Visionary Art Environments

Our friend Andrea, from Massachusetts (and now Virginia), visited our family this past week. Yesterday, we took some time to visit a local Garden called "Gilgal Garden". I had seen pictures and read about, but I had never been there in person. A man named Thomas Child started creating stone sculptures in his backyard and spent about 19 years working on it until his death in 1957. The garden is in the backyard of a home just outside of downtown Salt Lake. The sculptures represented his beliefs in the gospel. The sculptures are very interpretive and modern (even by today's standards) but are actually quite touching when you hear his description of each piece.

This piece is call the "Captain of the Lord's Host" and the 12 stones set in a circle in front represent the 12 tribes of Israel. When Joshua led the 12 tribes into the Promised Land, they each carried a stone and created an altar. The place was called Gilgal (and hence the garden's name). He built some rock benches behind it where he and his family would go to meditate. There are numerous stones around with the words of hymns.












One of the most well-known sculptures is a sculpture of a Sphynx, with the face of Joseph Smith. On the surface, this sounds kind of odd, or even sacrilegious. But his explanation is that the Sphynxes represent mysteries and that the answers to all of life's mysteries are answered through Joseph Smith.















My favorite sculpture was the monument to the Priesthood. Rocks on one side of the arch are engraved with Elohim, Jehovah and Michael and the arch represents the link to earth (with Alpha and Omega engraved on the keystone) and the rocks on the other side are engraved with the names of prophets and represent the rock of revelation, with the scriptures set on top. He built a spire that represented the offices of the priesthood and created a wire Angel Moroni on top.




But probably the most moving sculpture to me, was a sculpture he called "The Testimony of Job". It was very simple, and I almost dismissed it as just another engraving on a rock. In the book of Job 19: 23-25, Job says that he wishes that his words could be written in a book and "That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!" So Child engraved the words in a rock (it was worm-like on the back side to represent his challenges, and smooth on the front where he engraved), and poured lead into the words to fulfill Job's wishes. He then embedded the oxyacetylene torch into the bottom of the rock (not shown in this pic) to represent Job's iron pen. I found it to be very touching.

So all in all, a very unusual and eclectic collection of sculpture and engravings. The brochure at the gate calls it a "Visionary Art Environment" and is the only one known in Utah and only a few in the entire US.

I came home and looked out the window at our backyard "garden" and found that I, too, have an "art environment" but I'm not so sure it is "visionary". I wondered if it had any profound meaning like Thomas Child's sculpture. Ours is made up of rocks we've gathered from around the yard and whenever we go on vacation or on an excursion, we pick up a rock to add to our collection. (Don't tell the National Park Service at the Grand Canyon!) Since I came up empty with any profound meaning for my visionary art environment, I'm hoping you can help me come up with some suggestions. (I'll credit you in my memoirs if I like yours.)

P.S. We also went to Red Butte Gardens and walked around. Here are a couple of pictures:

The wisteria Pergola (I'm hoping my wisteria fills in as nicely as this)

The tea party pond and waterfall in the children's garden

The rattlesnake topiary in the children's garden. (Daniel was feigning being bitten.)

This was at first taken for Sara (since she was at work and has a love of all things deer or moose-like) but I loved Anna's expression. Either Daniel was tired from walking, or the rattesnake bite had taken effect.