artsy forager

Tag: Joshua Tree

  • This Artsy Life: So Long, 2013!

    This Artsy Life: So Long, 2013!

    I don’t know about you, dear Artsies, but I am ready to say goodbye to 2013 and get to the good stuff that I just know is waiting in the New Year!  All in all, 2013 was a pretty good year for me and Mr. Forager.  For today’s This Artsy Life post, I put together a little look back at some of our favorite moments from 2013 [ in case you’re wondering about the song choice, it is “our song” and still fits Mr. F & I so perfectly ]–

    No life is ever perfect and ours, though exciting and full of adventure compared to most, is no different.  We learned a lot this year, about ourselves and each other.  We each went down new roads, sometimes things worked out and sometimes they didn’t.  But in the process, we grew and we feel like we know better now what we want and where we’d like to be.

    You can catch up on the specifics of our year in the This Artsy Life archives.  Starting in 2014, I’ll take a break from doing these features each week but will be posting scenes from our life on Instagram and will pop in here on the blog with an occasional This Artsy Life post when I have something special to share.  Meanwhile, I’m excited to begin a daily creative exercise that I’ll be posting on Instagram each day!  More on that later this week!

    Mr. Forager and I wish you all the very best in the New Year!  Thank you for coming along on this journey with us.

    All images by Artsy Forager.  Video created using the Flipagram app.

  • Lucid Stead: Phillip K Smith

    Lucid Stead: Phillip K Smith

    This time last year, Mr. Forager and I were in a very different place.  For six months, we traded our beloved Northwest for the California high desert.  Joshua Tree, California, to be exact.  And although we ultimately decided desert life wasn’t for us, we nonetheless felt the beauty and magic to be found there.  In his Lucid Stead installation project, Indio, CA artist Phillip K Smith transforms a 70 year old desert homestead into a miraculous mirage.

    Lucid Stead by Phillip K. Smith III Lucid Stead by Phillip K. Smith III Lucid Stead by Phillip K. Smith III Lucid Stead by Phillip K. Smith III Lucid Stead by Phillip K. Smith III

    The desert, with its vast expanses, can be a disorienting, isolating place, which always made me wonder– what was it that made first settlers decide to stop and try to make a life from such an unforgiving landscape?  Perhaps it was the intense light and the shadows it creates or the endless sky with its countless stars?

    In Lucid Stead ( sorry, now closed to the public ), Smith gilds this desert shack in mirrors, reflecting the sandy surrounds and creating an every changing spectral form on the landscape.  At night, the mirrors give way to darkness, colored LED lights lending an alien air.

    To see more of Phillip K Smith‘s work, please visit his website.  If you’re in Southern California, you can see an exhibition of Smith’s latest works at Royale Projects in Palm Desert.

    All images are via the Royale Projects website.

  • This Artsy Life: Weekend 16 [ Our Last in Joshua Tree ]

    This Artsy Life: Weekend 16 [ Our Last in Joshua Tree ]

    Happy Earth Day, dear Artsies! I wish I could tell you that in anticipation of the celebration of our beautiful planet that Mr. Forager & I got out and did some hiking during our last weekend in Joshua Tree. But alas, there were errands to run, boxes to pack, and it was close to 90 degrees here in the desert, which when hiking with little shade feels like triple digits!

    As we prepare to bid farewell to JT, I thought you might enjoy a few peeks inside our past forays into JT National Park to celebrate Earth Day!

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    It’s been lovely, Joshua Tree.  I wish we could say we will miss you like crazy, but you deserve folks who love you like we never could.  It’s not you, it’s us.  Farewell.

    To see more images from This Artsy Life, follow Artsy Forager on Instagram!  We don’t have any adorable kitties or pups to fill up our feed, but there is the occasional super cute image of the gosh darn handsome Mr. Forager.

    All images by Artsy Forager.

  • Edge Effects: Daniel Kukla

    The end of our time in the desert is quickly coming to a close ( we’re now at less than three weeks to go! ).  The desert is a place of strong lines.  Folks either love it or hate it.  Jagged mountains cut across clear blue skies.  Tropical oasis spring up amid the arid sand.  Last year, photographer Daniel Kulka spent an artist residency in Joshua Tree National Park studying the juxtapositions of desert elements, The Edge Effects.

    By positioning a glass mirror on an easel among the desert terrain, Kukla captures the harsh beauty of Joshua Tree.  What is seen may be the stark contrast of a cobalt sky amid the beige or the glass may seem to disappear as it captures what can be a confusing landscape.

    The imagery of the single easel, alone in the desert recalls the abandonment seen everywhere in this place.  Empty homesteads left to ruin, leftover junk discarded among the cholla and joshuas.  In the openness of this place, what is cast away is not hidden, it is stranded for all to see.

    To see more of Daniel Kukla’s work, please visit his website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • This Artsy Life: Weekend 14 [ Artsy & Mr. Forager Get Busy ]

    This Artsy Life: Weekend 14 [ Artsy & Mr. Forager Get Busy ]

    No, not like that. We had one of those crazy running-around-trying-to-get-things-done-before-we-move kind of weekends. Mr. F & I love to hike and I am long overdue a new pair of hiking boots. Which isn’t as easy a purchase as you might think!  Good boots don’t come cheap and the last thing you want on mile eight of a fifteen mile hike is to start getting blisters, believe me. So we drove all the way to Rancho Cucamonga to the nearest REI. Like Cinderella, I tried on a bunch of glass slippers boots but alas, no magic. Stopped in at a few art supply stores while there as I had it in my head to finish a large painting before we leave Joshua Tree. In less than three weeks. And next weekend we’ll be in San Diego. Mr. F delicately suggested I might be biting off more than I can chew.. he was right and besides they didn’t have the size I wanted on sale. So I decided to back burner it for a while.

    We shopped for toddler birthday gifts and fun stuff like dental floss and toilet paper and took a break for a wine tasting ( thanks over-indulger for spilling red wine all over me! ) and a little sushi, which I’ve been dying for lately. Sunday was spent with me doing a little research for this little blog ( look for another redesign soon! ) and Mr. F bottling his latest batch o’ beer. Oh and we started packing for our move! We have no idea where we are going yet, but we’ve begun preparing for the journey. I think there’s something poetic and utterly hopeful about that. 😉 I didn’t take the time to snap many pics this weekend, but we spied some lovely spring desert blooms on our Sunday evening walk. Hope you enjoy!

    [ cholla ]

    [ prairie sunflowers, maybe? ]

    [ no idea what either of these are, but they sure are pretty! ]

    [ prickly pear ]

    Anyone else in the midst of a move?  Hoping to begin planning one?  Any desert plant enthusiasts out there know what my unidentified blooms are?  What spring flowers are you spotting these days?

     

  • This Artsy Life: Weekend 13 [ Good Thing We Had Our Fun on Saturday ]

    This Artsy Life: Weekend 13 [ Good Thing We Had Our Fun on Saturday ]

    It seems like every time we go to visit our friends in San Diego, one of us inevitably catches whatever those three cute little germ monsters AKA The James Boys are harboring.  After our return, Mr. F kept complaining of not feeling so hot and I was feeling great.. until last Thursday.  Apparently, it was my turn at the virus wheel.  We’d already planned a day of wine tasting with friends we met on our first travel assignment in the Northwest, so I popped a few Dayquil and soldiered on.  There was wine to be drunk and friends to catch up with!  But then Sunday came.

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    [ rare Artsy photo ]

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    [ southern cali is in full bloom! ]

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    [ made a sweet lil goat friend ]

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    [ sharing of stories over vino ]

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    [ how I spent most of Sunday ]

    I felt great for most of the day on Saturday, until about ten minutes before we left the last winery.  Then I found myself barely awake for the ride home, most of the day Sunday and a good part of the morning today.  Being sick is no fun!! *cough*  Going to make myself some soup and head back to bed.  Thank God for Hulu.  Take care, Artsies!  I’ll see you on the other side of this cold.

  • Guest Foraging for UGallery: Curated Persona: The Hippie Chick Next Door

    Guest Foraging for UGallery: Curated Persona: The Hippie Chick Next Door

    Part of what originally drew us to take a work contract for Mr. Forager in Joshua Tree was the artsy, hippie-ish community here.  We got a hint of it while looking at JT online and decided that if we’re gonna live in the desert for six months, living in a uniquely inspiring and art loving community was the way to go!  So for this month’s Curated Persona series for UGallery, I’ve put together a collection of artwork inspired by Joshua Tree and The Hippie Chick Next Door.  Check it out here!

    Green Wings by Mia Henry
    Green Wings by Mia Henry

    Image via UGallery.

  • This Artsy Life: Weekend 11 [ Artsy & Mr. Forager Daydream ]

    This was our 3rd weekend in a row at home in Joshua Tree.. let’s just say we’re getting a bit stir crazy!  Especially since we heard of a possible job assignment for Mr. F in an area we would really like to see and experience ( could possibly have more news on that front even today! *fingers crossed* ).  So much of our weekend, in between Mr. F doing coursework, baking bread, making pasta, drinking pina coladas ( we like getting caught in the rain ), piles of laundry, Mr. F’s fourth turn at home brewing, and tending a delish Beef & Ale Stew for St. Patty’s, we talked and dreamed about what could be our next landing spot.  All the while melting in the Southern California spring sun.

    [ I might miss this view. A tiny bit. ]

    [ fresh pasta process ]

    [ life changing loaf ]

    [ channelling Bannon Fu ]

    [ what could our next view look like? ]

    How about you, Artsies?  Any daydreaming and plan-making happen in your world this weekend?  Want to see more snaps from our artsy life?  Follow me on Instagram!

    All images by Artsy Forager.

  • This Artsy Life: Weekend 10 [ Stuff We Did. Stuff We Didn’t Do. ]

    This Artsy Life: Weekend 10 [ Stuff We Did. Stuff We Didn’t Do. ]

    Please forgive me for getting this latest This Artsy Life post up a bit tardy. The last seven days have been a bit out of whack around these parts, with our beloved ( and much relyed on! ) Macbook taking a nosedive late Tuesday night, three treks to the Apple store an hour away in five days, major life decisions made, a visit with the only blood family I have in Cali, and the time change, well.. the actual life part of This Artsy Life took a bit of precedent. 😉

    In all that craziness we did manage to squeeze in a little ArtWalking in Joshua Tree and some much needed downtime with my San Franciscan cousin in Palm Springs. We found some new artists to love at both The Red Arrow Gallery & Joshua Tree Art Gallery and bonded with my cuz over being the only family members crazy enough to choose the West over the South. I so enjoyed the time with my cousin that I didn’t snap one photo all day. You’ll just have to take my word for what a gorgeous day it was! But I’m happy to share a few snaps from the one time I did take out the camera– at the Joshua Tree ArtWalk.

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    [ almost bought this piece by Judy Wold a few months ago.. still coveting ]

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    [ we both loved this sculpture by Steve Reiman ]

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    [ lovely lines and texture by Bret Philpot* ]

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    [ Mr. F’s fave ( right ) and my fave ( left ) ]

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    [ awesome painted cubes ]

    Things are inching back toward normal today in This Artsy Life, though it will only be a few more weeks before we begin making plans to move on to our next spot.  And then what madness will begin!  Want to see more from our JT ArtWalk? Follow Artsy Forager on Instagram.  I might even show you obligatory-Instagram-lunch photos.

    *Bret Philpot’s website doesn’t appear to be working.  Sorry.  If you’d like to get in touch with the artist, please contact The Red Arrow Gallery.

    All images by Artsy Forager.

  • This Artsy Life: Weekend 9 [ Artsy & Mr. Forager Slow Down ]

    This Artsy Life: Weekend 9 [ Artsy & Mr. Forager Slow Down ]

    Mr. Forager and I are in the midst of taking a bit of a sabbatical from wandering hither and yon on our weekends.  This was our second weekend in a row in which we just stayed put here in Joshua Tree.  These quiet, slower weekends bring opportunities for slowing down and really engaging with each other and just enjoying the normality of routine that we really miss when we’re exploring and adventuring.  These weekends are helping us enjoy our last two months here in Southern California.  The Northwest has our heart, but when the light hits the mountains here, just before the sun begins to set, we are content with where we are in that fleeting moment.  I hope you’ll forgive these more mundane installations of This Artsy Life.  But sometimes, the slow down brings the rush around into focus, you know?

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    [ new mural in “downtown” Joshua Tree ]**

     

    [ first bloom spotted on our Joshua Tree ]

    [ subliminal messages from beer? ]

    [ warm SoCal weather was perfect for grilling ]

    [ Sunday bottling ]

    I hope perhaps you enjoyed a “slowed down” weekend, too!  I wish I could say some painting was done this weekend.. more on that in a new Finding My Own Artsy later this week.

    **Mural by Larger Than Life Murals, including an enlargement of a painting by Marcia Geiger.

    All images by Artsy Forager.