Goddess of Flight

Yucca Valley, California

Sculpted out of concrete with a smooth, onyx-black finish in 1951, "Flight" was the work of Antone Martin (1887-1961), who also made the heroic-size religious statues in Yucca Valley's Desert Christ Park. Flight depicts a nude woman gesturing skyward with droopy, stylized wings that look unlikely to provide any lift or airborne propulsion.

When Martin moved to Yucca Valley in 1953 he brought Flight with him and donated it to the town's Community Club. Twenty-one years later, long after Martin was dead, the sculpture -- its black finish bleached by the sun -- was moved to a spot outside of town hall. A 1974 bronze plaque on its base re-labels it "Goddess of Flight" and spells Martin's name wrong.