Goldwell Open Air Museum
Encyclopedia
The Goldwell Open Air Museum is an outdoor sculpture park near the ghost town of Rhyolite
in the U.S. state of Nevada
. The 7.8 acres (3.2 ha) site is located at the northern end of the Amargosa Valley
, about 120 miles (193.1 km) northwest of Las Vegas
, and about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Beatty
off State Route 374
. About 5 miles (8 km) further west is Death Valley National Park
. In addition to the museum, the site includes the Red Barn Art Center, a 2250 square feet (209 m²) multi-purpose studio and exhibition space used by artists-in-residence and other artists. Near the art center are the ruins of a jail and other buildings of the historic mining town of Bullfrog
.
The nonprofit museum was organized in 2000 after the death of Albert Szukalski, the Belgian artist who created the site's first sculptures in 1984 near the abandoned railway station in Rhyolite. The sculpture, The Last Supper, consists of ghostly life-sized forms arranged as in the painting The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci
. Szukalski molded his shapes by draping plaster-soaked burlap over live models until the plaster dried enough to stand on its own. In the same year, using the same techniques, Szukalski also created Ghost Rider, a plaster figure preparing to mount a bicycle.
Between then and 2007, other artists, including three other Belgians, added new works to the project. In 1989, Szukalski created Desert Flower, an assemblage of chrome car parts found in the desert. In the 1990s, Hugo Heyrman
added Lady Desert: The Venus of Nevada, a cinder block sculpture in part based on the idea of the pixel
. Fred Bervoets, in Tribute to Shorty Harris, celebrated one of the prospectors whose mining discovery of 1904 led to a gold rush
. Dre Peters created Icara a hand-carved female version of Icarus
, the boy in Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun. David Spicer fashioned Chained to the Earth out of rhyolite
from a nearby quarry. Other works at the site include Sofie Siegmann's Sit Here!, a couch created in 2000 for the Lied Discovery Children's Museum
in Las Vegas and restored and moved to Goldwell in 2007. In 2006, Eames Demetrios added a plaque, Rhyolite's District of Shadows.
The museum is a member of Alliance of Artists Communities. In 2008, the New York State Artist Workspace Consortium selected it for a mentorship project. The Red Barn is the site of an arts festival, Albert's Tarantella, held each year in October.
Rhyolite, Nevada
Rhyolite is a ghost town in Nye County, in the U.S. state of Nevada. It is located in the Bullfrog Hills, about northwest of Las Vegas, near the eastern edge of Death Valley. The town began in early 1905 as one of several mining camps that sprang up after a prospecting discovery in the surrounding...
in the U.S. state of Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
. The 7.8 acres (3.2 ha) site is located at the northern end of the Amargosa Valley
Amargosa Valley
The Amargosa Valley is a Nevada landform east of the Amargosa Range that is the eponym for the town of Amargosa Valley, Nevada. The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad ran through the valley from 1906 to 1940.-Solar thermal plant:...
, about 120 miles (193.1 km) northwest of Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, and about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Beatty
Beatty, Nevada
Beatty is a census-designated place along the Amargosa River in Nye County in the U.S. state of Nevada. U.S. Route 95 runs through the CDP, which lies between Tonopah, about to the north, and Las Vegas, about to the southeast. State Route 374 connects Beatty to Death Valley National Park, about ...
off State Route 374
Nevada State Route 374
State Route 374 is a state highway in Nye County, Nevada, United States. It serves as Nevada's gateway to Death Valley National Park, connecting the park to Beatty...
. About 5 miles (8 km) further west is Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park is a national park in the U.S. states of California and Nevada located east of the Sierra Nevada in the arid Great Basin of the United States. The park protects the northwest corner of the Mojave Desert and contains a diverse desert environment of salt-flats, sand dunes,...
. In addition to the museum, the site includes the Red Barn Art Center, a 2250 square feet (209 m²) multi-purpose studio and exhibition space used by artists-in-residence and other artists. Near the art center are the ruins of a jail and other buildings of the historic mining town of Bullfrog
Bullfrog, Nevada
Bullfrog is a ghost town in Nye County, in the U.S. state of Nevada. It is located at the north end of the Amargosa Desert about west of Beatty. Less than north of Bullfrog are the Bullfrog Hills and the ghost town of Rhyolite...
.
The nonprofit museum was organized in 2000 after the death of Albert Szukalski, the Belgian artist who created the site's first sculptures in 1984 near the abandoned railway station in Rhyolite. The sculpture, The Last Supper, consists of ghostly life-sized forms arranged as in the painting The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
. Szukalski molded his shapes by draping plaster-soaked burlap over live models until the plaster dried enough to stand on its own. In the same year, using the same techniques, Szukalski also created Ghost Rider, a plaster figure preparing to mount a bicycle.
Between then and 2007, other artists, including three other Belgians, added new works to the project. In 1989, Szukalski created Desert Flower, an assemblage of chrome car parts found in the desert. In the 1990s, Hugo Heyrman
Hugo Heyrman
Hugo Heyrman , , is a Belgian painter, filmmaker, internetpioneer, synesthesia- and new media researcher.- Biography:Hugo Heyrman was born in Antwerp, where he lives and works....
added Lady Desert: The Venus of Nevada, a cinder block sculpture in part based on the idea of the pixel
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
. Fred Bervoets, in Tribute to Shorty Harris, celebrated one of the prospectors whose mining discovery of 1904 led to a gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
. Dre Peters created Icara a hand-carved female version of Icarus
Icarus
-Space and astronomy:* Icarus , on the Moon* Icarus , a planetary science journal* 1566 Icarus, an asteroid* IKAROS, a interplanetary unmanned spacecraft...
, the boy in Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun. David Spicer fashioned Chained to the Earth out of rhyolite
Rhyolite
This page is about a volcanic rock. For the ghost town see Rhyolite, Nevada, and for the satellite system, see Rhyolite/Aquacade.Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic composition . It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic...
from a nearby quarry. Other works at the site include Sofie Siegmann's Sit Here!, a couch created in 2000 for the Lied Discovery Children's Museum
Lied Discovery Children's Museum
The Lied Discovery Children's Museum is a facility located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The museum is located across Las Vegas Boulevard from the Las Vegas Natural History Museum...
in Las Vegas and restored and moved to Goldwell in 2007. In 2006, Eames Demetrios added a plaque, Rhyolite's District of Shadows.
The museum is a member of Alliance of Artists Communities. In 2008, the New York State Artist Workspace Consortium selected it for a mentorship project. The Red Barn is the site of an arts festival, Albert's Tarantella, held each year in October.