Did you know that dinosaurs, mammoths and sabre-toothed cats still roam the deserts of San Diego County in California? Outside of the town of Borrego Springs lies Galleta Meadows. Scattered around the staggering dessert landscapes, enormous steel sculptures are juxtaposed against the pristine heavens. The man behind it, Dennis Avery, called it
Sky Art. It is easy to see why.
If you work in an office environment then his name will ring a bell. He founded the company you use for your labels. Although he passed away in 2012 he ensured that his vision would live on. He allotted the land around the remarkable sculptures as a place where people could set up camp and visit free of charge. It is certainly worth a visit to the desert to encounter his extraordinary legacy, although you do have to be careful of a very much extant animal – the rattlesnake.
The Sky Art project started in 2008. The animals featured were initially representative of those species which once lived (or still persist in the arid environment) around the Anza-Borrego State Park. Yet after a while other, more legendary, animals joined the growing multitude as well as sculptures of a gold miner, Spanish padre and Native Americans (
see the amazing video below).
Image Credit Flickr User Bill Gracey
Image Credit Flickr User Bill Gracey
Yet although Avery had the vision he was not a sculptor. To facilitate his dream, Avery enlisted the services of the immensely talented sculptor Ricardo A Breceda.
Image Credit Flickr User Marie Carter
Image Credit Flickr User OaklandEarthGirl
Breceda first began to produce steel dinosaurs after his daughter became interested in them after watching Jurassic Park. At first it was a hobby but soon it transformed in to a passion which eventually caught Avery’s eye.
Image Credit Flickr User OaklandEarthGirl
Image Credit Flickr User Cloudchaser
In the five years since he began to populate the Galleta Meadows area with his creations, the number has risen to an astonishing 129 figures.
Image Credit Flickr User Bill Gracey
Image Credit Flickr User Bill Gracey
For many the favorites are -
of course - the dinosaurs.
Image Credit Flickr User slworking2
Image Credit Flickr User Bill Gracey
Image Credit Flickr User Bill Gracey
The
dinos may have some competition, however. As the menagerie has expanded, so has Breceda’s imaginative foray in to the world of steel fauna. His most recent work is this 350 foot long sea serpent, emerging from the sands of the desert.
Image Credit Flickr User Harry Pherson
Although this creature never actually lived, with its dragon’s head and rattlesnake’s tail it somehow does not seem out of place in its surroundings.
Image Credit Flickr User Sam Howzit
Image Credit Flickr User Sam Howzit
The sculptures are not to be found in a single place. They are on display along Borrego Springs Road both north and south of downtown Borrego Springs giving visitors the opportunity to park and discover both the sculptures and the amazing environment they inhabit.
Image Credit Flickr User Sam Howzit
Image Credit Flickr User Sam Howzit
Borrego Springs is one of only four ‘dark sky’ communities in the world. The population of the town is only a few thousand but even so the local community are taking measure to maintain and protect the area in terms of keeping light pollution down to a bare minimum so that the stars can be viewed at their best from here.
And are they spectacular! This video by
Sunchaser Pictures shows the skies around the steel safari park to their best. No special effects were used creating this fantastic short film, just the natural rotation of the earth's axis.
Image Credit Flickr User djfrantic
Image Credit Flickr User rmcnicholas
It is a case of
you never quite know what to expect next. One minute you can be looking at the incredible site of a giant sloth and her baby, the next you will be face to face with a prehistoric dog and his stick...
Image Credit Flickr User Marie Carter
Image Credit Flickr User OaklandEarthGirl
It is a place where the
terrible lizards of the past still fight...
Image Credit Flickr User Marie Carter
Image Credit Flickr User Marie Carter
..and where the imagination can take flight.
Image Credit Flickr User Sam Howzit
Image Credit Flickr User Sam Howzit
Yet, although magnificent in the day time, it is perhaps at night when Breceda’s creations come fully to life. Silhouetted against the night sky they look not simply like an (albeit awesome) artistic echo of the Earth’s past but like the real thing.
Image Credit Flickr User slworking
Image Credit Flickr User slworking2
Image Credit Flickr User slworking2
Image Credit Flickr User slworking2
First Image Flickr User Bill Gracy
