Art imitates desert life IVDM at the

2018 has been a year of big outdoor projects at the Imperial Valley Desert Museum. Focusing on expanding its outdoor campus by renovating the Activities & Propagation Center (APC), planning new walking trails, and improving outdoor signage, the Museum has also introduced a number of unique, desert-sized art pieces. Visitors are already familiar with the stucco hay-bale Lunar Observatory that was installed in 2015 and decorated with mosaic designs made by our Artist-in-Residence Neal Lucas Hitch in 2017. Now, thanks to a grant from the California Arts Council, the Museum has begun expanding its outdoor art pieces. Its most recent project is also it’s most exciting: a massive tortoise sculpture decorated in a bright, tumble-stone mosaic.

Local students, local art

The newest museum art project is a sculpture of a massive desert tortoise made by the California-based Rainforest Art Project. At over three feet tall and six feet long, the sculpture is composed of layers of wire, fiberglass, a polystyrene foam core, and covered in concrete. Students coming to the IVDM on field trips now get to put their own stamp on the sculpture by covering it in a mosaic of colored stones. Once it is finished, the sculpture will be moved outdoors to be a delightful “found art” piece for visitors as they enjoy future outdoor trails. Students will be able to take family and friends to the tortoise, point out the section that they worked on and proudly show-off their permanent place within the Imperial Valley Desert Museum. Over the last two weeks 81 students on field trips from Holtville’s Meadows Union Elementary School and the Southern Indian Health Council, Inc. began to apply stones to the tortoise. The kids enjoyed this so much one of them said “I wish I could come back here every day and do more!”

It’s not just field trips that can get in on the action! Parents are encouraged to bring their children out to make their own stamp on this ongoing project.

The desert tortoise

Today’s desert tortoise has adapted to live successfully in the deserts across the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. They get their water almost entirely from the moisture in the grasses and wildflowers that they eat during the spring. A desert tortoise’s bladder can store more than 40 percent of their body weight in water, which they can absorb as needed over time. Because of adaptations like this, a tortoise can go for a year in between drinks of fresh water. They also use their bladders as a defensive mechanism: tortoises will empty their bladders when they feel threatened in order to force away their enemy. This leaves them in danger of dehydration afterwards, making it important for people to never alarm wild desert tortoises. Desert tortoises have been on the federal Endangered Species list since 1990, and under the Endangered Species Act it is illegal to touch, harm, harass, or collect wild desert tortoises. Desert tortoises are threatened by a loss of habitat, use of off-road vehicles, and illegal collection as pets, in addition to danger from their natural predators: ravens, coyotes, kit foxes, fire ants, and gila monsters.

Scientists estimate that tortoises have existed for at least 15-20 million years. Today’s wild desert tortoise can live to be up to 100 years old. One of their more noticeable traits are their thick legs and sharp claws. These have evolved so that the tortoise can dig in the hard desert ground: they dig depressions to catch rainwater, and burrows to rest in. Because tortoises are cold-blooded, they can’t regulate their body temperature internally, so staying in burrows during the heat of the day allows them to avoid the harsh desert sun. During drought years tortoises will hibernate in burrows in order to conserve water and energy.

And, of course, it still needs a name...

The IVDM invites everyone to come greet our newest addition, help apply stones to the surface, and offer su gestions for its name! The desert tortoise has been California’s official state reptile since 1972. Should our statue’s name be Cali, or Califia? Maybe it looks more like a Sandy to you? Museum staff will keep track of everyone’s suggestions and when the finished sculpture is installed we’ll reveal what the community voted to name it!

The Imperial Valley Desert Museum is located in Ocotillo. It is open 10a.m.-4p.m., Wednesdays through Sundays.

Neal Hitch tests the strength of the statue before it comes into the museum.

After only two field trips, the mosaic statue has already begun to show its colors.

Desert tortoises have adapted over millions of years to survive and thrive in harsh, dry conditions.

Students begin applying colored stones to the statue to create a colorful mosaic.