“thy DEATH VALLEY HOUSE”
PROJECT: BUILDING CONCEPTION.
This is the American Dream! The surveyed land is there, the financing is there, the vision and determination are there. What is it that the Desert Doc is talking about?
It’s all about the conception and construction of “thy Death Valley House” at 210 West Main Street in Beatty, Nevada. It’s all about a legacy life plan for Martin J. Blahnik, MD, the Desert Doc, in building this place in the small, historic, Mojave Desert mining town, Beatty, 120 miles (200 km) north of Las Vegas, Nevada. The town is certified with the government as owning the romantic designation: the Gateway to Death Valley. The hope – the American Dream – is to begin construction on “thy Death Valley House” by 2027.
There is an element of philanthropy with this project, since, after all, the goal for “thy Death Valley House” is, always, to feature forevermore artists’ exhibitions of their work on the beauty and intrigue of Death Valley National Park. These presentations are planned to be in the building’s Death Valley Galleries on the first and second floors – visitors to gain access via a tour of the galleries beginning with their registration in the Gift Shop. Over the initial years of “thy Death Valley House” the featured work will be the photography of the Desert Doc, here at the…home to the greatest collection of Death Valley grand vistas in the world!
DEATH VALLEY LANDSCAPES, LLC
“thy DEATH VALLEY HOUSE”
The conception has arrived, now the construction is anticipated to begin in the next couple of years. Its dual purpose is to function as a retirement home for the artist, and the place of business for Death Valley Landscapes, LLC. In “thy Death Valley House,” one can walk about the Gift Shop or register to stroll through the Death Valley Galleries.
Beatty, Nevada, is a small desert community with just over 1,000 inhabitants in rural Nye County. The historic mining town is not only famous as the Gateway to Death Valley, but also it holds the certification for the Burro and Miner logo.
Beatty, per its Town of Beatty Area Plan (May 5, 2014, in accordance with NRS 278.160), seeks to be an artist’s retreat of sorts. Just take a gander at the outdoor sculptures at the Goldwell Open Air Museum in the colorful, intriguing ghost town, Rhyolite; it’s just a couple miles out from Beatty. There is one in particular by the Belgian artist Albert Szukalski (1945–2000) called The Last Supper, that is truly fascinating.
From the Christian Bible, Szukalski’s twelve apostles at The Last Supper are eerily but curiously and compellingly displayed, they are full-bodied ghosts, silhouetted at the right time of day with shadows looking into the distance—and there standing tall are Death Valley’s Funeral Mountains and Grapevine Mountains. Here in the remoteness—the very heart—of the Mojave Desert, we find “art where art should not be,” according to Szukalski’s own words.
