Artwork made of adobe bricks, discarded tires and windows, automobile parts and thousands of gallons of paint encompasses numerous murals and areas painted with Christian sayings and Bible verses
Indio, CA, 60 mi
From San Diego (153 mi): Continue to CA-94 E. Follow I-8 E to CA-111 N in Imperial County. Take the CA-111 N exit from CA-111 N. Continue on CA-111 N.
Overview
Salvation Mountain is a hillside visionary environment created by local resident Leonard Knight (1931-2014) in the California Desert area of Imperial County, north of Calipatria, northeast of Niland near Slab City, and several miles from the Salton Sea. The artwork is made of adobe bricks, discarded tires and windows, automobile parts and thousands of gallons of paint. It encompasses numerous murals and areas painted with Christian sayings and Bible verses, though its philosophy was built around the Sinner's Prayer.
In 1998, Knight wanted to expand the mountain. He gathered ideas from the Navajo who settled in the area around Salvation Mountain. Their pueblitos inspired Knight and he then began forming the Hogan. It is a dome-like structure made of adobe and straw that insulates from heat. Knight intended to live in it, though he always preferred to live in a shack on the back of truck and did so for 27 years. For some years, he had help with the project from a friend, Bill Ammon ("Builder Bill").
Knight also began another formation, what he liked to call "the museum".It is modeled after a semi-inflated hot air balloon Knight tried to create before Salvation Mountain; the balloon is on view at the American Visionary Art Museum. He intended the balloon to be seen by all below it, as it stated "GOD IS LOVE" in bright red on a white fabric. This ideal carried over to Salvation Mountain. The museum is a semi dome structure in the mountain that contains several small items given to him by friends and visitors. Each item has a significance and more often than not, visitors seek out Salvation Mountain to pray and leave an item at the mountain as symbolism of giving themselves to God. The museum is held up by adobe and straw, but also by car parts and a tangle of trees that twist within the dome and reach through the top.
The Second Mountain
The current Salvation Mountain is actually the second construction to occupy the site; Knight began the first Salvation Mountain in 1984, using highly unstable construction methods that allowed the mountain to collapse in 1989. Knight was not discouraged; he rather saw it as God's way of letting him know the Mountain was not safe. He said he would start another Salvation Mountain (the current construction) "with more smarts". He did so, this time, using better materials and engineering, including adobe mixed with straw. After completion, the "mountain" was several stories high and was about a hundred yards wide according to a book published in 2016. Over the last ten years of his life, Knight planned to repaint the mountain twice a year to ensure that the paint layer would be very thick.He was unable to achieve that because of an injury sustained near the end of 2011. Before his death, Knight was living in a nursing home; he was able to visit Salvation Mountain for the last time in May 2013.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Salton Sea ", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
