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 View Images
USA
West
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Jacumba, CA
Desert View Tower and Boulder Park Caves - Bert Vaughn and M.T. Ratcliffe
Bert 1878–1974 MT 1882–1956
Environment with rocks
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Information:
"In 1920 Bert L. Vaughn started building his Desert View Tower as a monument to the early Western pioneers who crossed the desert. The thick-walled, circular three-storey tower was constructed of large blocks of local stone and completed in the Fifties by another builder, Dennis Newman."
"M.T. Ratcliffe, a retired engineer, came to the area for health reasons in the Thirties. He set about carving faces and animals, real and mythical, into the huge boulders around the Tower."
"Many of them, especially the powerful skull-like faces, follow the natural shapes and features of the rock, while the lions, snakes, and lizards blend easily with the desert landscape. The carvings and statues became known as Boulder Park Caves. Today the Tower is a well-maintained tourist attraction containing a display of artefacts from the
Excerpted text and images are from "Fantasy Worlds" by Deidi Von Schaewen and John Maizels and the Imperial County web site
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Bibliography:
"Detour Art—Outsider, Folk Art, and Visionary Folk Art Environments Coast to Coast, Art and Photographs from the Collection of Kelly Ludwig" by Kelly Ludwig, Kansas City Star Books, 2007.
On DVD - Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations, "Cali-Zona, Here We Come," KCPT, Kansas City Public Television, 2007.
"Self-Made Worlds: Visionary Environments" by Roger Manley and Mark Sloan, Aperture, New York, 1997.
"American Self-Taught Art: An Illustrated Analysis of 20th Century Artists and Trends with 1,319 Capsule Biographies" by Florence Laffal and Julius Laffal, 2003.
"Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations Coast to Coast Travel-o-Pedia" by Randy Mason, et. al., Kansas City Star Books, 2009. |
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