Artist says he’s “blowing up” JTAM sign outside Joshua Tree on July 4 after foundation’s non-profit status suspended

Even if you’re not aware of what’s planned for the spot, you’ve almost certainly seen the JTAM sign on the south side of Highway 62 right outside of Joshua Tree. Up until a few days ago, I was under the impression those letters stood for “Joshua Tree Art Museum.” The project first appeared on Z107.7’s radar as a press release sent in June of 2023 from an organization calling itself The Townley Foundation Museum, named after New York artist Shane Townley. The press release stated that the Joshua Tree Art Museum was going to be free and open to the public with over 50 artworks from California artists. The press release pointed to townleyfoundation.org where you can learn more information or donate to the museum.

Something felt a little off about the press release and the project. The 501c3 non-profit status of the Townley Foundation checked out at the time, but the press release was light on details for a brand new art museum that was supposedly going to be breaking ground in just a few short months. We didn’t report on the press release or the nascent musuem, and later I noticed the website for the Townley Foundation had disappeared. Other than the JTAM sign, it just didn’t seem like much was happening with the property or the project that was promising to bring art to the people of the hi-desert.

But then a May 28 article from Los Angeles Times Art Critic Christopher Knight says that the Townley Foundation and its non-profit status had its operations suspended by the California Attorney General’s office. Since the 2023 announcement of the Joshua Tree Art Museum, the Alien Robot Museum has opened up in the Art Queen Complex in Joshua Tree. The foundation calls that space a “community outreach project,” and the Shane Townley Foundation’s website now redirects to Shane Townley’s personal website, with a page dedicated to the “Townley Arts Foundation, INC.”

The Joshua Tree Art Museum’s website currently has a photo of Shane and his wife sitting in front of the JTAM sign with “Coming in 2028” written underneath.

On Tuesday, July 1 just after 5:00 p.m., I was driving east on Highway 62 when I noticed a Tesla with its hazards on parked by the JTAM sign. A man was spray painting what appeared to be a set of crosshairs on over the big block letter, so I pulled over, grabbed my phone, and went over and talked to him. He identified himself as Shane Townley and was eager to talk to me about the crosshairs he was painting and what that means for the museum.

Shane explained that “We’re going to blow up the sign, via AI. The sign is going to be ‘blown up.’ JTAM actually means ‘heat-seeking missile,’ it’s slang military for ‘heat-seeking missile.’ Nobody caught onto it so now we can announce that the sign is going to look like its been blown up. It’s AI, obviously. We’re not going to blow anything up. During the fourth of July it’s going to be revealed with the explosion and the heat-seeking missile. Then after that, the new name is going to be revealed. It was never supposed to be called ‘JTAM’ because that’s a heat-seeking missile.”

Shane went on to say that the new name will be “revealed in a month.”

I couldn’t find sources that refereced a heat-seeking missile being referred to as “JTAM,” slang or otherwise. However the AIM-260 JATM stands for “Joint Advanced Tactical Missile,” an air-to-air munition developed by Lockheed Martin. 

The sign now has two large crosshairs painted over each side of it, and according to Townley, this was all part of the plan. It appears that quite a few folks fell for it, including the Desert Sun where Townley was quoted as saying “Joshua Tree has incredible artistic energy, but there hasn’t been a central institution to showcase and support it. We’re building something that belongs to the community and highlights its creative legacy.”

While talking with me on the side of the busy highway, Shane talked more about the plans for the nascent museum, saying “One thing I can add is we already have two architects fighting over the project. One of them was on the design team of the Getty. The other one is connected to a lot of celebrities.”

I asked him if he thought that was something that Joshua Tree needed, to which Shane said “Yeah, we’re all human, right? So we all need to say something against what’s happening. My wife, the co-director, she’s from Honduras. So she’s going to give a voice to those that don’t have a voice through art, as well as local artists. We’ve made a lot of friends with local artists.”

When I clarified that I was addressing the “celebrities” part of the museum design, Townley clarified.

“Yeah, maybe we’ll go the Getty side, but it all depends. It’s up to the board and who they decide to choose. It’s all based on designs of the museum to make sure the museum has the desert aesthetic. So the celebrity side might not even win, but the Getty guy actually has a house in Pioneertown, so you never know.”

I asked Shane if he had begun the process of filing permits with the county, but he answered “that’s the architect’s job.” He went on to say “I went into New York and set up a huge art center. It took six years to set up that art center, but I grew up in San Clemente. I was born in New York, went to San Clemente High School, and now I just bought a house here three years ago.”

Details continue to remain light on the museum’s website which still refers to JTAM as the “Joshua Tree Art Museum” or sometimes referred to as just “The JOSH.”

If you are an artist who has been looking forward to exhibiting their art at the Joshua Tree Art Museum, it appears you may be waiting a little longer the for the groundbreaking of the now currently-unnamed facility.

Links:

501c3 tax-exempt status for Shane Townley Foundation (PDF link)