A Visit to Salvation Mountain

A video by the Oakland Museum of California.

In early January, 2010, John Turner, a writer and Folk Art collector, and Philip E. Linhares, chief curator at the Oakland Museum, visited Salvation Mountain and interviewed its creator, Leonard Knight. Now 79 years old, Knight has been living at this site in the Southern California desert for 28 years; each day is devoted to his mission of devotion to God through Jesus. Located three miles east of Niland, on the eastern shore of the Salton Sea, he calls his shrine "Salvation Mountain". Starting with a barren desert dune of hard-pan earth, Knight erected a cross on its summit, wrote his special prayer in six-foot tall adobe letters decorated with enamel paint, and added other prayers and phrases to the mountainside. While his mountain shrine is now completed and needs only occasional repair, he is currently at work building a massive grotto of straw bales and adobe that he calls his "museum".

With John ad Phil he toured the mountain and grotto, explaining how he created an armature of truck tires, tree limbs and adobe to support the massive, 30-foot tall walls and roof of the structure. Throughout the video he expounds on his faith and belief that his labors are a simple and humble acknowledgement of God's love for all mankind. Although he is often visited by clergymen who seek to engage him in religious and sectarian debate, he declines their invitations, citing his chosen motto "Keep it Simple."

The Oakland Museum of California would like to thank John Turner (camera), Kelley Trahan (still photography) and Jeff den Broeder (editing).

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• Salvation Mountain
• Oakland Museum of California
• John Turner
• Folk Art
• Philip Linhares
• Leonard Knight
• paint