Once a month, Arizona Oddities is now featuring a Q&A with a talented Arizona artist who is influenced by our state’s people, places and history. This month, Megan Dean shares her diverse array of work, latest inspirations and a soft spot for two Old West icons.
PRESCOTT VALLEY — If you’re not a stickler for the real thing, and if your budget doesn’t allow an extended trip to see the real thing, there’s a miniature facsimile of Mount Rushmore waiting to be viewed at the Freedom Station here. It’s not nearly as big as the real thing in the Black Hills of South Dakota, but there’s no admission fee and, for the same price, visitors also get to look at replicas of King Kong climbing the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge, all in less-than-actual sizes.
Two Arizona sites listed as oddities have fallen victim to wind, rain and fire.
The little church that Loren Pratt built to honor his late wife – the Mini Taj – was severely damaged by an Arizona thunderstorm. It stood in the open fields at Dome and welcomed visitors and curious passersby since 1996, but succumbed to the storm in early September. The winds tore the roof off and left only a couple of walls standing.
PRESCOTT — Copper has been an important element in Arizona’s history for more than a century, but it usually goes into the creation of such utilitarian items as tubing, electrical wiring and computer parts.
However, it took a different form in 1923, when Sharlot Hall went to Washington, D.C., wearing a copper dress.
Hall, a longtime Arizona activist and historian, was selected to deliver Arizona’s three electoral votes for Calvin Coolidge. Prior to her trip, the Arizona Industrial Congress commissioned an overdress made of copper links, and Hall wore it to the presidential inauguration.
QUARTZSITE — Gene Hassler doesn’t let things go to waste, especially if they’re things he can use to create a whale or a velocipede. Hassler is a welder and artist who spends some of his time in Quartzsite because he owns Hassler’s RV Park here. The property is adorned with about 50 of his creations, all made of scrap materials.
His rendition of an ostrich has car headlights for eyes and pipe wrenches for legs. Nearby, a huge hand made of bolts reaches out of the ground to grab a vine crafted from reinforcing rods. Elsewhere are palm trees, velocipedes, cowboys with six-shooters, elephant feet and cactus, all rusted because they’re all made of previously used metal.
