09 Jun Desert Christ Park – Yucca Valley
In a residential neighborhood overlooking the desert town of Yucca Valley lays Desert Christ Park, where ten dilapidated Biblical scenes sculpted in plaster stand in various states of disarray. The visitor can faintly identify the Sermon on the Mount, but with the other scenes, it is difficult to tell what they depict. The giant bas-relief of the Last Supper stands untouched.
When artist Frank Martin (1887-1961) retired from Douglas Aircraft in1951, he started building a 3-ton statue of Jesus in the driveway of his Inglewood home. The plan had been for Jesus to be placed at the rim of the Grand Canyon, but Frank was denied a permit. Instead, on Easter Sunday, 1951, the statue was installed on the hillside overlooking Yucca Valley.
Working alone for the next ten years, Frank created his sculptures in concrete, then covered them in plaster and white paint. He was able to finish the project before he died. Thankfully he did not live to see his grand work destroyed by earthquake damage and vandalism.
The creation of yet another dreamer with a unique spiritual vision, Desert Christ Park emanates with the love Frank Martin poured into it. You can feel the pathos on the faces of some of the remaining statues, and it is delightful to breathe in the aura of these strange desert visionaries and their eccentric expressions of love. Funds are being collected to restore the park, but – (pray that I don’t bring down the Wrath of God by saying this) –I hope they don’t. It’s pretty darn cool the way it is.
56200 Sunnyslope Dr, Yucca Valley, CA 92284
This is an excerpt from Catherine Auman’s book Guide to Spiritual L.A.: The Irreverent, the Awake, and the True
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