would cause this wayward Snow Cock to linger and I was rewarded by its presence.  I took as many photographs as possible.  I have a feeling that I won’t ever see this exact species out here again.

The Snow Cock is also called the “Snow Turkey” and “Styro-grouse” because of the large fan of tail feathers it uses for courtship displays.  That’s how I found this particular bird which wasn’t all that wary.  The young male was rehearsing his dance and song and establishing a lek or territory where he would fight other males for the attention of the females.  Although this bird wasn’t going to hang out at the Falls forever, it was nevertheless, practicing this important survival skill.  Other interesting field marks included a head crest, an unusual beard growing from his chest, and a long bill for seeds and insects.

I watched the Snow Cock look for just the right spot to strut its stuff.  It was frequently hopping from one vantage point (usually a tall stump) to the ground and back.  The call of the Snow Cock as you might guess is very chicken-like and not particularly beautiful in its own right.  To my eye, it seemed very interested in the water which was noticeably spreading over the land.  This might be the first flood it has ever experienced?

I kept my distance from the bird and quietly followed it through the woods.  I observed it drinking from melting ice and I left it be hanging out near a large Osage Orange tree along the trail’s path.  The wind was beginning to pick up again and more flakes were in the air.  Despite wearing good gloves, my finger tips were cold and painful.  I decided that now was a good time to go home and I did.  I hope the next time I’m out here that the conditions will be more favorable for an extended visit.  I had one other small surprise waiting for me along the Woodland Loop Trail.  I passed the spot by the creek where I watched the fishermen catch sauger and was amazed and amused that the figure I had made from river junk that day was still there!  He was missing his nose, but otherwise he was intact.  I guess the fishermen appreciated him as I do you for tagging along on another adventure at the Falls of the Ohio.

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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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Touching Base

It’s a new year at the Falls of the Ohio and this is my first foray of 2013.  As expected, I have the park to myself.  It’s cold, but not unbearable.  I can tell that the river has risen and fallen since I last set foot here.  The riverbank is rearranged with freshly deposited driftwood and junk.  The only wildlife to be encountered are birds.  I see the geese and ducks I expect to see, but the stars of the day are the hundreds of Ring-billed gulls that are flying over the river.  I begin my visit by walking the riverbank looking for potential art materials and anything else of interest.  I do find lots of new Styrofoam, but the pieces are heavy and frozen with water and too much to carry.  If the river doesn’t rise again soon, I may get the chance to move the bigger polystyrene chunks to my studio under the willows.  Walking the shoreline, here are a few of the other “gifts” I encountered courtesy of the Ohio River.

Half buried in coal dust and gravel is this plastic, scary Santa Claus.  I know we just celebrated Christmas, but I couldn’t resist posting this image.  He looks old to me and I pull him out of the mud and drop him into my collecting bag.  I may try to research him and see if I can find any info about him.  On this day, I also found another doll head.

I’m always finding dolls and doll parts.  The interesting thing about this particular find is the location.  I have on other occasions also found old doll parts in the exact same place.  I’m beginning to believe that prior to this area becoming a park it may have served as a landfill?  In other areas of the park it is clear that this area was used as a dump from the amount of back fill I come across.  Nearby, something blue in the sand catches my eye and I take a look.

In case you were wondering, bowling balls do float.  I turned the beautiful blue-marbled surface over and discover that this ball has split in half.  The interior is made of a dense, hard foam and this is the reason these balls are buoyant.  The outer covering is a very hard plastic and I’m wondering how great a force is needed to break one of these balls open?  I imagine it is considerable and is another reminder of the power of the river.  Here’s one last find before moving on.

As I walked the riverbank, this jar of peanut butter was deposited by my feet!  I wonder where this came from?  Near the river’s edge I’m also picking up freshly peeled willow sticks.  This is evidence that beavers are in the area.  The sticks all bear their teeth marks as they nibble the bark for food.  Beavers are very secretive and I have only seen them twice in the past ten years.  I like willow wood for its ivory color and use them quite a bit in my river sculptures.  I wonder if beavers would like peanut butter?

After scouting the river I head up the bank to the area under the willow trees that I have been using as an outdoor studio for the past year.  This ground is slightly higher, but is no match for a flooding river.  I have made many temporary studios over the years where I cache the Styrofoam and sticks I use for my figurative sculptures.  It’s been perhaps two months since I last visited this spot, but to my eye, not much has changed.  I set my collecting bag and walking stick down and select a couple of pieces of Styrofoam for my first figure of the new year.

Before too long, a new figure takes form.  Today, I’m breaking in a new knife because I lost my trusty Swiss Army knife out here.  That’s two knives I’ve lost since beginning this project and think of my losses as tribute necessary to appease the river gods.  My new figure also sports one other find from this day…it’s a button that says “Kentucky is My Land”.

After saying so long to his kin, my latest and unnamed Styro-figure sets out to explore his world.  The day started out sunny, but now has turned gray and cloudy.  I probably won’t stay out here much longer since the wind has picked up a bit too.

Here is further evidence that the river has risen and fallen recently.  A freshly deposited tree has been stranded on the bank and provides an opportunity for investigation.  In the distance and past the railroad bridge, one can spy part of Louisville’s skyline.  Curious about the tree, my newest figure climbs on top to survey the world from this vantage point.

Every day is a new wonder especially at the Falls of the Ohio.  2013 is a new year, but it also marks my tenth as the artist at exit 0.  When I started my Falls project I wondered if I would be able to sustain anybody’s interest much less my own?  It was fun learning from the WordPress yearly summary that my blog has been visited by people living in 103 different countries during 2012!  I suppose more people now know about this special environment as a result of my activities here which is cool.  The Falls are a unique window into the history of life from its past to the present.  It’s a place where nature and man’s nature intersect which tells us something about who we are in this  moment.  I hope my blog continues to be a venue where people can get a sense that creativity can be an active force in shaping the world for the better.  As for my latest creation…he decided to hang around to greet any new visitors by the fossil rocks.  Perhaps by now, he has gone home with one of them?  See you later from the Falls of the Ohio.

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