Nancy Walter talks about her process of using found rust objects to dye paper and fabric during her Residency with us.
​See video HERE.

Amanda Saint Claire was our final resident at the Desert Dairy this season. She sneaked in when it was just getting, let's say, warm. She spent her days in the apartment AC writing, and her evenings painting and creating a personal space in Cindy Zimmerman's "Rain Grotto." Amanda is developing a sound practice, plus the lighting and scents were gorgeous. www.amandasaintclaire.com

Cindy Rinne worked in both the Residency apartment and in the White Box Gallery, getting ready for her performance at the High Desert Fringe Festival at Tower Homestead in Wonder Valley. She makes costumes and ritual objects, and performs her poetry. She received an Arts Connection, San Bernardino Arts Council Micro Grant to come to the Desert Dairy! 

I am more than my body
 
The Netherworld holds
confusion     fear     loss
   my body needs               repair
I retreat inside my womb
 
Lanterns light the way
   I bathe            in calming waters
incense        prayer        not knowing
close my eyes and enter the silence
 
As the world breathes me
a bloodline       of the unseen
    underwater ancestors
intone     healing sounds     in unison   
 
Aura shifts beyond my pain
   my soul conducts cosmic currents
I gather clothes     adorned     with stars
  Polaris        glows          within        
 
©_Cindy Rinne

Photographer Patricio Chavez was in residency at the Desert Dairy in April. It was fascinating to watch him shoot his images, which he projected onto our sand dune, trees and other objects at night. He had our first exhibition at the Office Gallery at Mojaveland during our April popup. 

Linda is here with us for the third (plus) time. She will show new work during Mojaveland's Pop Up weekend, in the Cowboy Dressing Room Gallery. Very excited to be using this new space, and have her interact with the public after their golf games.

Susan Roden's second residency at the Desert Dairy coincided with the Desert Open Studios in Palm Springs. We got the keys to our new studio at 7am the day of the opening, a bit of stress! But the show was a great beginning for us "down below." 
Not all residents do an exhibition during their stay with us, but we do offer try to offer something if the stars align. Now we have three options for gallery space: the DD, Mojaveland, and the Via Negocio in Palm Springs. Fun!

​Michele Guieu + Monica Rickler Marks
Desert Dairy Artists in Residence
February 2022
 
You are invited to an open house to view the works of Michele and Monica.
 
Thursday, February 24
3-5pm
 
Desert Dairy Artist Residency
74256 Mesa Dr.
Twentynine Palms, CA 92277
Information: 619 869-0513
 
____
 
Michele Guieu
Slow Down
Ephemeral installation in the Mojave Desert made of rocks found on site
The Desert Dairy
February 2022
 
Slow Down is the third site-specific ephemeral installation I have created at Desert Dairy. The expanse of the Mojave Desert is the perfect setting to spend time in nature and create installations using only materials I find on-site. This time, I am using rocks. Here, I spend my days working outside, in silence and slowly, feeling the hours changing, with the heat going up and down. Slowing down is an idea we may all need to reflect on in a world that may soon not have all the energy and resources that we take for granted.
 
Michele Guieu is a multidisciplinary artist, art educator, and activist focusing on the multiple existential threats we face today and the urgency to change our relationship with nature, recognizing that we are all part of it. Michele is the Arts Coordinator at the MAHB @mahglobal (Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere), a Stanford initiative. She is also the creator and curator of What's Next for Earth @whatsnextforearth, an art project on Instagram supported by the MAHB and the Post Carbon Institute, to reflect on the climate emergency, the human predicament, and envision a desirable future.
 
website: micheleguieu.com
twitter: @micheleguieu
instagram: @micheleguieu
 
____
 
Monica Rickler Marks
Reclaim  
A collection of mixed media art utilizing discarded objects found on site.
The Desert Dairy
February 2022
 
During her residency at the Desert Dairy, Monica Rickler Marks allowed the desert atmosphere to guide her process, eschewing the structured and thematic work she typically creates. Reclaim is a personal journey of discovery to reclaim what was once abandoned and forgotten. Utilizing paint and clay, she also incorporates objects she finds in the Mojave in her assemblages. Texture, layering, color choices and negative space all become informed by the sense of light and dry desert air.
 
Monica Rickler Marks is a mixed media collage and assemblage artist from Los Angeles. She received her BA in Art from California State University, Northridge, and her MA in Clinical Art Therapy at Loyola Marymount University. Monica believes strongly in the power of expressive arts to promote emotional growth and healing; typically, her art shines a light on identities, disabilities, and differences that are often kept hidden from the public, exploring biases and harmful social norms that are rooted in misogyny, ableism, racism, body-shaming, and anti-Semitism. Monica often focuses on erasing the stigma of and normalizing mental illness. Her mixed media collages and assemblages combine found objects, sculpted clay and sometimes imagery and text.
 
Website: www.monicamarksart.com
Instagram: @monicamarksart
Facebook: Monicamarksart
 

​November 30-December 9, 2021

Artists in the desert commonly use found materials in their work. Whether it's weathered wood, rusting metal, glass shards, broken tools, bent nails, or gnarly roots — it's all fair game — and these objects are scattered throughout the sun scorched land waiting to be found.

The aesthetic of used and discarded items in the sand appeal to me as well, although I usually scour thrift stores and rummage sales. The appeal of such items isn’t for everyone. This attraction requires a certain appreciation or vision. Not for folks with an affinity for the shiny and new but for those preferring the cracked, decaying patina, and marks left from age, exposure to the elements, and time. Turning refuse into something valued, appreciated, even loved, sparks their motivation to create. This might explain one of the reasons I am pulled to the desert. 

In late November 2021 I had the privilege of spending time at Desert Dairy art residency in 29 Palms, in the Mojave desert just a few minutes to the north entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. One friend inquired “why would you go to 29 Palms… there’s nothing there”, to which I replied “exactly”. I was not disappointed! From my dwelling I observed the sunrise and sunset and the kaleidoscope of ever changing colors, two healthy coyotes preparing to hunt, star-filled skies and miles of sand and desert brush. What I did not see out my window was urban sprawl, or any other evidence of human life… and this “nothing there” provided time to reflect which for any creative person is “everything one needs”!

I arrived without a plan, with many supplies in tow, hopeful the “place” would guide me. The quiet provided space to slow down. I completed an essay, and an embellished garment. As an ode to the Desert Dairy’s original homestead — my garment is a vintage tunic adorned with embroidery, appliqué, and a Mary Oliver poem. I also scavenged and gathered bundles of found objects for rust dying, made a bunch of block printing stamps, documented the area for a book, did historical research on the original homesteaders who farmed the land and hiked. The residency was a great information gathering mission for my waiting upcycled clothing project which will require months to accomplish. I returned home feeling an enormous sense of accomplishment. That’s what’s “there” in 29 Palms. It’s a poke for my creative muse.

nancywalter.com

Multimedia artist, musician, and entrepreneur Oshri Hakak joined us for a week of perfect fall weather. He worked on illustrations for a children's book he's writing, a project that had been on his shelf for a long time. He also practiced his French horn in the barn, our first music to be played there. It was wonderful. And he gave us a sound healing as a parting gift.
Oshri hopes to come back to the Desert Dairy again soon, he got so much done. For now, he has to go back to manage his vegan chocolate company. A man of many talents!