ART LOVER PITCHES IN TO SAVE BOTTLE VILLAGE.Byline: Eric Leach Staff Writer SIMI VALLEY - Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village - an artistic landmark for some and a junky eyesore to others - will escape the recycling plant, thanks to an $8,400 donation to cover delinquent property taxes, supporters said Thursday. Daniel Paul, acting director of the Preserve Bottle Village Committee, said the group could have lost the folk art folk art, the art works of a culturally homogeneous people produced by artists without formal training. The forms of such works are generally developed into a tradition that is either cut off from or tenuously connected to the contemporary cultural mainstream. Folk art often involves craft processes, e.g., in America, quilting and sculpture of ships' figureheads, cigar-store figures, and carousel animals. minipark had Santa Monica art enthusiast Francie Rehwald not stepped in to pay back taxes and interest. ``If it had gone into default, the property would have gone up for auction,'' Paul said. ``Without this donation it would have been lost.'' Rehwald sits on the committee's board and has made donations in the past to Bottle Village - started in 1956 by then-60-year-old Tressa Prisbrey to house her collection of more than 4,000 pencils. Over the years, Prisbrey eventually covered her one-third-of-an-acre property with shrines, wishing wells, mosaic walkways and structures made of all sorts of objects, including bottles of beer, whiskey and laxatives 1. mildly cathartic. 2. a cathartic or purgative. bulk laxative , bulk-forming laxative one promoting bowel evacuation by increasing fecal volume. contact laxative one that increases the motor activity of the intestinal tract. . She worked on the village until 1981 and used an estimated 90,000 bottles to build stained-glass walls that create fantastic effects from the sun. Prisbrey died in 1988, but Bottle Village has generated plenty of controversy since then. After the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, it applied for federal emergency money to rebuild but local lawmakers shot the plan down. The village was never restored and has been closed to the public since the quake - eliminating many of its tax breaks. Still, the site is a Ventura County and California Cultural Landmark that is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. And Rehwald said it is a work of art that is good for the community. ``It generates interest from people all over the world,'' she said. ``You have a world-class folk-art site that I would like to see the community take an active interest in helping to preserve and promote.'' The Preserve Bottle Village Committee is a nonprofit volunteer organization formed to preserve the site at 4595 Cochran St. The Preserve Bottle Village Committee acquired the property to prevent its demolition, but doesn't have the money that would be required to rebuild it as an attraction for visitors. ``We're red-tagged essentially from the earthquake,'' said Joanne Johnson, a volunteer who works to preserve the site. Eric Leach, (805) 583-7602 eric.leach(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: An art enthusiast from Santa Monica has paid the back taxes Back taxes Due taxes that have not been paid on time. and interest on Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village in Simi Valley, keeping the local landmark from being sold at auction and possibly torn down. John Kennedy/Special to the Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion