Desert Lighthouse
The Desert Lighthouse at sunset in July 2017.
LocationHinkley, California
Coordinates34°57′27.0″N 117°12′45.7″W / 34.957500°N 117.212694°W / 34.957500; -117.212694
Tower
Constructed2017
ConstructionSteel & Polycarbonate Paneling
Height50-foot (15 m)
ShapeOctagonal
Light
LensTRB220
Range10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi) </ref>

Desert Lighthouse is a full-size functioning lighthouse in the Mojave Desert near Hinkley, California, United States.[1] It was built in 2017 by artist Daniel Hawkins after nearly 10 years of planning and unexpected setbacks.[2]

Background

Sometime after 2010, Hawkins had previously built a lighthouse nearby in the Lucerne Valley area of the Mojave Desert but it was subsequently destroyed and dismantled by vandals and scavengers.[3] In 2014, Hawkins presented an exhibition title "Desert Lighthouse Ultimatum" at the University of California, Riverside's Culver Center for the Arts Museum.[4] The theme of his exhibition was the return of his effort to establish a permanent lighthouse in the Mojave Desert.[5] Three years later on July 1, 2017 the Desert Lighthouse was unveiled to the public during an evening "Launch Event".[2]

Desert Lighthouse fully illuminated.

Reviews

Art critic Doug Harvey referred to the Desert Lighthouse as, "...one of the most complex and coherent translations of 1960s and ’70s Land Art into a 21st-century context. Hawkins’s most recent Desert Lighthouse embodies both the doomed, abject heroics of Robert Smithson and company, and a post-apocalyptic, DIY absurdism that has already made it a populist icon among the survivalist locals."[6]

Memorial

In late 2018, a small group of makeshift memorials were left by visitors near the base of the lighthouse in memory of their passed loved ones. Since then the memorials have grown in size. Two identified memorials are: Bruce Mace and Alicia Maria Hilton.[7] The memorial was later expanded in late 2019.

Memorials in the foreground at the Desert Lighthouse. April 2019.

Current

The Desert Lighthouse continues to operate.[8] The lighthouse and its creator, also known as "The Keeper of the Hinkley Light", will be the subject of a documentary to be released in 2023.

References

  1. ↑ Fisher, Davina Fisher (2019-02-17). "Desert Lighthouse — a beacon of hope for Hinkley". Victorville Daily Press. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  2. 1 2 Davis, Genie (2017-09-22). "The Desert Lighthouse: A Mojave Dream Come True". Art and Cake. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  3. ↑ Laden, Tanja M. (2015-03-09). "Meet the Artist Building a Lighthouse in the Desert". Creators. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  4. ↑ Lucas, Laurie (2014-11-11). "RIVERSIDE: Culver Center hosts LA artist's desert lighthouse". Press Enterprise. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  5. ↑ "UCR ARTS". ucrarts.ucr.edu. Archived from the original on 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  6. ↑ Harvey, Doug (2017-10-31). "10 L.A. Artists Whose Work You Probably Don't Know—but Should". Artsy. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  7. ↑ "Alicia Marie Hilton Obituary". Legacy.com.
  8. ↑ Miranda, Carolina A. (13 June 2019). "Datebook: Umar Rashid turns colonial histories upside down in paintings at VPAM". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
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