Rolling Mountain Thunder Aspired to a Radiant Heart
By Lisa Gavon
All photographs by Tom Chargin.
From left to right: Farley the Freeway Dog, Obsidian, Rolling Thunder holding Sacred Star, True, and Little Thunder outside The Monument to the Native Peoples of the West.
Artist, builder, and renegade, Rolling Mountain Thunder exhibited ideas that encompassed cutting edge thought politically, environmentally, and spiritually. He was a modern advocate of individual freedoms, but operated on the assumption that the best part of life was lived with compassion for other human beings. Thunder had a deep respect for both land and people, evidenced in his nurturing gardens and willingness to adapt to living in the wild country. He welcomed individuals that had been rejected and opened his heart, attempting to honor the Great Spirit in his everyday life.
Thunder said that his Monument was a birth canal so that the Great Holy Mother could continually manifest our world.
Thunder was recognized as Nevada’s Artist of the Year in 1983. The desert lands of the Great Basin had a powerful influence on him as he transformed the landscape, inventing ways to use the cast-away objects produced by excessive consumption: creating beauty out of the old and unwanted (with the addition of just a little bit of cement). His concepts predated recycling and up-cycling. His life purpose was to create the hand sculpted, three story Monument to the Native Peoples of the West (The Monument), honoring those who had cared for this vast and rugged terrain from the beginning. There are historic personages like Sarah Winnemucca and John Ross, anthropomorphic creatures, watchful faces, and joyful figures dancing and reaching towards the heavens. His constant goal was to “Aspire to a Radiant Heart.” The sculptures and grounds of the Monument are located off the Imlay exit on Nevada’s Highway 80 just south of Winnemucca. It is now listed as a State of Nevada Historical Site, but has been financially and physically maintained entirely by his family since his death in 1989.
Photos above: The Monument was always bright, being constantly repainted with whatever colors that happened to be at hand. The rock and bottle walls were surrounded by full size sculptures and reliefs of every sort.
Photos below: Thunder invented his own technique to build his standing cement sculptures like these of the Great Spirit: Wankan Tanka, and a watchful woman with sorrowful eyes reaching for the stars.
Born Frank Van Zant, he was from the Creek Tribe and set out on his own at an early age. He served in the Tank Corps in World War II and as a police officer and detective. He also had studied to be a minister. He kept trying to find true sacredness. A self-taught artist, he had always been a pilgrim on a mystical journey. Thunder said that since he felt like an outcast himself, he wanted to make a refuge to show there is absolutely nothing to throw away.
Besides being a sculptor, painter, and assemblage artist, Thunder created conceptual art, installations, and happenings. His activities, intentions, and motivations were indeed other-worldly and mysterious. Photographer Tom Chargin and I lived and studied at the Monument around 1979 or so. We have written a book, The Nevada Monument of Rolling Mountain Thunder, describing what daily life was like there, and the unusual events that transpired when Thunder was involved. At this point, it is only available from the caretaker at the Monument itself. Any donations go directly to maintaining the grounds, and the buildings that still remain.
Tom Chargin, photographer, outside of the little cabin built of railroad ties and decorated with both plywood and cement sculptures. Today, he is the father of three grown children. With his wife Jan, who is Director of the nonprofit Pitstop Outreach, he advocates for the un-housed in California. He is a professional photographer and student of Dobsonian Cosmology.
Lisa Gavon, artist and writer, inside the cabin reading with Obsidian Thunder at what they called “The School at Thunder Mountain.” Lisa homeschooled both her sons from kindergarten through high school and has created and taught art at all levels in schools, prisons, libraries, and the community. She and her boyfriend live in the Sierra Nevada, and she writes for the Record-Courier out of Gardnerville, Nevada.
All photos circa 1979 by Tom Chargin. Thunder Mountain style, we each continue to “Aspire to a Radiant Heart.”