"Antone Martin Desert Christ Park sculptures, sculptures in Yucca Valley."

ANTONE MARTIN

Below is the opinion of Andrea Sachs, excerpted from the 2004 article in ’The Washington Post’. I don’t think Yucca Valley is quite as sad as she makes it sound.

"His first sculpture, reminiscent of Rio de Janeiro’s famous and much larger hilltop Christ the Redeemer, stands on a mound of barren, crumbly land, its arms raised high over the valley’s cookie-cutter houses, piddly strip malls, Little San Bernardino Mountains and, in the distance, vast brown nothingness."

On the northern slopes of Yucca Valley, visible from the highway, if you’re really craning your neck that is, are the large Christ sculpture and biblical figures of Desert Christ Park.

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The handiwork of an aging sculptor and "Our town headache" remarked one businessman with a gloomy face. "He works at being a character." He readily admits however, that Antone Martin, whose outsize figures of Christ and His disciples have been featured in such publications as Life Magazine, is the "only claim to national fame we have."

"Martin was a wizened little man of seventy-three, with wildly-flying hair, a tiny goatee and squinty eyes."

Antone Martin started designing the figures in the mid-1940s, hoping to construct pieces that would inspire World Peace. His first sculpture, a three-ton Christ, stands atop the hill, with arms raised high, overlooking downtown Yucca Valley. Built in 1947 on Martins’ driveway near the Los Angeles airport, and after failed attempts to have it installed at the Grand Canyon, it was finally brought to Yucca Valley. He then moved on site, where he sculpted until his death in 1961 at age 74.

Not all of Martins’ artistic interests were biblical.

He was working on a newly begun cast of a strange looking kneeling figure which he identified as a "semi-nude dancer in an exotic pose" and which he said he intends to enter in next springs’ Grubstakes Days parade.

I have never seen this sculpture, perhaps it was never finished, but it sounds similar to his "Goddess of Flight" located in the rose garden outside the Yucca Valley Community Center. There is also Martins’ "Saber Tooth Tiger" in Triangle Park in Yucca Valley.

HISTORY

I visited the Park in March and April of 2004 to take pictures and met Michael Gillum who was there working on the landscaping. Most of the statues have been repaired, landscaping with desert plants is underway, fencing has been installed, the restroom building has been painted, and the sign kiosk has been put up. Much more is planned that will require funding through donations or fund raising.

If you wish to visit there are picnic tables and ample parking. Per the wishes of Antone Martin, Desert Christ Park is free and is always open (daylight hours) to visitors.

At Martins’ death in 1961, Desert Christ Park was presented to the Yucca Valley Parks and Recreation District which administered and maintained the Park. In 1987, the ACLU filed suit against the Park District to have the Park removed from public taxpayer support. In 1993, the Park was taken over by the non-profit Hi-Desert Nature Museum Association for continued upkeep and administration. In 1996, a non-profit foundation was formed for the independent administration of the Park.

"It is run as a religious park, but it also has historical and cultural significance," said Michael Gillum, president of the nonprofit Desert Christ Foundation, which maintains the attraction.