VANLIFE ADVENTURES TRAVEL NEVADA

The Goldwell Open Air Museum

The Goldwell Open Air Museum is a quirky, fascinating and eerie outdoor art experience unlike any other. It's FREE, and open year-round, 24-7. The keystone artwork features several ghostly life-like figures created by Belgian artist, Albert Szukalski (1945 - 2000), whom the museum was initially created for.


Watch the video below and check out these mysterious ghostly life-sized figures, the central pieces to the museum, and find out who they represent!

This open air museum Nevada delight features multiple works from other Belgian artists. At the time of my writing this, there are 6 more immensely massive artworks including a 25-foot pink lego woman in the buff, a 24-foot rusted steel miner with a sidekick penguin (a metaphor of the artist's displacement in the Mohave desert), and a 20-foot weather-beaten carved wooden woman named Icara, with outstretched arms in flight towards the sun. Icara is the female counterpart of Icarus, from the Greek myth of the boy, who flew too close to the sun and melted his waxen wings.


Goldwell Open Air Museum Photos



Goldwell Open Air Museum Location


Goldwell Open Air Museum, Golden St. Beatty, NV, USA and is right next door to the Rhyolite ghost town. Rhyolite features the historic remains of an early 1900's gold mining town that declined and became a tourist attraction in ruins by 1920.


What it's Like Visiting the Goldwell Open Air Museum


It's best to visit the Goldwell Open Air Museum in Nevada anywhere between October - March, as it's very close to the hottest place on earth, Death Valley National Park. Summertime temperatures at the museum can soar into the unbearable 130's. Come prepared to explore the museum with plenty of drinking water and some good walking shoes or sneakers as Marci and I did.


When we arrived, we parked our van, the Evergreen Queen, in the gravel parking lot in front of the permanent wooden sculpture, Icara. Not all of the art stays permanently.



We started our leisurly jaunt around the outdoor museum. I began by doing a video pan of the Goldwell open air museum and labyrinth at rhyolite. It was a bright, sunny, beautiful day in the 70's with a light breeze. We were very fortunate weather-wise, as the Mohave desert can be incredibly windy with speeds commonly up to 75+ mph!


I walked towards a ghostly figure, called the "Ghost Rider" looking like it's ready to mount an old bicycle. My curiosity was piqued as I had not done any research whatsoever before alighting on this museum this golden day.


Goldwell Open Air Museum and Labyrinth at Rhyolite


Next, I walked the labyrinth just a few yards from the parking lot. I wanted to be sure to enjoy the full experience by walking it entirely to its end and then back to its beginning.



With this labyrinth exercise complete, I made my way over to the mysterious shrouded sculptures by Albert Szukalski. The sculptures uncannily overlook the labyrinth about 5 - 8 yards away.





These eerie figures are extraordinary! The sculptures were created with living people posing and draped in drenched plaster-soaked burlap, removed leaving the ghostly figures behind and finally preserved in fiberglass. Originally, the figures were believed by Albert to only withstand 2 years of the Mohave desert's extreme climate, yet, they have withstood the test of time since 1984! Over the years, a few of the ghostly figures were damaged by the elements and vandals, but, have since been restored.


What it's Like inside the Goldwell Museum


I moseyed on over to the indoor museum within an old wooden cabin. I was greeted by the very friendly overseer, Steve.



The indoor part of the museum is within a small 20 X 12 cabin featuring photographs of several of the outdoor art exhibits, A rock and mineral display, merch to purchase, and superb information about the history of the museum itself.


I emerged from within and back out into the open air museum. I visited the rest of the exhibits.


Dr. Hugo Heyrman - Lady Desert: The Venus of Nevada 1992


Across a dry riverbed overlooking the Bullfrog Mountain, a giant lego figurine stood. I very much wanted to cross the ravine to get a closer view of the figurine called, Lady of the Desert by Belgian artist, Dr. Hugo Heyrman, but, alas, the riverbed was too steep for my liking. She was to be admired by me from afar, about 20 yards.



“Art helps the re-experiencing of forgotten things,” says Dr. Hugo. This piece is reminiscent of Greek art with a modern computer technology feel of a Minecraft game character. He assembled cinderblocks to represent the 3-D sculpture pixels he uses in his 2-D virtual computer work.


Sit Here! Mosaic Couch By Sofie Siegmann

As I swung around to do my panoramic video of Goldwell, this fascinating mosaic coach showed up in my view.



I just had to do a sit test, especially since the name of the piece shouts at you, "Sit Here!" I sat down upon it amused. I felt like a little girl as my feet dangled over the side of this mosaic coach wonder.



In 2000, Siegman was an artist in residence at the Las Vegas Lied Discovery Children's Museum where the coach was displayed for years, neglected, and finally abandoned.

The couch was discovered, rescued with Sophie's permission, brought to Goldwell and restored.


Tribute to Shorty Harris 1994


My video pan also includes the final permanent piece I'll present, the Tribute to Shorty Harris, 1994, by Belgian artist, Fred Bervoets. Frank, "Shorty Harris", was Rhyolite's first discover of gold.



Frank Harris' Bullfrog Gold Discovery


"So we left the Keane Wonder, went through Boundary Canyon, and made camp at Buck Springs, five miles from a ranch on the Amargosa where a squaw (white or black man married to a North American Indian woman) man by the name of Monte Beatty lived. The next morning while Ed was cooking, I went after the burros. They were feeding on the side of a mountain near our camp, and about half a mile from the spring. I carried my pick, as all prospectors do, even when they are looking for their jacks—a man never knows just when he is going to locate pay-ore. When I reached the burros, they were right on the spot where the Bullfrog mine was afterwards located. Two hundred feet away was a ledge of rock with some copper stains on it. I walked over and broke off a piece with my pick—and gosh, I couldn’t believe my own eyes. The chunks of gold were so big that I could see them at arm’s length—regular jewelry stone! In fact, a lot of that ore was sent to jewelers in this country and England, and they set it in rings, it was that pretty! Right then, it seemed to me that the whole mountain was gold.


I let out a yell, and Ed knew something had happened; so he came running up as fast as he could. When he got close enough to hear, I yelled again: “Ed we’ve got the world by the tail, or else we’re coppered!”


We broke off several more pieces, and they were like the first—just lousy with gold. The rock was green, almost like turquoise, spotted with big chunks of yellow metal, and looked a lot like the back of a frog. This gave us an idea for naming our claim, so we called it the Bullfrog."


And thus began the brief existence of Rhyolite, NV.


Check out these additional Goldwell Open Air Museum resources:



That concludes our vanlife visit to the Goldwell Open Air Museum featuring some of the museum's permanent artworks.


Be sure to check out the video of our visit below.


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Talk soon,

NatureGlo