Agua Caliente Women - Palm Springs, CA - Figurative Public Sculpture on Waymarking.com

Sitting in the median of E Tahquitz Canyon Way are two large, bronze sculptures of Indian women by artist Doug Hyde, titled Agua Caliente Women created in 1994. There are two small plaques at the base of the sculptures that mentions Hyde as being American born in 1946. It also mentions that this sculpture was commissioned with funds provided by the City of Palm Springs Public Arts Commission in 1994. The second plaque below lists the local city officials in office at the time the sculpture was donated.

I located a website with a biography of Doug Hyde that reads:

Of Native American descent, Doug Hyde was born in Hermiston, Oregon, in 1946. The lore of his Nez Perce, Assiniboine, and Chippewa ancestry came to him from his grandfather and other elders who carefully instructed Doug Hyde through legends of animal characters the morals of his people as well as the ways of Mother Earth and the creation of man.

Doug Hyde attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, during which time he enjoyed the tutelage and friendship of the late renowned Apache sculptor, Allan Houser. In 1967 Doug Hyde attended the San Francisco Art Institute on scholarship for a time before enlisting in the U.S. Army. During his second tour of duty in Viet Nam, a grenade seriously wounded Doug Hyde. During his recuperation he learned the use of power tools in the cutting and shaping of stone while working in a friend's tombstone business, all the while continuing his art education and sculpting at night. Finally Doug Hyde entered some of his sculpture for a show sponsored by the Northern Plains Indian Museum in Browning, Montana. When his work sold out, Doug Hyde realized that he was now ready to make his mark and that Santa Fe was to be his base of operations.

Returning to Santa Fe in 1972 to teach at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Doug Hyde brought with him experience and knowledge as well as a desire to learn all he could about other native cultures. The following year he left the institute to devote himself full-time to sculpting. Doug Hyde's works sculptured in bronze or stone, often in monumental size, frequently represent the stories told to him during his youth or portray more historical events. What is of great importance to him is that they are accurate representations of their subject matter, and that process only occurs "when I can visualize the finished sculpture in my mind."

Doug Hyde is now a resident of Prescott, Arizona. His works may be viewed in the collections of the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Heard Museum, Museum of the Southwest, Southwest Museum, Gilcrease Museum, Eitelborg Museum, and the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center among others. In 1990 the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, provided Doug Hyde with a retrospective exhibit of his work.

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The Palm Springs Art in Public Places Commission has a website that highlights its mission, along with providing a photo gallery of their collection of works, including this sculpture.

From doing some online research regarding the name and history behind these two female sculptures, I learned that Palm Springs was once called 'Agua Caliente' (Hot Water) by Spanish explorers to the area. Directly across the street from these sculptures and in front of the Spa Resort Casino (tribal owned) is a natural hot spring that was once a mecca for natives of the area (and later, tourists) to bathe in its mineral-rich waters for healthful and spiritual benefits. There are two historical markers nearby this sculpture that highlight the history of the hot spring and natives of this area. The land that these sculptures and hotel casino reside are part of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation and much of Palm Springs leases the land from the local tribes and the natives have profited greatly from it over the decades.

These two sculptures in essence depict a typical scene of what life would have looked like here when the natives (locally known as the Kausik Cahuilla Indians) once hunted, farmed and bathed in the hot spring nearby.

Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Agua Caliente Women Figure Type: Human Artist Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Doug Hyde Date created or placed or use 'Unknown' if not known: 1994 Materials used: Bronze Location: Median Island, E Tahquitz Canyon Way and Indian Canyon Drive

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