About: Rising from the Falls
“Rising from the Falls” was truly a community creation. Over thirty people from Indiana and Kentucky volunteered to come to the Falls of the Ohio for the project. Everyone went down to the river and selected a piece of driftwood and then painted the piece with any design of their choice. When everyone was done, all the individual pieces were given to local artist Greg Rush, who volunteered to take all of the pieces and make one unified sculpture.
The sculpture is the result of everyone’s creativity and effort. Greg described the process as “being given a bunch of random jigsaw pieces and putting them together without any puzzle picture”. The sculpture came together for him when he came up with the title “Rising from the Falls” which led him to create a vertical piece with the color and forms moving up from the waterfall at the base. The title also incorporates the idea that the pieces of wood used came up from the river, and the concept that in our own lives we are often asked to rise from our falls.
The group’s collective creation, Rising From the Falls, can now be seen in the Falls of the Ohio State Park’s Interpretive Center. Come see it in the River Room!
About the Artist: Greg Rush
Meet the local artist that is working with The Falls of the Ohio Foundation and Origin Park on community art projects. Greg Rush #riverghostart #gregrush is a local artist with a studio located in Jeffersonville at the NoCo Art Center (NAC). He is also working with Indiana DNR at the Falls to create a sculpture that will be displayed at The Falls and auctioned for charity.
At his own studio, River Ghost Art, works primarily with live-edge wood, driftwood, metal, organic materials and repurposed pieces to create furniture, sculptures, wall art, and functional pieces. Other elements such as stone, metal, bone and glass are incorporated to give the art diverse textural and visual aspects, add meaning, and maintain a natural feel.
Many of you may have already seen Greg’s work at Abbey Road On The River. For the past five years he has been the Lead Artist for Abbey Road, and created their signature piece, The Peace Tree, along with other character creations and interactive art installations.
You can find his work and contact Greg on Facebook and Instagram at River Ghost Art.