What Are Belgians Doing In The Amargosa Desert?

                                                     There's something eerie about ghost towns
 

We did country reports for a few years in school, and mine for 6th grade was about Belgium.  I figured because it is a small country, it could be covered fairly well without leaving too much un-reported on.  The cover sported a hand painted national flag in shiny enamel and the title carefully lettered in white (it was only seven letters; glad I didn't pick Turkmenistan!).  Inside were postage stamps, a Belgian coin or two, and a recipe for brioche along with as much entertaining data as would fit -- my first multimedia production, considering the limited resources available at the time.

So it was quite a thrill for a much older former 6th grader to visit this jewel of a country a few years ago; the absolute highlight being a few days in the small medieval city of Bruges where the people were as mannerly, helpful and obviously intelligent as one could hope for.   We would gladly just have stayed and not come back at all.  However, Charles Albert Szukalski, a sculptor, did leave this green and delightful nation to go to what seems the unlikeliest place possible: the ghost town of Rhyolite in the vast Nevada desert (the town was named after an igneous rock, but a 1904 gold discovery was its reason for being out there). And Charles Albert's reason to be there?

In 1984, he installed "The Last Supper," a group of white, ghostly figures made of plaster, fabric and fiberglass arranged as in the daVinci fresco.  Szukalski purchased almost eight acres of land to establish the Goldwell Open Air Museum and then  recruited three other Belgian sculptors to add their inspirations.  As he created two more works, the spooky bicyclist "Ghost Rider" and "Desert Flower" (made of car parts), they contributed:

"Lady Desert" - Hugo Heyrman

"Icara" - Andre Peeters

"Tribute to Shorty Harris" - Fred Beruoets. (Shorty was the prospector who made the gold discovery)

"Sit Here!" by Solie Siegmann was moved from a Las Vegas museum to join the quirky outdoor gallery.

   

In 2000, after the founder's passing, an artists' work space, gallery and visitors' center was established in a new red barn-like building. 

 After watching "Breaking Bad" or the movie "Casino," we always say, "Nothing good happens in the desert!"  But sometimes, something good does.