The Wounded Goddess Atop the State Capitol Dome

February 4, 2011 By 1 Comment
Winged Goddess on State Capitol in Phoenix

The white statue that has been a permanent fixture atop the State Capitol dome in Phoenix for more than a century goes by several names.

She is called the Goddess of Victory, Statue of Justice and Winged Victory, but for a time the nickname Bullseye could have also been applied. The zinc goddess was cast in Ohio and purchased by the Territory of Arizona in 1898 for $150. When the Capitol building was formally opened in 1901, the 17-foot sculpture was placed on top of the copper dome to serve not only as a symbol, but also as a weather vane. But it frequently didn’t get the respect it deserved

Filed Under: Art, Dose of History, Valley of the Sun Tagged With: , , , ,

Help Us Solve the Marilyn Monroe Mystery in Phoenix

December 27, 2010 By 2 Comments
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For nearly a decade, an image of actress Marilyn Monroe has been catching the eyes of those who pass the northeast corner of 20th Street and Indian School Road in Phoenix. The mural-sized rendition of the late sex symbol languishes for more than 30 feet on a black background on the west side of a building currently occupied by Truckmasters, and although many are familiar with it, nobody seems to know why it’s there or who put it there.

Filed Under: Art, Odd Observations, Valley of the Sun Tagged With: ,

Wickenburg’s New Permanent Residents

August 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Seven new residents have moved (or been moved) into Wickenburg and they’re permanent in the strictest sense of the word. They stand along the main thoroughfares as reminders of the city’s heritage as one of the last vestiges of the Old West. They never move, never blink, never mind posing for tourist cameras. They can’t because they’re bronze sculptures, strategically installed in front of business places and tourist attractions.

Filed Under: Art, Small Town Scene Tagged With: , ,

The Big Indian Head of Winslow

July 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Peter Wolf Toth arrived in Winslow in 1979, intent on adding one of his art works to the city’s landscape. When he left about four months later, he had turned a single ponderosa pine log into a 30-foot tall Indian head, and he left it there for posterity. The work was one in Toth’s series of giant heads that he carved in every state and four Canadian provinces. He called the effort “The Trail of the Whispering Giants,” and dedicated it to what he considered the mistreatment of Native Americans by early settlers and the federal government.

Filed Under: Art, Northern Arizona, Odd Observations Tagged With:

Know the Origin of the Highway 89 Screamers?

February 2, 2010 By 3 Comments
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Under normal circumstances, I can readily find the origins of weird things in Arizona, but there’s one north of Flagstaff that puzzles me. No one seems to know anything about what it is, why it’s there and who put it there. It is three weathered tree trunks (they look like junipers) standing next to each other, and someone painted strange faces on them. The images on the two smaller trunks are badly faded, but the face on the tallest one is still in relatively good shape. It resembles “The Scream,” the famous expressionist painting by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893.

Filed Under: Art, Northern Arizona, Odd Observations Tagged With: ,
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