Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village

Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
California Historical Landmark #939
Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village, September 2008
Location:	4595 Cochran St Simi Valley, California
Coordinates:	34°16′44″N 118°42′14″W
Architect:	Tressa "Grandma" Prisbrey
Architectural style:	Other
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	96001076
CHL #:	939
Added to NRHP:	October 25, 1996

Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village, also known as Bottle Village, is a folk art piece, located in Simi Valley, California.

This assemblage is one of California's Twentieth Century Folk Art Environments. In 1956, Tressa Prisbrey, then 59 years old, started building a "village" of shrines, walkways, sculptures, and buildings from recycled items and discards from the local landfill. She worked for 25 years creating one structure after another to house her collections. Bottle Village is California Historical Landmark number 939. It is also a Ventura County Cultural Landmark, and has historic designation from the City of Simi Valley. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

It was officially closed in 1984 and severely damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. As of 2011 it is maintained by the Preserve Bottle Village committee and is open to the public by appointment.

History

In 1956 Tressa "Grandma" Prisbrey and her husband Al Prisbrey purchased one-third of an acre on Cochran Street. In an attempt to permanently "ground" her and her husband Grandma Prisbrey leveled the land, parked her trailer and removed the trailer's wheels and hid them.

Prisbrey's original idea was to build a wall to keep away the smell and dust of the adjacent turkey farm and to simply create a structure where she could store her 17,000 commemorative pencils. They spend all their money paying for the property so she resorted to visiting a local dump where she found thousands of colored bottles. She started with a wall and continued to build until she had constructed 23 buildings and structures made of glass and assorted other materials, a mosaic sidewalk, the Leaning Tower of Bottle Village, the Dolls Head Shrine, Cleopatra's Bedroom, the Round House, and more. Each building was constructed around a specific theme. As of 2011, there remain three houses fully intact.

Prisbrey sold the property in 1972, but two years later took up a position as a caretaker at Bottle Village. At the point, her work was being exhibited in the United States and Europe.

In 1981 Prisbrey received an eviction notice from Ollie Phillips, her landlord. He fenced the property and threatened to destroy Bottle Village. Just after agreeing to sell the property for $87,500, Phillips was fatally wounded in what was later described as an “accidental shooting.”

Prisbrey left the Village due to failing health in 1982 at the age of 86 to take up residence with her sole-surviving child in San Francisco. In July 1986 the property was gift deeded to the Preserve Bottle Village committee. Tressa Prisbrey died in 1988.

Earthquake

The 1994 Northridge earthquake struck eight miles away and badly damaged the Village. Because of the severe damage, the Preserve Bottle Village committee applied for FEMA funding, receiving almost US$500,000. In January 1997, Simi Valley's Congressman and former Mayor, Elton Gallegly introduced "The Bottle Bill", "To prohibit Federal funding for earthquake-related repairs or restoration of Bottle Village in Simi Valley, CA."^{[citation needed]} It did not become law but FEMA funding was withdrawn.

Recognition

In 1979 Bottle Village was named a Ventura County Cultural Landmark. In 1981 it was declared a California State Historical Landmark National Register. In 1996, two years after the Northridge earthquake and still in ruin, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

It has been the subject of scholarly inquiry.

Cultural References

The Doll Head Shrine has created a cult following and was reproduced on the cover of Wall of Voodoo’s chart-topping single Mexican Radio in 1982.

The Village inspired a 32 page children s book Bottle Houses: The Creative World of Grandma Prisbrey by Melissa Eskridge Slaymaker.

Exhibitions

1974–1976 "Naives and Visionaries", sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN

1975 "America Now", sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency (traveling European exhibition)

1976 "Grandma Prisbrey", Woman's Building, Los Angeles, CA (solo exhibition)

1977 "In Celebration of Ourselves", Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

1979–1981 "A Look at the Art of the 70's", sponsored by the International Communication Agency (traveling exhibition)

1984 "Visions of Paradise", Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA "Bits and Pieces: The Dream-builders of California", Chevron Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1985 "Divine Disorder: Folk Art Environments of California", Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA (traveling exhibition)

1985–1986 "A Time to Reap", Co-sponsored by Seton Hall Univ. NJ, & the Museum of American Folk Art, NY (traveling exhibition)

1986 "Cat and a Ball on a Waterfall: 200 Years of California Painting and Sculpture", Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA

1988 "Not so Naive: Bay Area Artists and Outsider Art", San Francisco Craft & Folk Art Museum, San Francisco, CA

1989 "Forty Years of California Assemblage", UCLA Whyte Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (traveling exhibition) "Women in American Architecture", Pacific Design Center , Los Angeles, CA (traveling exhibition)

1990 "Ageless" , the Woman's Building, Los Angeles, CA

1992 "Reflections of Bottle Village", Simi Valley Cultural Center, Simi Valley, CA

1995 "Visions from the Left Coast" Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA

1996–1999 "Recycled-Reseen" Santa Fe Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico (traveling)

2000 Outsider Art window display, Hennessy + Ingalls, Santa Monica, CA

Gallery of images

• 

  Historical plaques at entrance

• 

  Bottle Village overview

• 

  Doll heads

• 

  Bottle sculptures

See also

• List of Registered Historic Places in Ventura County, California

References

• "Ventura". California Historical Landmarks. Office of Historic Preservation. http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21535. Retrieved 2005-08-26. 

External links

• Bottle Village home page
• /YouTube Bottle Village Channel-Videos, Interviews, "Pave the Way"-"Bottle Village Walkway of Fame" Check out the "Favorites"