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October 25, 2009
Acres of art
By J. Harry Jones
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
Dennis Avery created a Web site, galletameadows.com, that contains
hundreds of photographs of the sculptures, as well as a map that shows
where they are in Borrego Springs.
The metal beasts in a sculpture extravaganza in the desert around
Borrego Springs now have some company – artwork of vineyard workers.
In the past couple of years, Dennis Avery has commissioned dozens of
sculptures by Perris artist Ricardo Breceda and placed them all over
town on some of the 3 square miles of land he owns.
Most are life-size or larger sculptures of beasts that once roamed the
Seventy-two pieces of art now are displayed, and amazingly, vandalism
has struck just once, in a slightly creepy case.
Avery said a sculpture of a dog walking with a friar was damaged.
Someone neutered the dog for reasons Avery can't imagine.
The latest additions to the collection are 12 farmworkers in a field
southwest of Di Giorgio and Big Horn roads. In the 1950s and 1960s, a
large vineyard operated in Borrego Springs.
Avery said the farmworker sculptures are not necessarily historically
accurate, which has upset some people. For instance, one sculpture is of
a woman holding a baby. Babies wouldn't have been in the field. And some
of the men are shown wearing sombreros, which “purists” say was not the
case.
Avery said it's important to remember the pieces are art, not historical
re-creations.
Avery, 68, is the multimillionaire son of the founders of Avery
Dennison, one of the world's largest label-making companies. In the
early 1990s, he was persuaded to buy land in Borrego Springs, primarily
by people who wanted open space preserved.
He calls the 3 square miles of noncontiguous property Galleta Meadows.
Avery's plans for future sculptures are uncertain.
“It's been one of the most fun things I've ever done in my life,” he
said.
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