A beautiful summer afternoon took us out for a drive that eventually led to Gilboa. It had been two years since I had been there. I knew that the Gilboa Museum would be closed (it was a Monday afternoon). But with country as beautiful as it is up through Greene and Schoharie Counties, we knew the ride would be fun no matter what.
I also knew we could check out the fossils laying outside the museum. The opening image is a large tree base, Eospermatopteris, from the famous Gilboa Forest. Picture two, above, which I just posted recently, is part of a smaller base that I had found previously.
These two samples of Devonian plant life got me thinking about how the recent “abstract/concrete” work I did can well relate to these type of fossil images.
The markings, the linear compositions…they all really fit that previous project. I think I am beginning to see the greater pattern!
Last from our Gilboa stop is this gnarly fossil, a rather incredible fossil – part of the tree – found by Ms Kristen Wychoff. An interesting story accompanies it (click here).
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Ms Wychoff’s discovery occurred alongside a nearby creek – “stream mitigation” is what it’s known as – where streams needed to be shored up following Hurricane Irene (which, by the way, occurred exactly three years ago) and large rocks were used as fill. These three images resulted from us making a similar stop on our way back.
More markings – some from heavy equipment…
…and some from the rocks themselves.
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Here are a few odds and ends, the first of which comes from my recent sandstone find – a healthy variety of fossils create this vignette.
And here are two more from a quick run to the local quarry – both as visually primordial as they are in fact!
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While color has been playing an important role in many of my most recent images, I still have a thing for black and white. This latest version of a favorite fossil was, I am sure, motivated by my fascination with the artist Renee Magritte and his painting “The Castle of the Pyrenees.”
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My good friend and fellow photographer, Michael Nelson, dropped by bau Gallery last weekend and left this portrait in his wake. Thanks, Mike!
Two more weekends left before the show comes down. Beacon should be a fine destination over this upcoming Labor Day weekend. Drop by if you can.
artandfossils 
Like the pattern you see between fossils and concrete. Nature and according to a scientist, we coevolve with nature, repeats patterns. Branching, meanders, spirals. The pattern you see seems a combo. Like fossil that seems a fish. Leaving LBI Sunday sad. Nature is us.