Poised on the sagebrush covered lip of a dry prehistoric lakebed that is now the Smoke Creek Desert in northwestern Nevada, Wall Spring was a stop on the emigrant trail since the 1850’s.
The original spring still flows into a sunken pool but the water is out of reach for our project of reclaiming the land and restoring habitat. We drilled 2 artesian, warm water wells that have turned parts of this 160 acre parcel of land into an oasis.
One of few private holdings in the Smoke Creek basin; this land was heavily over grazed by the previous absentee cattle rancher. Since 1995 we have dug 6 ponds with connecting channels that support hundreds of trees, willows, water fowl, owls, hawks, heron, fish, frogs, deer, coyote, and the beginning of the return of native grasses.
As the shores of prehistoric Lake Lahanton receded, the native American population inhabited its edges and vast quantities of chipped obsidian brought from 60 miles away remain to mark their presence.
Wall Spring is 18 miles from the nearest electricity lines requiring that we build our house and studios with solar energy that provides our daily power.
In 2005 we began installing my large sculptures on the land reclaiming most of my works on loan from major institutions across the country. We refer to this growing sculpture park as Storm Queen.
Our large storage building was completed in 2016 and now houses the majority of our archives.
Further Reading
Fox, William L. 2000. Playa Works: The Myth of the Empty. University of Nevada Press