Where the Heck is Yucca Fountain?

June 21, 2025 - May 23, 2026

South Gallery Two

In the 1950s, on the edge of the Yucca Flat atomic blast zone was a thriving community watering hole: Yucca Fountain. In 1958, the Fountain was damaged in a suspicious fire and would have faded into obscurity if not for the efforts of Bert Tuttle, an enthusiastic patron who salvaged everything that he could carry out after the fire. Where the Heck is Yucca Fountain? pays homage to Tuttle, a silent collaborator, and painstakingly recreates his desert workshop, and “mobile research lab,” where the remains of Yucca Fountain were discovered. Tuttle’s collection – viewed through the interpretive lens of artists Helen Popinchalk and Andrew Bablo – is a co-created myth that blurs the line between archive and dreamscape. Where the Heck is Yucca Fountain? is presented as part of the larger exhibition, Sympoiesis: Co-Creating Sense of Place, investigating the idea that meaning and place are made with others—whether they’re artists, lost community members, or fellow desert dwellers.

Blurring the line between archive and dreamscape

Where the Heck is Yucca Fountain? includes three distinct installations. Explore Bert Tuttle’s desert workshop inside the UW Art Museum and his “mobile research lab” outside the Centennial Complex, near the entrance. Also, be sure to check out the pop-up satellite installation at Sunshine Coffee, 731 E. Custer St., Laramie, WY.

 

Image: Installation view of Bert Tuttle’s desert workshop at the UW Art Museum.

Installation view of Bert Tuttle's desert workshop

The art installations at the UW Art Museum are funded through the generosity of the Susan Moldenhauer FUNd for Contemporary Art, the Patricia R. Guthrie Special Exhibitions Gallery Endowment, WE Soda, and By Western Hands.

Special thanks to our collaborators at Sunshine Coffee and Middle Creek Ranch, Inc., and to Sterling “Stoney” Smith, Chief Preparator, and Anthony Teneralli, Collections Preparator, for working tirelessly with the artists on the installation.

The artists would like to thank Barry Stout for his help with exhibition audio & visual effects.

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