BORREGO SPRINGS, Calif. — Deep in the desert, hidden among the cacti, is a sight to behold. It’s in the Anza Borrego Desert, home to creatures of the present and ancient past. Giant birds, mammoths and raptors. Some of the animals once roamed these very lands; others are pure fantasy.
The main attraction is a 350-foot long magnificent metal monster with the tail of a rattlesnake, body of a serpent and head of a Chinese dragon. It took the artist, Ricardo Breceda, 3 months to design and another 3 months to install.
And it’s not the only desert leviathan.
Further south and after a little bit of off-roading, you’ll find a different group of apex predators, T-Rex and friends.
All of it done by a world-renowned metal sculptor from Temecula whose daughter asked for a dinosaur after watching “Jurassic Park,” and not wanting to let her down, he built his first metal sculpture. From there, his work took off and his now-grown daughter Lianna helps him manage his gallery in Temecula.
He also has sculptures along Interstate 215 in the Inland Empire but it’s his work in Borrego Springs that really made him famous. There he made at least 130 sculptures with incredible detail – fur, feathers, scales – all carved from metal to look like the real thing. Together the pieces are known as “Sky Art” and they were commissioned by the late Dennis Avery. Avery was a philanthropist and lived and raised his family in Borrego Springs. He bought land there that he held in conservation and kept it open to the public, calling the area Galleta Meadows.
World-renowned artist Ricardo Breceda stopped by the FOX 5 Morning News to show us some of his show-stopping metal sculptures featured in the Anza-Borrego Desert. Click here to watch.
BEHIND-THE-SCENES:
Take a look at this behind-the-scenes video of FOX 5’s desert shoot, including incredible drone video of the sculptures you won’t see anywhere else. FOX 5’s Kathleen Bade sits down with Executive Producer of Special Projects, Ruby Chen to chat about how she learned of this place and a look at the making of the story.
