Salvation Mountian
Here is my purely subjective list of folk art faves…
from Kelly Ludwig, Detour Art
- Leonard Knight’s Salvation Mountain – “God is Love” and so is Leonard.
- S.P. Dinsmoor’s Garden of Eden – The oldest visionary site in America
- Fred Smith’s Wisconsin Concrete Park – “You have to be almost gifted to do what I do.” Gifted he was.
- Margaret’s Grocery – Rev. Dennis and Margaret spread the good word.
- Dr. Evermor’s Forevertron – “Power on”
- Kenny Hill’s Garden of Salvation – Most impressive site on rental property.
- MT Liggett’s Sign Field – Miles of welded commentary
- Father Dobberstein’s Grotto of the Redemption – The granddaddy of all grottos.
- Simon Rodia’s Watt’s Towers – Breathtaking
- Vollis Simpson’s Windmills – (still on the list to see)
The Garden of Eden
“Super 8 – sites that I honestly believe NOBODY can visit and not say whoo!”
from Randy Mason, Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations
- Garden of Eden
- Bishop Castle
- Forevertron
- Grotto of Redemption
- Vollis Simpson’s Windmill Park
- Salvation Mountain
- Pasaquan
- Fred Smith’s Concrete Park
The Watts Towers
“Top Ten U.S. Environments”
from “Narrow” Larry Harrisin no particular order:
- The Watts Towers – because they’re The Watts Towers !!
- The Orange Show – the first environment I ever visited, one of the most architecturally sophisticated of visionary environments. The O Show got me started on this life of pilgrimages to Fresno, Dickeyville, and Buena Vista.
- The Garden of Eden – the granddaddy of US environments, all rolled up into one handy biblical-political-historical concrete masterpiece.
- Salvation Mountain – for salvation, the Mountain works better than any TV preacher who was ever broadcast.
- Margaret’s Grocery – because All is Welcome Here at Margaret’s Gro. & Mkt.
- Kenny Hill’s Chauvin Sculpture Garden – and whatever new creation that Kenny is now building in Arkansas.
- The Forevertron – the greatest folk art environment of the Industrial Revolution
- The Land of Pasaquan – ghosts and magic in the South – what could be better?
- The Underground Gardens – because photos can’t capture it.
- Vollis Simson Whirligigs– Lucama, NC
A tie for Number Eleven:
- Wisconsin Concrete Park
- The Temple of Tolerance
- The African-American Heritage Museum
- Grotto of the Redemption
- The Rudolph Grotto
Favorite individual (non-environmental) artists:
OK, OK, just off the top of my head, and in no order, I’d start with:
Achilles Rizzoli, C.A.A. Dellschau, Thornton Dial, Martin Ramirez, Rev. McKendree Robbins Long, William Edmondson, Mark Anthony Mulligan,Eugene von Bruenchenhein, and I’ll keep thinking.