detour art travel journal

Ice storm at M.T. Liggett’s

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:52:39 -0600

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M.T. Liggett | 1930- | Mullinville, KS
Metal sculpture environment | Created 1989-present

That ice storm that hit southern Missouri was part of a wave of storms that moved through the Midwest for a week. Although I wasn’t in Mullinville at the time, my dear friend, M.T. Liggett just sent over 400 beautiful photos from his environment along Highway 400. Luckily there was no damage, just a lot of added beauty by Mother Nature. Go check out some of the photos.

It all started with a gargoyle to protect his horse, next a less than flattering caricature of a county commissioner, then to another and another. Soon, M.T. Liggett’s welded social commentary took root on his farm just outside Mullinville, Kansas. In 1989, after a career in the Air Force, M.T. returned to the farm where he was born. There he began creating fantastic, sometime kinetic, “totem poles” from scraps of metal, old car parts, road signs, and just about anything else he find. Now stretching almost a mile along Route 400, his garden of goat-getting political satire keeps the town folks at the local diner irritated. “I say what I want to say, and I piss a lot of people off.” Beneath his gruff exterior lies an extremely intelligent and talented man who has volumes to say.

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David Kontra

Sat, 8 Dec 2007 13:58:55 -0600

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David Kontra | 1956- | Norwood, MO
Paintings and music |

I have heard a lot about David Kontra, the blind painter near Springfield, MO and drove a very foggy back roads route, replete with Amish horse and buggies moving surreally in and out of the mist. Once I arrived at his home, I lost all track of time and place, and fell into the spell of discovering an artist with a vision, despite his lack of one in the traditional sense. His artwork has the sense of movement, perspective, and juxtaposition of people, buildings, and windows, making it filled with expressionistic energy and angst.

When David was 9 years old, he began to notice that there was something wrong with his eyes. After years of visiting specialists, it was diagnosed to be Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease that will only worsen over time. Today, he has less than 5% vision in his good eye. In order to keep track of what he just painted, each night, David studies his current work, with his face mere inches from the canvas, memorizing all of the details, so he can resume in the morning. He believes that his ability to memorize has been heightened as a compensation mechanism.

With the aid of a special book reader and a voice reader on his computer, David is now able to study other artist’s work and compose original music, as well as promote his art online.

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Car trip tips

Sat, 8 Dec 2007 12:13:18 -0600

This was one of those days that I should have known better, and still got lucky. A few hours after this photo was taken, the southern part of Missouri and Northern Oklahoma was hit hard by an ice storm. Luckily, I am rather hyper-vigilant when it comes to keeping an eye on the weather (thanks Dad). So, I thought I would share some rather obvious tips for hitting the roads in any type of weather.

Handy items to have in the car:
an spiral bound atlas, (large print for some of us)...the spiral makes it easy to fold to your page, and an atlas will tell you what county you are in, if you are listening to the radio and a storm is approaching.
hand-powered/battery-operated weather radio...geeky, yes, helpful, even more. Sometimes it is hard to get a radio station that will be in your area, and that has actual people on the air. This truly helped me make the decision to move on north, instead of waiting til the next day to head home. The hand cranking does get tiresome, and impossible while driving, so get batteries.
a cell phone that can get the internet, without wi-fi...ok I am lucky and a total geek. I have an iphone that I am crazy about...weather.com’s radar maps...that sums it up, (oh and finding a starbucks for caffeine refueling, hotels in the area that you can just press the phone listing and it will automatically dial, listening to “This American Life”, texting my neighbor to find out how it is at home...) Of course - don’t try and do this while driving.
cash...nothing to do with inclement weather, but essential when the prospect of art purchases loom. Do not expect artists to take checks, and definitely not credit cards.
blankets, old towels, etc....good to wrap art in...and yourself if necessary, plus the towels come in handy when you spill the coffee.
ice scraper...but remember to bring it in when you get out of the car. it is hard to chip the ice off the handles without it. I wish I would have also thought to wrap my wiper blades in plastic as well (like a newspaper delivery bag). The embedded ice kept the blades from clearing my windshield. I also found that having a squished penny (travel souvenir) saved me when I found the gas cap cover sealed in ice, it was thin enough to chip it open. Who’d a thought?
bottled water...it is good for you especially if you are coffee-fueled
snacks...I must eat
car charger...I have one that can also charge my laptop and camera batteries, on those days that you are shooting and driving a lot. Although batteries seem to have a longer life these days than just a few years ago.
AAA membership...when I had to have my car towed in Augusta, KS, this was worth the membership fee and then some.
basic tool kit, duct tape, flashlight, first aid kit...for all of the obvious reasons
good music, patience, and a sense of humor

Robert Wells Chain Sculptures

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 12:52:20 -0600

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Robert Wells | dates unknown | Grannis, AR
Welded sculptures

The weather started to turn rainy and cold, and my luck for missing artists at home was just as dampening. Luckily, Robert Wells’ sculptures are quite visible from the highway. Spiritual in nature, and spanning a distance similar to that of Margaret’s Grocery in Vicksburg, Mississippi...Robert, too, is spreading the word in his own way.

His precise lettering of welded chains is a marvel in its own right. And then there are the three dimensional sculptures, like his globe that are pretty incredible, especially when you consider the weight and nature of these heavy chains that he can craft into beautifully curved lines.

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Harold Bradley

Fri, 9 Nov 2007 18:24:21 -0600

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Harold Bradley | dates unknown | West Fork, AR
Sculptures

It was a gorgeous fall day, the very reason I was in the car. Not having a lot of time to roam too far, I settled on Arkansas, with hopes of visiting Ed Stilley, Harold Bradley, and Robert Wells. Alas, that was not going to be the case....as it sometimes goes with the best of well-laid plans, except this time, there hadn’t been a plan really made...and no one was home.

Harold Bradley, not to be confused with the man in the Country Music Hall of Fame, is a man with an eye for turning found objects and tree stumps into works of art. Throughout his Arkansas yard, you can find whimsical carvings and assemblages, that can only make one wish he was around to visit with. Maybe next time I will call first...

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Galamba Metals License Plate Fence

Fri, 9 Nov 2007 16:09:19 -0600

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Galamba Metals | dates unknown | Sulphur Springs, AR
Found object fence

Just across the Kansas/Oklahoma border. a stone’s throw from the Stateline Liquor store, runs a license plate fence all along a scrap metal yard. I had no idea that it was going to be there, and there it was. The crazier thing is that after I turned around the car and pulled in to take some photos, I noticed the sign for Galamba Metals. Very familiar, as I had designed the logo a few years ago for a dear friend’s growing family business. Somehow, she had failed to mention this piece of roadside art to me...

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Ernie Poe

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 19:16:30 -0500

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Ernie Poe | dates unknown | Sharon Springs, KS
Barbed wire sculptures

Ernie Poe has strung and repaired a lot of barbed wire fence in his days as a rancher, and he can’t seem to leave the stuff alone. When we visited Ernie, he was supposed to be taking is easy, recovering from a recent heart condition, but he was still rarin’ to go, telling stories of the displays.

His latest creation is a life-sized (and life-like) buffalo in front of the Fort Wallace Museum, created from over two miles of coiled barbed wire. Once you enter the display building of the Museum, you find his creations are everywhere, cacti, roadrunners, an oxen team, three horses, and several lizards. The crazy thing is - these are not meant to be displays of his work, but instead are meant to serve as displays for all of the ranching and homesteading memorabilia housed in the Museum.

But it is awfully hard to see the harnesses and yokes, that is supported by his creations, and not marvel at his art.

It is well worth the drive...yes, even with the drive back to Hays through the storms...at night...while in need of a meal...(always remember to pack snacks when on the back roads, you never know, oh, and a hand-crank weather radio is pretty darn handy, too.)

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Monument Rocks

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 14:47:54 -0500

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Monument Rocks | Gove County, KS

I have to say it...it looks like we aren’t in Kansas any more... but here we are in the middle of the “Badlands” of Kansas, about 40 miles south of Oakley and east on a lot of chalky dirt roads. One of my favorite things about a car trip is the surprise when the site (natural or otherwise) first comes into view. Driving along the back roads to Monument Rocks, there were no visual clues about what lay ahead, only flat open grazing land, and not much else.

The all of a sudden there they are. A not-quite-as-grand-Tetons rising up from the pastures. The chalk bluff area is famous for its fossils of oysters, sharks, bony fish and reptiles, when it was an open ocean eighty million years ago.

The Smoky Hill River crosses U.S. 83 about 25 miles north of Scott City. North of the river 2.5 miles a sign directs visitors another 4 miles east and 2 miles south to Monument Rocks.

Erika Nelson...

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 09:41:34 -0500

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Erika Nelson | 1972 (?) - | Lucas, KS
Traveling collection | Creation dates unknown

Erika is a force to be reckoned with. Once upon a time, Erika was working for a television new station, doing graphics, then taught at KU, then was offered another tenured job on the east coast and decided instead to live in her van that she got from the Anderson County Senior Center. Inspired by childhood memories of the World’s Largest 8 Ball water tower near her home town in California, Missouri and the giant Paul Bunyon near her grandmother’s house in Minnesota, she began to drive around the country photographing these types of landmarks and making tiny replicas of them to display in her van. Soon it became the “World’s Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things,” and her life has changed forever.

Now residing next door to the Garden of Eden in a paid-off house in Lucas, Kansas, Erika still travels the country, documenting sites and giving lectures. While at home she also has been known to give tours of the Garden as S.P. Dinsmoor himself, and has created her own roadside attraction for Lucas...The World’s Largest Souvenir Plate, which are some of the many reasons we stopped by this morning to chat with her after her appearance last night.

Although the old van has been retired, there is a “new” one being restored and renovated, looking to hit the road in 2009, and traveling to another “world’s largest.” Meanwhile, she can be seen tooling around town in her reconfigured art truck “burning dinosaur bones.”

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Mri Pilar & Florence Deeble

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 08:06:53 -0500

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Florence Deeble’s Rock Garden | 1900-1999 | Lucas, KS
Concrete sculpture environment | Created: 1950-1999

Mri Pilar’s Garden of Isis | dates unknown | Lucas, KS
Installation | Created: 2002 - present

We stopped by Florence Deeble’s Rock Garden to see how it was holding up. Happy to say that the gardens in back are looking great, obviously a lot of love has gone into bringing the plantings back, and we noticed some pieces in back that we hadn’t seen before.

The front of the house (and garage in back) as well as the interiors have under gone a lot of change over the years. Mri Pilar moved to Lucas in 2002 and has been transforming Florence’s house into an installation project entitled “Garden of Isis.” She has covered the interior walls and ceilings with silver mylar insulation and has adorned them with assemblages of discarded items, such as dolls and CDs, to transform the old home of Florence’s.

By looks of things (she wasn’t home at the time), Mri has moved her inspirations now to the exterior, by creating a found object mosaic porch, and decorating the garage with CDs. There are a number of great tiled heads placed about in the shrubbery and on the porch as well. The presence of a new artist is definitely felt at this schoolteacher’s house...(inserting personal POV here) ...and I hope that the backyard remains true to Florence’s vision and creation, so that visitors can still experience the environment as she created it, and Mri can continue to bring her vision to the front and interiors, blending the 2 worlds.

more info about Florence Deeble...

more info about Mri Pilar...

The Garden of Eden at night

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 21:26:53 -0500

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S. P. Dinsmoor | 1843-1933 | Lucas, KS
Concrete sculpture environment | Created: 1905-1927

Back to the Garden, again. This time it is to celebrate the Garden of Eden’s 100th anniversary. In honor of this auspicious event, the group of folks that own the Garden are throwing a party in honor of the oldest folk art environment in the United States, and I have volunteered to do a book signing (shameless self-promotion) and donate half of the proceeds to the cause.

This is the first time I have ever seen the Garden at night, just the way Dinsmoor intended. When he completed the Garden of Eden, he had an electrical generator to power the lights (the only one in Lucas at the time.) Lucas is about the halfway point for the train that ran between Kansas City and Denver. Imagine crossing the dark prairie at night, and seeing this bright light in the distance. Local legend has it that the train would stop and let folks off to see the marvelous site and listen to Dinsmoor do a little Populist politics preaching.

Even tonight, the sight/site is awe-inspiring. Adding to the fun, next door neighbor of the Garden, Erika Nelson, reenacted Dinsmoor (Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan, and now Erika...)and led guided tours in character, all the while being filmed by both the guys from Rare Visions and the Canadian film crew for “Shrines and Homemade Holy Places” (I had been interviewed earlier in the day for a segment on M.T. Liggett, another Kansas visionary of a different sort.)

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The Midland Hotel

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:10:42 -0500

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Midland Hotel
414 S Saline (26th) Street | Wilson, KS | (785) 658-2284

Built in 1899, and most recently restored in 2003, the Wilson Hotel is a beautiful native limestone building with comfortable mission-style furnishings, built near the railroad tracks. This is important to note, since the trains roll through throughout the night, sounding their whistles at each intersection. Oh, and there is that air-raid sounding siren that harkens back to the days of the railway workers, when they relied on the “horn” to send them off to work (every morning at 7).

Other than the sound and sleep effects...the Wilson hotel was the setting for the 1972 movie, “Paper Moon,” with 10-year old Tatum O’Neal winning the Oscar for her performance. It is the place to stay if you are visiting Lucas, Kansas and the Garden of Eden, the Grassroots Art Center, Florence Deeble’s Rock Garden and Erika Nelson’s World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things.

Some Roadside Attractions

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:23:28 -0500

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If you have ever caught the KCPT Public Television series, “Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations,” you know that not all of their stops include self-taught art and visionary sites. At times there are visits to some of the places your dad wouldn’t stop on those long family vacations...or that you flew over on your way to the coast. Here are the ones we saw today and Friday...

Prairie Nut Hut
1306 Quincy Street | Altoona, KS | (620) 568-2900
Deep fried prairie oysters are not for the faint of heart...”ya gotta be nuts to eat them.”

Monkey Island—Home of America's First Space Monkey
Ralph Mitchell Zoo | Oak & Park Street | Independence, KS
Built in the 30s as a WPA project at zoos across the U.S. , “monkey islands” were islands surrounded by ponds that kept the primates without an escape route and close to the visitors. Independence, Kansas’s Ralph Mitchell Zoo became home to Miss Able, a rhesus monkey, “the first non-communist primate to travel into outer space.”

Old Frisco Wooden Water Tower | Beaumont, KS
Nestled in the Flint Hills, Beaumont was a cattle town and an important point on the Frisco railroad line. Still standing near a grass airstrip, is the last remaining Frisco-built wooden water tower in the U.S. (think “Petticoat Junction.”) We arrived at sunset as the parachuted motorized aircraft began returning for the evening. It was a momentarily surreal experience to see the once-aloft dune buugy-like vehicles drive past us and stop at the sole stop sign, before heading on to the Beaumont Hotel.

The Underground Tunnels
Santa Fe and Main | Ellinwood, KS
Back in 1887, Ellinwood was a German-Austrian settled town of the wild west. The folk built the town with it’s underground passageways, initially for coal storage and later for a wide variety of businesses — a dentist, brewery, house of ill-repute, etc. These underground businesses, especially the saloons, became quite prosperous during the 30s and Kansas-born Carrie Nation’s prohibition fever. Some of the tunnel businesses have been restored and you can still visit some of these businesses, as we did.

Café on the Route

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:12:18 -0500

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Café on the Route | Richard and Amy Snell
1101 Military Ave. | Baxter Springs, KS | 620-856-5646

Mmmmm...what a great surprise and even better café! Sometimes when on the road with the guys from Rare Visions, eating can be a conundrum. Food rules attempt to abound...for Don - must have vegetarian food, but not just vegetables... for Mike - no chains... for Randy - he’s is pretty easy as long as he doesn’t have to eat cooked fruit... for me - just feed me every 4 hours and no one gets hurt.

Café on the Route, on Old Route 66 in Baxter Springs, is one of the best food stops we have ever had. It occupies the 1870 Crowell bank building, robbed in 1876 by Jessie James and Cole Younger. The food was truly exquisite, very reasonable prices, and we were lucky enough to have Amy (one of the proprietors) select our meals. (I had the Adobe Chicken - highly recommended) The restaurant was recently featured on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, (which Don was one of the camera guys, and tipped us off.)

Waaaay too much good food so early in the day, I didn’t need to eat again...luckily, since one of the next stops was at Prairie Nut Hut in Altoona, KS...home of prairie oysters.

Zoomer’s Treasures—Mary Fenogolio

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:32:36 -0500

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Mary Fenogolio | dates unknown | Pittsburg, KS
Found object sculptures and furniture | On-going creations
Private property

Back in the car and following the guys from KCPT’s series, Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations, to shoot another season beginning with a 1/2 hour segment in our own backyard...Kansas.

First stop is at Mary Fenogolio’s Treasures. Mary, also known as “Zoomer” for an earlier love of racing her ’57 Chevy....which she still has...and is NOT for sale...don’t even ask, is as unique as the furniture she builds from a variety of found objects. Her love of going fast didn’t stop with cars, she is a bundle of creative energy just waiting to be “adopted.” All she really wants to do is make her one-of-a-kind furniture and have someone else deal with the people.

In her side yard, her “hardware store” as she calls it, she has stock piles of doors, spindles, scrap wood, bed frames, and other salvaged materials just waiting to be turned into her unique furniture. Don’t bother to ask to buy her materials instead of her art, she may just close the gate as soon as letting someone come in to browse the well-organized groupings of raw material.

Her art is as creative and unique as she is, I left wishing I had a bigger vehicle...and suspect I will be back to see this wonderful woman and her wood.

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Paul Friedlein’s Jolly Ridge

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 13:23:54 -0500

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Paul Friedlein’s Jolly Ridge (aka Inspiration Point) | 1885-1984 | Guttenberg, IA
Rock grotto environment | Created mid 1950s - 70s
Private property

After leaving Dan’s we headed on south, slightly past Guttenberg on Highway 52, with hopes of finding Paul Friedlein’s Jolly Ridge (aka Inspiration Point.) On past travels, the timing or weather hadn’t ever panned out for finding it, but this time everything was perfect. We found his nephew’s wife, Diane, at home (her husband, Lee Dickson, had helped Paul with the rock work, and you can see his handy work on the house.) Diane was most gracious in sharing stories and giving a guided tour of the stone work.

After suffering a debilitating hip injury during his professional wrestling career, Paul Friedlein built his stone grotto and home that over look the Mississippi River, one rock at a time...on his hands and knees.

The grotto includes stones that were cut with a diamond saw and inset into cement to create a tableau (or reliefs) of each of the 14 neighbors, complete with unique imagery of each of the families professions. It also includes a sculpted “family tree” with his sisters represented by a triangular form, and brothers rectangular. Stones on the sides represent each niece or nephew. Larger sculptures represent Mother and Father.

(if you are wanting to visit, please call first - 563-252-3433. It is just south past the scenic lookout, on the river side of highway 52)

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Dan Slaughter’s Sculptures

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 08:10:11 -0500

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Dan Slaughter | dates unknown | McGregor, IA
Sculptures and environment | Creation dates unknown

So, Larry and I didn’t take our respective flights home from the Kohler conference, instead opted for a car trip back to KC through Iowa, with hopes of seeing some new sites and revisiting old friends. After a stormy night driving on windy roads through Wisconsin, we safely made it to Prairie du Chein and treated ourselves to a fried chicken dinner at the only place still open (and conveniently located near our Best Western.

We rose early and began our adventure...with the first stop to revisit our friend, Dan Slaughter, self-proclaimed “toothless old bastard.” We enjoyed a cup of coffee as the sun burned through the clouds and the jack hammers pounded away on the highway out front. Dan has a way with a chainsaw and hatchet. His back yard is filled with innumerable life-sized totem pole carvings of other characters—Elvis, the Jolly Green Giant, Pocahontas, a sheriff, a soldier—the list goes on and on. When a storm knocked down one of his 25-foot totem poles, he cut each of the stacked characters apart and placed them throughout his yard alongside the others. He also collects and sells antiques and other memorabilia in his barn.

After much deliberation and more even configurations, we were able to fit the carved siting mermaid into our yellow Cobra rental car to take home with me. Larry also made a much smaller and thinner purchase of a Yale key.

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Milwaukee Museum of Art

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:19:31 -0500

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Milwaukee Museum of Art
700 N. Art Museum Drive | Milwaukee, WI | 414-224-3220

Sitting on the shore of Lake Michigan, the spectacular Quadracci Pavilion, designed by Santiago Calatrava, the Milwaukee Museum of Art features a 90-foot high glass-walled reception hall enclosed by a whale-rib-like sunscreen that can be raised or lowered turning the entire building into a wing-like moving sculpture. Even better, the museum houses a significant folk, self-taught, outsider art collection, with many of the works generously donated by Michael and Julie Hall and Anthony Petullo. Here you will find Wolfli, Taylor, Tolson, and so many others.

Best yet - we were given a behind the scenes tour (last part of the Kohler Conference) of the jaw-dropping Martin Ramirez exhibit (more than a week before it had opened to the public), with the curator herself, Brooke Davis Anderson, the director/curator of The Contemporary Center, American Folk Art Museum, in New York, with comments from Phyllis Kind, an early proponent of Ramirez’s work. If you can’t be there in person, check out the exhibit on YouTube.

Around Sheboygan

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 12:49:25 -0500

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Sheboygan is one of those towns that you keep expecting to hear Frank Capra yell “Cut!” It is such a clean place, that they have 2 vacuum repair stores on the same block. The signage is great, the breakfasts (and taverns) even better. The Stephanie Wiell Center for the Performing Arts, and it’s great sign, let me know that we were going to miss one of my favorite NPR radio live programs, “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.” Alas.

Mystery Art Site

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:04:25 -0500

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Driving back from James Tellen’s site to downtown Sheboygan, I had to stop, again, just to see this wall. We have no idea who lives here, but love the tableaus, and the concrete tree. If you are trying to find this house, it is in the lake side of Lake Shore Drive and the intersection of the 500 block of Whitcomb Avenue.

James Tellen’s Woodland Sculpture Garden

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:47:30 -0500

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James Tellen | 1880-1957 | Black River, WI
Concrete environment | Created 1942-1957

On our way to Milwaukee from Sheboygan, we had to stop by one of our favorite concrete gardens...the tour group was behind us, and the light was great!

For most of his life, James Tellen worked in a furniture factory, painting the fine decorative detailing. At age 62, as he recuperated in the hospital from an illness, he was inspired by concrete sculptures in the churchyard outside the window. Upon returning home, first he would sculpt heads in clay, create a mold, and then cast them in concrete. Next, he would mount the heads on mesh armatures, completing the bodies with more concrete. From 1942 until his death, he created more than 30 figures in the woods surrounding his family’s summer cottage in Black River, Wisconsin. The religious, historic, and whimsical creatures were all arranged in the natural setting, creating an almost surrealistic, yet comforting environment. Today, the Kohler Foundation is restoring the wooded retreat.

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Kohler Conference—Day Two

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 09:54:11 -0500

“Taking the Road Less Traveled: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists”
Sheboygan, WI

The above video clip is a segment from the closing dinner, inspired by the environmental artists and was created by a group called “The Nana Projects” (Molly Ross and artists Annie Howe, Alison Heimstead, Elisabeth Roskos and Adam Krandle) It was performed to music using 3 overhead projectors and acetate overlays. Watching the artists switching overlays was like watching a great dance. (Please forgive the quality of the video - it was shot in the dark with my digital camera)

This is just a small snippet from the middle of the show. It was awesome in the true sense of the word. You will see the art of Fred Smith’s Wisconsin Concrete Park (hunter and fiddler and head dress sculpture) then Dr. Evermor’s Forevertron (the crowd cheers when it blasts into space...his dream) Hard to believe that this was all still art on acetate.

Here are just a few more of the discussions from this day (trust me there was more great information shared than I could possibly process and share here):

Wayne Cox: Errol McKenzie's Black Moon Island: Body of Darkness, Womb of Light
Quote from Errol McKenzie, “If I know the Universe, why do I need a university?”  Jeffrey Hayes: Paradise Lost: Reflections on the Impermanence of Vernacular Environments
Calvin and Ruby Black’s Gilded Bird Cage Theater at Possum Trot. View the film ”Possum Trot: The Life and Work of Calvin Black, 1903-1972”
Daniel Franklin Ward Reflections on Broken Glass and Tile: Some Contexts and Controversies Regarding Sam Rodia's Watts Legacy
it is believed that Simon Rodia built the Watts Towers to share something he knew as a boy in Nola, Italy...the Giglio Towers that were paraded through the streets in celebration of the Feast of San Paolino. The shape of the the land that the towers stand on is in the shape of a boat, and he had completed 7 of the 8 towers before he left.   Tom Patterson: Social Roadblocks for Preserving Art Environments: St. Eddie Owens Martin's "Land of Pasaquan.
 Dr. Charles Smith and Dr. Henry Drewal on African-American art environments: myth and meaning
 Robert McCullough on Albert Zahn’s “Birds Park”

Kohler Conference—Day One

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:52:07 -0500

“Taking the Road Less Traveled: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists”
co-hosted by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and the Kohler Foundation, Inc.
An International Conference - September 27-30, 2007
Sheboygan, WI

Let’s just get this out of the way - The Kohler’s are visionary, self-taught, vernacular, your-term-here artists greatest champions. The museum is jaw-dropping, their work to save and restore environments is inspiring.

A mid-morning flight delayed my arrival at the opening of the symposium, but photographer extraordinare and Houston’s Orange Show Eyeopener Tours host, Larry Harris met me at the Milwaukee airport and we made the hour drive up to Sheboygan.

Here is my feeble attempt at processing some of today’s highlights in information overload:

Jo Farb Hernandez: Catalonia’s Labyrinth: Life Cycle of an Art Environment
Jo’s obvious passion for the environment and love of the artist rang through. She told her well-documented tale of Josep Pujiula i Vila’s impressive labyrinthine environment in Spain, it’s rise and ultimate dismantling. She has recently written a book that includes this environment, among others in Spain, “Forms of Tradition in Contemporary Spain”  Iain Jackson: Interpretations, Readings and Deductions of Nek Chand’s Rock Garden
In addition to the largest body of Nek Chand’s work outside of India on display at the Museum, Iain’s presentation sealed the desire to go to India and witness first hand the masterpiece environment, the Rock Garden of Chandrigarh.  A conversation with Dan Dryden and Don Christensen lead by Leslie Umberger on saving Emery Blagdon’s “Healing Machine.”
This is the story all folk art lovers dream about. While Dan Dryden was working as a pharmacist in Nebraska, a rather scraggly gentleman named Emery Blagdon came in looking for “elements.” Intrigued, Dan eventually drove out to Emery’s home in the Garfield Tables, a part of the Sand Hills (North Platte), and was amazed by what he saw. A 20 x 24 ft. wooden shed filled with sculptures of complex wire, scrap metal, ribbon, foil, beads, and magnets, believed by Emery to be “Healing Machines.” The deliberately constructed pieces generated electromagnetic pulses, thought to bring relief from pain and perhaps cure disease. Emory would adjust and readjust his machines based on the phases of the moon, working solely on intuition.
Dan, along with his friend Don Christensen, together acquired Blagdon’s shed and all of it’s contents as one lot at the public auction held after the artist’s death. They have spent the last 18 years cataloging the collection, and with the help of the Kohler Foundation, another 2 years on conservation in order to have the exhibit ready for this conference.  Henry Drewal Dreamscapes: Sacred Spaces in Africa and the African-America's.
Henry Drewel gave a riveting talk about the Mami Wata, goddess of West African capitalism. Based on 19th century chromolithographs of a Samoan snake charmer in a German circus, the image of the Mami Wata may have been appropriated as a symbol of prosperity by the West Africans when trade with Europeans was open. The traditions of water-spirits, particularly female, were not uncommon before the introduction of European trade, nor was the experience of dual natures of good and evil (water brings you life, but you can also drown.)
Shown were numerous examples of altars to the Mami Wata, an aftrican woman with snakes and long wavy hair (like a mermaid) and with mirrors acting as the spiritual surface and the more literal surface of water. Often there were sweet smells and tastes to please her. Sometimes there were crosses, in part Christianity and also symbols of the crossroads there this world and the other world meet. In this world, life is brief, when we leave we return home and meet in the otherworld.
Phyllis Kind, The On-going Challenge of the Extraordinary
Phyllis Kind open my eyes to the symbology of Kenny Hill’s Garden of Salvation, in Chauvin, LA. On many of his sculptures there are 9 circles precisely placed, and matching the layout of the overall placements of the sculptures within the environment. Could these circles represent the 9 planets? Kenny Hill walked away from his masterpiece in January 2000...is there a correlation between the symbols and the new millennium?   Dinner at the historic Waelderhaus in Kohler, WI

Nemechek’s Signs

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 13:11:06 -0500

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David Nemechek | dates unknown | outside of Perry, OK
Sign environment | creation dates unknown

First things first - don’t stop along the 2 lane Highway 64 to get out and take photos, the law frowns on this behavior and will ticket you. You can pull down the road a bit and there is a side road to park on.

Just from reading the signs, the story seems to go like this: David Nemechek and his family moved to Noble County in the early to mid 70s. During that time, something happened, that got he and the law at cross-purposes. Was it something to do with their Czech heritage versus the German heritage of their neighbors, as one sign descibes? No matter the origins, strange things began to happen: cattle were mutilated and murdered, harassing phone calls, threats on his family’s lives, and other things. (As a side bar of coincidence, during the same period of time, 1973, just down the road in Crescent, OK, Karen Silkwood was blowing the whistle on the Kerr-McGee Chemical Plant, later to die mysteriously...cue eerie music...)

David fought back the only way he knew how: by posting signs in his front yard. Lots of them. Then around 1993, the sheriff, accused in the signs of wrongdoing, won a libel lawsuit against the Nemecheks and the next year had their property seized to satisfy the judgment.

Beyond the mystery of the story, the signs themselves are works of art. Color blocks accent various segments of neatly lettered discourse. The rhythm of the different colors are captivating, although the accents are placed on every word. And it seems that the Nemechek’s aren’t angry with everyone, there is even a sign that reads: “Thank you for stopping please drive carefully.”

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Henry’s Sculpture Hill

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:33:57 -0500

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Frank Jensen | 1933 - | Augusta, KS
Sculpture environment | creation dates unknown

Just outside of the Flint Hills in Kansas, before you get to Wichita, there is the small town of Augusta. Henry’s Sculpture Hill is the creation of Frank Jensen, who has created over 30 large metal sculptures, many based on a literary theme, placed on his property, with some easily spotted from Highway 96/400. If you stop and look closely, you will see the witches from MacBeth, Don Quixote, the Pied Piper, (by the by - the “Henry” of the Sculpture Hill refers to H. D. Thoreau, one of Frank’s inspirations. )

5 miles later, my vehicle broke down, altering plans a bit as it was towed back to KC. I went on to Dallas. The folks at the Augusta Ford dealership were good sports about helping me get a tow truck, even though I wasn’t driving “one of their cars.”

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Folk Fest—“Detour Art” debut

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 15:53:52 -0500

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Slotin’s Folk Fest | Norcross (North Atlanta), GA
“World’s Largest Folk Art Show”

Thanks to Steve and Amy Slotin, “Detour Art” had it’s big debut at Folk Fest in North Atlanta. Every third weekend in August, over 100 galleries, dealers and artists descend upon this northeast suburb of Atlanta and hock their wares of self-taught art, outsider art, folk art and southern folk pottery. Yeah, I suppose that this is a shameless plug for the event, but it is a lot of fun, great art can be found for top notch dealers, and Steve and Amy have been generous supporters of public television, namely Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations, for years by donating space for us to set up shop.

Boyer Museum—Mechanical carvings

Fri, 3 Aug 2007 14:07:13 -0500

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Paul Boyer | 1930- | Belleville, KS
Mechanical sculptures

“It’s my birthday and I’ll drive if I want to...” And so drove I did...although not that far from home. First stop (after a drive through the Flint Hills) was in Belleville, KS, the home of the Boyer Museum (formerly Boyer Gallery.) Recently “saved” by Paul’s children, who were able to buy the gallery building to house their father’s collection, this museum is home to some pretty intricate and amusing mechanical sculptures. Here you find hillbillies that hammer, horses that kick, goats bumping heads, a calliope playing music, Indians dancing, woodpeckers helping a self-portrait of the artist carve a wooden head, and a chicken shooting baskets out of a rather unusual body part.

Paul Boyer was born in 1930, in Aurora, Kansas. His interest in mechanics began as a 5 year old, when he watched his dad make propeller blades for a wind generator. At the age of 35 in 1965, he was in a bad accident and lost a leg, then contracted Hepatitis C through a blood transfusion, and given 5 years to live. He has defied the prognosis and although unable to return to work, he has spent the last 30+ years creating his mechanical sculptures, many of which have been the highlight of the North Central Kansas Free Fair for years.

Paul’s work show his wonderful sense of humor, without the aid of blueprints, (he says if he can see it in his head, he can build it in front of him.) Most of his body of work has been saved at the museum, including his oldest carving from 1942 and what he considers his masterpiece, the “Wind Calliope.” Built out of cedar, it took Paul about a year to create, which plays 2 songs, “Chariots of Fire” and “Mockingbird Hill.”

The displays at the museum are wonderful as well, with just the push of a button showing off the delicate hand-made mechanics that make these intricate tableaus operate.

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FAST—The Fiberglass Statue Factory

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 16:13:50 -0500

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F.A.S.T. | Sparta, WI
Signage company boneyard

OK, it isn’t really a folk art environment, but there is something quite eerily interesting about this fiberglass graveyard. This is where every miniature golf obstacle, dinosaurs, Big Boys, sharks and other oversized critters that you have seen all your life. It is open to the public.

Wegner Grotto

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 14:07:57 -0500

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Paul and Matilda Wegner | Paul ?-1937 and Matilda ?-1942 | near Cataract, WI
Embellished concrete environment and grotto | Created 1929-1936

One of the more striking things I noticed on this particular road trip is how often I encountered other people at the grottos, even though they are definitely off the beaten path. It speaks volumes to the power of creative expression, no matter where you find it, as well as hearkening back to the days that roadside attractions were oft hand created, without concession stands and water slides.

The Wegners began to build their Grotto around the family farm home after their retirement in 1929. Developed over several years, the sculpture environment slowly grew to include a fanciful American flag, a giant reproduction of their 50th anniversary cake, and a concrete facsimile of the Bremen, a celebrated ocean liner of the 1930s. Other constructions were religious in nature. The magnificent Prayer Garden, Glass Church, and Peace Monument once served as places for quiet reflection, public preaching, and community gatherings. (excerpted from the plaque provided by the Kohler Foundation)

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Fountain City Rock Garden

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 13:35:32 -0500

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John and Bertha Mehinger | dates unknown | Fountain City, WI
Rock and concrete environment | 1933-1935

This was one of those great moments in being lost. After I left Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden, I remembered reading in Lisa Stone’s book, “Sacred Spaces & Other Places” (my bible to midwest environments) that in Fountain City there was a sculpture garden...no address, of course.

Fountain City is one of those picturesque towns along the bluffs of the Mississippi, just north of La Crosse. After driving around the steep streets of the town, trying to find it to no avail, I saw a little towheaded boy on the side of the road, selling lemonade and brownies, with his mom. It was becoming a hot summer afternoon, so of course, I stopped and had a glass. I asked his mom if she had ever heard of the sculpture garden. She smiled, and pointed to the hill behind her house. It was right there, in her back yard! Love it when that happens. She also told me that they (Kohler?) are going to be moving it to the Prairie Moon Sculpture Park this fall and restore it.

This charming, hillside rock garden was most likely influenced by other area grottos, such as Dickeyville and the Wegner grottos. There are several rock walls, a windmill, archway, birdhouse and other rock sculptures all along the hillside.

Fountain City is also home to another roadside attraction, The Rock in the House.

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Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 10:53:02 -0500

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Herman Rusch | 1885-1985 | near Cochrane, WI
Embellished concrete environment | Created 1958 - 1974

The highway along the Mississippi River winds through lush farm land and great bluffs. Growing up in Missouri, where the Mississippi is big and muddy and the flood plains are flat, I was surprised by the topography and how clean the river seemed to be.

Prairie Moon Sculpture Park is about 5 miles north up Hwy 35 from Fountain City, on the west side of the highway. There is a poorly marked road to access the Garden called Prairie Moon Road, but you can see it from 35. (If you get to the school on the right, you have gone too far.)

After the monotony of retirement became more than he could bear, 70-year-old Herman Rusch decided to buy the Prairie Moon Dance Pavilion in Cochrane, WI and turn it into a museum to house his collection of Americana. In 1958, after three years of creating displays for his curios, his sights turned to “sprucing up” the place. He noticed some pre-made planters and knew that he could make something more interesting. Despite his wife’s urging to help their son with his farm, Herman spent next 16 years were spent building nearly 40 sculptures of concrete, pottery shards, found objects, and stone, including a 260-foot arched fence that runs along the north side of the property. “She was really against it. She really didn’t know how good I was at it, or how bad...”

I have heard that folks are going to be moving another small sculpture garden from Fountain City and are going to install it on the grounds, although it seems that the logistics will be a bit tough to work out. (see the next stop at Fountain City Rock Garden)

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Fred Smith’s Wisconsin Concrete Park

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:22:00 -0500

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Fred Smith | 1886-1976 | Phillips, WI
Embellished concrete environment | Created 1948-1964

Driving on from the Rudolph Grotto and Wonder Cave, past Colby, WI (home of colby cheese), it was a few hours to Phillips and the main destination that got me in the car this particular weekend. The book “Detour Art,” which I had been working on night and day, was going to press on Monday and I decided it wouldn’t be complete unless Fred Smith was included. Much to the chagrin of my editor, I set out to photograph this incredible piece of Americana (as well as Prairie Moon Sculpture Park) and get home to finish the book in time.

The beginning of the twentieth century brought about two inventions that changed the landscape of the world...the automobile and fast setting concrete. It seems like the folks in the upper Midwest (with all the open spaces) embraced these inventions and set out to take their art to the roadsides, for all to see. Fred Smith’s Wisconsin Concrete Park is one of the most amazing ones still around today.

“Nobody knows why I made them... Not even me.” The sculptural masterpiece began one day in 1948, behind the Fred Smith’s tavern. Before owning the bar, he spent years working in lumber camps. Fred started his environment with the commemorative “Barbecue,” a rock and concrete construct featuring two Indian profiles in relief, reportedly in honor of the Cleveland Indians beating the Boston Braves in the 1948 World Series. Over the next 15 years, Fred filled the property near his home and tavern with more than 250 sculptures immortalizing local history, with subjects as varied as Native Americans, lumberjacks, milkmaids, the area’s popular sculpture form: taxidermy, even “Ben Hur.”
It became a popular roadside attraction, despite his disdain of cars. According to local legend, Fred suffered a stroke after working six months straight on his last creation. Thinking he had died, his family put him in the closet until the coroner could arrive. When the doctor declared him dead, Fred looked up at him and said, “No, I’m not, and I’m going to have a lot of fun with my time yet.” Although physically limited, he remained sharp and entertaining for another eleven years.
Thanks to folks like the Kohler Foundation and Friends of Fred Smith, his environment is being preserved for all to enjoy for generations to come.
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Rudolph Grotto Gardens and Wonder Cave

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:00:00 -0500

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Fr. Philip Wagner | 1882-1959 and Edmund Rybicki | 1916-1991 | Rudolph, WI
Grotto | Created 1928 through the 1950s

After a thwarted attempt to find Tony’s Fan Fair in Steven’s Point (he passed away and his fan-filled yard had been completely dismantled) , it was time to head off to a place I was sure would be there...the Rudolph Grotto and Wonder Cave. No disappointment here.

On the grounds of St. Phillips Apostle Church in the Wisconsin River Valley in north central Wisconsin, the Grotto was created by Father Philip Wagner in gratitude to the Virgin Mary for healing him from debilitating exhaustion. He was inspired by the Grotto of our Lady in Lourdes, France, where he was studying for priesthood, and rejuvenated by the healing waters. After Fr. Wagner returned to the States, he created a 6-acre grotto of rock, concrete, and glass along meandering paths through beautiful gardens. Not only are there religious shrines, but also two war memorials.

The most surprising place is the grotto is the Wonder Cave. Completely built above ground, the 1/5 mile long pathway through this manmade mountain twists and turns with niches filled with biblical scenes and verses punched in tin and backlit. It is truly incredible.

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Peg Leg’s yard

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:12:33 -0500

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Somewhere in Wisconsin, near Mt. Horeb
Metal sculpture yard

Driving along a back highway, there was a yard full of sculptures. No one was home, and I couldn’t find an address...but had to stop the car and take a couple of photos. Maybe they were inspired by Dr. Evermor’s Forevertron in nearby Baraboo?

Earl Wayne Simmons

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 13:16:50 -0500

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Earl Wayne Simmons | 1956- | Bovina, MS
Found object environment and paintings
Original site 1980s - 2002. | New site (same location) 2002 - present

As a child, Earl Wayne Simmons made his own toys from scraps of cardboard, jar lids, and bottlecaps, sometimes using a Coca Cola bottle as a hammer. In the early 80s, he began to build his home and “Fancy Art Emporium” in his home town of Bovina, Mississippi. Constructed from scrap lumber, flattened aluminum tubing, reflectors, and other "found" materials, Earl included a juke box and dance floor. Sadly, on August 20, 2002, a fire took all of his home, except a door.

Today, Earl is hard at work rebuilding his “art shop”, making it bigger and better than ever. It is well over 5,000 square feet, without a square corner in it. He has built is from salvaged and donated lumbar, and other “house parts.” While most of the walls, windows, and doors are in place, the recycled tin roof is still missing in places, making the spring rain a bit of an adventure.

I stood inside the door, letting my eyes get accustomed to the darkness (the electricity is currently being provided by his house next door, via extension cords.) As he proudly pointed out the construction and the various rooms, it became apparent that I was going to have to go upstairs to see his art. As I swallowed my “issues” with heights, I studied the locations of the randomly spaced rafters, and mentally mapped out my path upstairs.

A painting of a hot sauce bottle came home with me, along with a genuine awe of his engineering prowess.

Not only is he selling his paintings at the house, the Attic Gallery in Vicksburg also carries his work.

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Margaret’s Grocery

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0500

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Reverend H. D. Dennis | 1916- | Margaret Rogers Dennis | dates unknown
Vicksburg, MS
Embellished visionary environment | Created 1994 to present

Sometimes you just get lucky. I had been wanting to meet the Reverend Dennis and his wife Margaret for sometime, and now that I was working on the book, “Detour Art,” I knew this was the time to do it. After a stormy drive from Kansas City, through Arkansas, down Highway 61, and finally to Vicksburg, the clouds parted just as we pulled in front of Margaret’s Grocery.

Margaret greeted us and invited us into the grocery. Margaret and her late husband ran a rural grocery outside Vicksburg on old Highway 61, until he was fatally shot by a neighborhood kid during a robbery. Margaret met Rev. Dennis through the ladies at church. They married in 1979 and began to fix up the place to attract attention, so Rev. Dennis could share the word of God. Rev. Dennis began to paint the building red, white, and some blue, but Margaret added the crowning touches of pink and yellow. Brick towers and signs abound, welcoming “Jews and Gentiles” with various symbols of the double-headed eagle of the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge, of which he is a member. The interior of the store is elaborately decorated with beads and bold paint, and as well is the church bus, which also has pews and a pulpit for preaching.

Reverend Dennis had just gotten out of the hospital the night before, (his heart - he is 91) and was still full of fire and brimstone as he began to preach...and dance. He is an absolutely delightful man, and stubborn as a mule. He kept refusing to return to the porch when his home health care worker came to check on him, instead insisting on showing me around his place, preaching to me all along the way. His message came through loud and somewhat clear, “God is love, he loves all, his black brothers and white sisters...Welcome Jews and Gentiles...” I was truly blessed to get to meet them both.

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McMath Sculptures

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 15:44:33 -0600

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Gordon McMath | unknown | Mountainair, NM
Found object metal sculptures | Creation dates unknown

Sometimes you find things while getting lost. Around the corner from Pop Shaffer’s Hotel, there is a house with great found object sculptures. No one was home.

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Shaffer Hotel & Rancho Bonito

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 14:35:12 -0600

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Clem “Pop” Shaffer | 1880-unknown | Mountainair, NM
Lodging and home environment | Rancho Bonito - 1937 • Shaffer Hotel - 1922

In the early 1900s, “Pop” Shaffer moved to Mountainair, New Mexico—a thriving community known as the “Pinto Bean Capitol of the World”—to work as a blacksmith. In 1923, after his blacksmith shop burned, he built the Shaffer Hotel to serve rail travelers and local workers. Inspired by Native American design, he painted the graphic interiors and exteriors of his hotel and home, as well as building a native stone fence and outbuilding inlaid with whimsical animals and characters.

The Hotel has been preserved and the new owners can give you a great tour, complete with stories of Pop’s orneriness. Down the road, about 3-4 miles, you will find Pop’s house and outbuildings, preserved by his son, Don Shaffer. There are 4 buildings that Pop created. The stone house features beautiful inlays, and the dairy barn is replete with vividly painted designs...(no, those aren’t swastikas, they are Native American symbols.) There is also a log cabin and out building.
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The Bone Zone

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 14:15:41 -0600

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Tammy Jean Lange | 1958- | Madrillos, NM
Found object environment | Created 1994 to present

Along the Turquoise Trail, just outside Madrid, New Mexico lurks “The Bone Zone,” the ever-evolving found object and road kill environment/miniature village by Tammy Jean Lange, also known as Tatt2 Tammy. “I resurrect the dead animals and I give them a new life,” she says. “It’s art that dies to live.” A “No Bitching” sign greets visitors and sets the tone for encountering this frenetic, yet laid-back artist. Tammy happily shows her village that includes a saloon, church, jail, and auto body shop—and the shimmering river of broken glass that runs through it. A few years ago, an art scout from the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore saw her site, and shipped Tiny Town to the museum for a temporary show. Tammy and her mother flew out for the opening, but during the event she stayed in another part of the building, “I see people when I want to see people,” she says. “I just want to make my art.”

On this day, Tammy was out assessing the damage that the particularly hard winter had wrought. Wiping tears from her eyes, she described the various buildings and their previous glory. As she went on, she grew more and more animated, envisioning the repairs and the future of The Bone Zone, with it’s miniature golf course and “bowling alley.”

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Michael Austin Wright

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:00:00 -0600

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Michael Austin Wright | unknown | Madrid, NM
Metal sculptures | Creation dates unknown

Along the “Turquoise Trail,” (Highway 14) in between Albuquerque and Madrid, there is a home with incredible welded sculptures. No one was home, but the view was spectacular.

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Aztec Motel

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 09:47:52 -0600

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Phyllis Evans | dates unknown | Albuquerque, NM
Embellished environment | Created 1994

Along Historic Route 66 and all of the great old neon motel signs, there is one particular motel that caught my attention...the Aztec Motel. Not only is the signage eye-popping, but the motel itself is a work of art. Built in 1931, it is the oldest surviving Route 66 motel in New Mexico. It changed ownership over the years until in 1991 Mohamed Natha bought the building. A Michigan State University professor, Phyllis Evans, was living there at the time, and in 1994 began to decorate the exterior as a retirement project. She covered the buildings with tiles, paintings, crosses and musical instruments. Outside the rooms are small altar-like tables with candles and various objects d’ arte.

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Leonard Knight’s Salvation Mountain

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 11:08:14 -0500

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Leonard Knight | 1931- | Niland, CA
Spiritual environment - masterpiece | Created in the mid 1980s to present

All Leonard Knight wants you to know is that “God is Love.”

We arrived in Calpatria the night before and checked in to our motel. It was surprisingly full, with folks working late into the evening, with some of the rooms converted into offices. I soon found out that the film crew for Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild” were there preparing for the next day’s shoot at Salvation Mountain as well. They were filming in the afternoon, so we made plans to be there in the morning.

Rumor has it that Leonard appreciates paint to be brought to him, so a quick stop in the local True Value secure the last 3 gallons of mis-matched paint and one special mix of red...just because.

I have heard about this place for years, but nothing prepared me for this day.

Leonard lets his mountain do the preaching. Years ago, his sister took him to church and he didn’t like it, so he left and decided to pray on his own: “Jesus, I am a sinner. Please come upon my body and into my heart.” And his life changed for the better. In the early 1980s, Leonard decided to sew the words, “God is Love” on a hot air balloon more than 100 feet high. In 1986, he drove to the Mojave Desert to test it. It failed. Leonard stayed anyway, living a simple life out of his truck without electricity or running water, and he began to build another monument to God on the desert ridge.

Originally, the mountain was built on the side of a ridge with concrete waterfalls and fields of flowers. Four years into building, the weight proved to be too much and it collapsed. Undaunted, Leonard thanked the Lord for showing him that it wasn’t safe and started to rebuild, this time using his own mixture of straw, mud, water and paint to create a lighter adobe to sculpt with. Over 100,000 gallons of donated paint later, Salvation Mountain and Leonard’s message of God’s love for all is visible from airplanes and satellites. In 1994, local officials decided that with all that paint, Salvation Mountain must be a toxic waste site, and wanted to tear it down. Luckily, friends and admirers of Leonard’s were able to disprove that notion and the mountain was save.

On this day, despite his desire to “save his voice” for the movie, he took us on a personal tour, climbing the mountain like a nimble teenager. Atop his creation, he talked (ok, preached a little) of love, his love for Jesus, love of God, love for creating. He told of the “arguments” he would get into with the Lord, when hard times fell on the mountain, and laugh about how the Lord was always right, and all was right with his love. After cleaning up in a local hot spring, Leonard joined us in town for lunch, sharing a pineapple and canadian bacon pizza, then headed back to his mountain to meet up with the “Into the Wild” crew, excited by the notion that the word of God’s love was going to be seen now throughout the world (oh, and on local pbs stations...)

Leonard Knight is Love.

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Desert Tower and Boulder Park Caves

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 16:05:32 -0500

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Bert Vaughn and M.T. Ratcliffe | Bert 1878–1974 & MT 1882–1956 | Jacumba, CA
Environment with rock sculptures | Created 1920 to mid 1930s

My Midwest upbringing didn’t prepared me for the dramatic landscapes of the southern California mountain desert. The mountains looked like piles of rubble...great big piles of great big rocks...not one solid rock like the Rockies.

Back in 1920, Bert Vaughn decided to take advantage of this unique topography and location (in the mountains, where “vapor lock” stranded many a motorist,) and create the roadside attraction “Desert Tower.” Built to commemorate the pioneers and road and railroad workers who “opened” the area, it is a formidable three story structure structure, that has with stood daily tremors and earthquakes over the years, and offers a breathtaking view of the rugged landscape.

In the 1930s, Bert hired M.T. Ratcliffe, a self-taught sculptor, to carve some figures in the boulders near the tower. M.T. created a hide-and-seek sculpture environment with all sorts of animals and reptiles hidden amongst the rocks. Folks, especially kids, today still enjoy the opportunity to climb about, searching out the various snakes, lions, lizards and Indians hidden in the landscape. It is a great way to stretch your legs as you journey along the California-Mexico border.

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