The Goldwell Open Air Museum is an outdoor sculpture park near the ghost town of

Rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture (geology), texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained matri ...

in the U.S. state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. The site is located at the northern end of the

Amargosa Valley The Amargosa Valley is the valley through which the Amargosa River flows south, in Nye County, southwestern Nevada and Inyo County in the state of California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies ...

, about northwest of

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, and about west of

Beatty Beatty may refer to: Places U.S. places * Beatty, Nevada * Beatty, Ohio * Beatty, Oregon * Beatty, Kentucky, now known as Beattyville Other places * Beatty, Saskatchewan Beatty ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of S ...

off State Route 374. About further west is

Death Valley National Park Death Valley National Park is a national park of the United States that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern sect ...

. In addition to the museum, the site includes the Red Barn Art Center, a 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'' is a common English language term to refer to large, aggressive frogs, regardless of species. Examples of bullfrogs include: Frog species Americas *Helmeted water toad (''Calyptocephalella gayi''), endemic to Chile *American bullf ...

. 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 di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

. 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 (born 20 December 1942), known by his artist name Dr. Hugo Heyrman, is a leading Belgian painter, filmmaker, internet pioneer, synesthesia and new media researcher. Early life and education Dr. Hugo Heyrman was born in Zwijndr ...

added ''Lady Desert: The Venus of Nevada'', a cinder block sculpture in part based on the idea of the

pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...

. Fred Bervoets, in ''Tribute to Shorty Harris'', celebrated one of the prospectors whose mining discovery of 1904 led to a

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

. Dre Peters created ''Icara'' a hand-carved female version of

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; , ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of King Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, Minos suspected that Icarus and Daedalu ...

, the boy in Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun. David Spicer fashioned ''Chained to the Earth'' out of

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture (geology), texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained matri ...

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.

Gallery

File:Lady Desert The Venus of Nevada by Dr.Hugo Heyrman in Goldwell Open Air Museum.jpg, ''Lady Desert The Venus of Nevada'' by Dr.Hugo Heyrman File:Tribute to Shorty Harris by Fred Bervoets in Goldwell Open Air Museum.jpg, ''Tribute to Shorty Harris'' (1994) by Fred Bervoets File:Ghost Rider by Charles Albert Szukalski in Goldwell Open Air Museum.jpg, ''Ghost Rider'' (1984) by Charles Albert Szukalski File:The Last Supper by Charles Albert Szukalski in Goldwell Open Air Museum.jpg, ''The Last Supper'' (1984) by Charles Albert Szukalski

References

{{authority control Museums in Nye County, Nevada Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in the United States Art museums and galleries in Nevada Open-air museums in Nevada Amargosa Desert Art museums and galleries established in 2000 2000 establishments in Nevada