Salvation Mountain & Leonard Knight
February 7, 2009 by Michael Winters
Photos by Mickie Winters
On a photo excursion back in November, making album art for Bradley Hathaway’s recently released album “A Mouth Full of Dust,” Mickie and I routed Salvation Mountain into our trip. We saw the very good movie “Into the Wild” last summer, which briefly features Leonard Knight at his painted adobe mountain, and I put meeting him on my list of things to do before I die.
I didn’t know what to expect. I was worried that he might be another wildly capable - but a tad crazed and sort of angry - outsider artist like Jim Bishop, whose hand-built Bishop's Castle is one of America’s coolest places to visit. Honestly I had kind of gotten my hopes up already. We’d traveled literally across the whole US to see this place. We pulled up and Leonard was wondering around, moving paint buckets or something. He greeted us very warmly. “I’d like to show you a few things,” he said - a complete sweetheart.
After talking with him for about an hour, we came away completely charmed by this simple man who has dedicated his life to the mission of spreading the message that “God is Love” by building a mountain out of mud and hay, and painting that mountain with all the colors of the rainbow.
I keep thinking about the experience, and Leonard Knight’s dedication to a grand but simple idea. His personal mission was so clear and concise.
He gave us a few DVD copies of a documentary that someone made about him. You can borrow a copy from the Visual Arts Lab on the third floor.
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:31 pm
I know this is an older post but I am up late trying to find some focus I guess. Our recent roadtrip in TN brought us into awareness of a couple of men cut from the same cloth I think.
H. Harrison Mayes is deceased, but he planted signs all over the US and in other countries with the message, "prepare to meet God." He is a little eccentric but his story and dedication are impressive. He did this at his own cost and as his own ministry/mission
The second was the Minister's Treehouse, in Crossville TN, a huge and interesting treehouse, complete with sanctuary inside, built by a man with a vision and faith to build it. It's made from only scrap wood and has 10 levels to it, and is open to all. If yuo climb to the high tower you can look out over the field and see the landscaped flowers in the field spelling out Jesus.
Both were inspiring examples of people just creating and getting a message out by faith, not relying on cues or permission from others.