Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch

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The Bottle Tree Ranch consists of around 200 steel bottle frames

Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch is a landmark on former Route 66 near Oro Grande (Helendale) in California's Mojave Desert . The large-scale sculptures - installation of bottle-tipped metal frames, erected here on private property, are referred to as folk art . Depending on the position of the sun, there are different light reflections in the bottle glasses, in the wind there are also blowing noises at the bottle openings as well as the self-assembled metal parts windmills. The facility is known far beyond the region as a "historical landmark". It addresses the resource consumption of the throwaway society .

history

The owner and creator of the installation, Elmar Long, grew up in Manhattan Beach, California . Since 1952 he accompanied his father (Elmar Long, 1919–2005), an aeronautical engineer, in his private search for historical utensils in garbage dumps and in abandoned settlements in the Mojave Desert. Long Senior drove to ghost towns and former mine camps in the desert to look for civilization debris with a metal detector. When his father lost interest in his collection in old age, he gave hundreds of old bottles and other finds to his son. He had entered the Marine Corps as a young man , serving for four years in Vietnam and Hawaii. A few years after completing his military service, he moved to the Mojave Desert in 1968.

In 2000 Elmar Long Junior started building the first metal sculptures; He welded iron bars about 15 centimeters long to the sides of upright pipes (telephone cable masts) about three meters high . Long put the differently colored bottles he found on these bars, so that a tree-like construction ("a modern cristmas tree") was created. On the top of these scaffolding (mostly damaged) finds of all kinds were attached: old shopping carts, street signs, car parts, handguns, antlers, bed frames, toys, an old jukebox, animal bones, a saxophone, various self-constructed windmills, half a surfboard, a traffic light, a carousel horse or the blue light of a police emergency vehicle from the 1930s. In 2002, Lang quit his previous work in a nearby cement works and from then on devoted himself to expanding his work of art.

today

In 2014 the installation consisted of around 200 sculptures. The facility can be visited free of charge, donations are requested. Elmar Long is constantly expanding the installation; the artist needed around 90 minutes to weld together a tree structure. After his death, a son is supposed to continue the plant.

The Bottle Tree Ranch has become a sight. Not only the inclusion in guides ("guidebook must-see") contributed to the historic Route 66 , but also reports in the Californian and national media. USA Today listed the facility among the ten most exciting places on Route 66 . The Huffington Post named the ranch to the list of eleven best art venues in Southern California outside of Los Angeles in 2014 . The ranch was reported on March 19, 2006 on the national television channel Home and Garden Television and on August 20, 2014 in the SoCal Connected television series on KCET TV. Billy Connolly featured Bottle Tree Ranch in the final episode of the four-part show Billy Connolly's Route 66 on July 7, 2014 on KPBS TV.

Judgment on the artistic importance

The installation, which falls under the broad term Americana art, is mostly defined as folk art in the media. The Los Angeles Times described the facility as "Folk art forest" (German: Volkskunst-Wald). The The Desert Sun ( USA Today -Network) used the same wording. The Californian radio station KPCC described the system as "a massive work of art". CBS Los Angeles used the term "a magnificent work of art" when describing the ranch. The travel guide Lonely Planet Route 66 Road Trips sees the installation as an artistically arranged collection of bottles. In a report on the film adaptation of a multi-week artist tour through the USA on taz.de , Elmar Longs Ranch is described as a “crazy masterpiece of outsider art ”.

On the idiosyncratic vision of the artist, who has no inhibitions about using all objects that fall into his hands, the television station KCET (Los Angeles) reported in the television series SoCal Connected on the basis of an article by the art journalist April Baca :

“With reverberating echo from the surrounding rings of glass bottles and desert breeze, Long's man-made labyrinth effortlessly intertwines with nature. A cathartic visual treat that remains simultaneously tranquil and stimulating, the seemingly endless expansion of bottle trees juxtaposes a subdued political nature alongside the artist's revival of found materials. By confronting the excess of consumer waste through a heavily contrasting folk art that celebrates ecological upcycling, Long's sculptural endeavors are nothing short of inspiring. Through Long's use of upcycled paraphernalia, a confrontation and defiance of consumerism becomes a stark and crude reality. ... Long's roadside folk art infuses an inspired vibrancy into the high desert landscape. Revealing the values ​​and inherent characteristics of our society through an unabashed display of previously used goods, Long's bottle trees present a peculiar beauty and cultural significance. "

“With the reverberant echo [arising] from the surrounding glass bottle openings and the desert wind, Long's man-made labyrinth connects effortlessly with nature. A cathartic feast for the eyes, which has a calming and stimulating effect at the same time [and] contrasts the [the] seemingly endless expansion of the bottle trees with a subliminal political statement by the artist through the reuse of the materials found. With the unmasking of the surplus society (more precisely: excess of consumer waste) through a strongly contrasting folk art that celebrates ecological upcycling , Long's sculptural statements are not lacking in inspiration. By using the reused objects, the [necessary] confrontation with and rejection of consumerism becomes a blatant and brutal reality. ... Long's roadside folk art creates an inspired vibrancy in the desert landscape. The values ​​and specific characteristics of our society are revealed through the blatant display of used consumer goods. Long's bottle trees show a peculiar beauty and cultural significance. "

- April Baca, High Desert Hideaway: Elmer Long's Bottle Tree Ranch , July 14, 2014, KCET Los Angeles

Individual references and sources

  1. ↑ Kristin G. Congdon, Kara Kelley Hallmark, Folk Art: A Regional Reference , ISBN 978-0-31334-9-379 , ABC-CLIO , 2012, p. 560 (in English)
  2. ↑ a b Film: Nic Cha Kim, The Bottle Tree Ranch ( Memento of the original from December 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , August 20, 2014, KCET (in English)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kcet.org
  3. ↑ a b c d e Mike Anton, Bottle Tree Ranch is a folk art 'forest' in the Mojave Desert , December 4, 2011, Los Angeles Times (in English)
  4. ↑ David Royle, “Now I Can Call Myself A Biker” , ISBN 978-1-46700-149-6 , Author House, 2011, pp. 145ff (in English)
  5. ↑ Karl Pilkington, The Further Adventures of An Idiot Abroad , ISBN 978-0-85786-7-513 , Canongate Books, 2012 (in English)
  6. ↑ a b April Baca, High Desert Hideaway: Elmer Long's Bottle Tree Ranch , July 14, 2014, KCET Los Angeles (in English)
  7. ↑ Chuck Twardy, The Travel Issue: Good pilgrims: History, memory and ancient marketing on the mother road , June 25, 2009, Las Vegas Weekly (in English)
  8. ↑ 10 great places to find the kinks on Route 66 , Oct. 4, 2011, USA Today (in English)
  9. ↑ Priscilla Frank, 11 Of The Best Southern California Art Spots That Are not In Los Angeles , April 30, 2014 Huffington Post (in English)
  10. ↑ Michelle Green, Bottle Trees along Route 66 , August 21, 2013 Orange County Register (in English)
  11. ↑ Billy Connolly's Route 66 / , June 12, 2014, KPBS TV (in English)
  12. ↑ Kathy Strong, Get your kicks on Route 66 , September 18, 2015 (in English)
  13. ↑ Kevin Ferguson and Robert Garrova, A colorful forest in the Mojave Desert - Elmer Long and his Bottle Tree Ranch , June 21, 2013, KPCC (in English)
  14. ↑ Nicole Cormier, A Roadside Attraction Staple At Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch ( Memento of the original from December 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / losangeles.cbslocal.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , November 18, 2013, CBS Local, Los Angeles (in English)
  15. ↑ in the original: "Folk-art collection of glass bottles artfully arranged", in: Lonely Planet, Karla Zimmerman, Amy C Balfour, Nate Cavalieri, Los Angeles to Barstow , in: Lonely Planet Route 66 Road Trips , ISBN 978-1- 74360-7-183 , Lonely Planet, 2015 (in English)
  16. ↑ Brigitte Werneburg, Art in the Cinema: Brat mir ein Kaktus-Omelett , July 19, 2015, taz.de

Web links

Coordinates: 34 ° 41 ′ 24.9 ″  N , 117 ° 20 ′ 22 ″  W.