naked barbies, HAMBAMs, and patron silver

i promised nudity and tequila didn’t i?!

well, i make sure to follow through.  actually, make that naked-barbie-with-cockroach-between-legs-atop-animal-skull.  NOW you have an official introduction to the highway 62 art tours….

the weekend was undoubtedly as much of a whirlwind as i expected!  it was INCREDIBLE, overwhelming, inspiring, emotional at times, hallucinogenic at times (naked cockroach barbie was just the beginning), and by 10pm on sunday night, as steve aptly said, “the only damn thing left to do is have another drink!”

steve & ruth had family here all weekend starting wednesday, camping out on the property and helping with preparations.  we spent all day thursday and friday setting up the studio space, moving pieces, and sharing delicious meals every night.  as i walked the dusty path up from my cabin saturday morning at 8:30am, coffee cup in hand, visitors were already starting to arrive for the day.  it didn’t stop all weekend.  highlights, supplemented heavily by photos, included the following:

-        starry-sky, coyote-sung dinners up on the riemans’ porch and courtyard every night, including the biggest artichokes i’ve ever seen, let alone eaten off hand-made dishes.

-        watching an incredible array of people tour the property, become fascinated with pieces, ask questions, pour their emotions on the table.  getting to truly connect and talk in-depth with more fascinating and talented people (and some sure-to-be new friends) than i have in a long time.

-        tony & bobette milici.  i showed up at their house & studio via recommendation by ruth, who told me that tony does raku pottery (a japanese style of pottery that ruth knows i’m obsessed with).  all the other ceramic artists that ruth loves are traditional, simple, 70’s-style earthen potters.  i just about peed my pants when i showed up to a massive quonset hut compound, entirely off-the-grid, where tony was chugging a beer on the front stoop, in front of a 10ft-wide sign hanging from the 2^nd story, that read Bobette in bright red cursive light bulbs.  

tony didn’t leave my side for the next 45 minutes, taking me up to the concrete slab where he had just finished a raku piece.  he’d, moments ago, pulled it out of an old bathtub filled with sawdust (in raku, you remove the piece from the kiln WHILE glowing hot, and put it in a reducing environment, where combustible materials are forced to pull oxygen out of the glazes and clay, leaving behind wild and unpredictable metallic colors.)  he insisted that i MUST come over absolutely any time i want, to get into pottery mischief with him.  then he took me inside…. where i was greeted by a bear’s head mounted on the wall, next to an enormous 8ft-long x 5ft-high black and white polka dot high heel, next to naked cockroach barbie herself.  and that was only the beginning of the barbies.  and did i mention their house and studio spaces are entirely off the grid?  needless to say, i will DEFINITELY be stopping by tony’s to do some pottery asap.

-        tina bluefield’s painting studio.  the woman can paint.  exquisitely.  she is a true talent out here.  her recent work involves more abstract washes of color and is absolutely stunning.  my friend lily had introduced me to her work a while back, and i had fallen in love with a small painting/collage she’d made.  i must have mentioned it a few times, but knew i’d probably never see it in person.  last year at christmas, i opened up the last box in front of me, a gift from my parents, to find that very collage.  i burst into tears.  i was so shocked and blown away to be staring right at it in front of me, but even moreso i was so touched by the gesture from my parents.  it was one of the few belongings i brought out here with me, and it was cling’s favorite perch beside the window.  little did i know, that tina hadn’t been sure i’d ever gotten the piece, let alone liked it.  so when i walked into her studio, met her for the first time, and told her the story, it was enough to give me goosebumps.  as an artist, there’s probably nothing more powerful than connecting with someone who was so deeply moved, for whatever reason, by your work.  it was a beautiful thing to be a part of.

-        john lauretig and nora lousignot.  THE john, and THE nora.  i could spend an entire blog introducing these two, who have quickly become some of my closest friends here.  but for now, suffice it to say that john is a law enforcement ranger in joshua tree, been working for the park service for years all over the country, makes and sells handmade crocheted hats (HAMBAMs… HAnd Made By A Man), and has an alter ego (it really describes his personality best) in which he is a rock and roll legend, Johnny Victor.  nora is one of the most naturally creative and talented people i’ve met, a brilliant mathematical mind-turned artist, who met john in hawaii, and now has churned out everything from beautiful pottery and clay sculpture, to deeply poignant paintings, to elaborate cactus gardens and now handmade purses sewn from myriads of salvaged fabrics and materials.  she and john are very likely the most thoughtful, welcoming, and generous people you’ll ever come across.  i was lucky enough to meet the two of them through my best friend lil (the one who introduced me to this whole place), and now i can’t ever get enough of them.  they hosted a joint show, at their wondrous house, with nora’s creations alongside, of course, hundreds of Johnny Victor’s HAMBAMs. 

        

-        a special early evening reception at two adjacent galleries in j-tree: the red arrow & JTAG (the latter a collaborative gallery where steve displays some of his work, and which is owned by a wonderful friend and artist himself, fred).  tim easton, a local singer-songwriter, strummed a guitar from the back of a pickup, while many were schmoozing and nibbling inside the red arrow, where deborah martin’s hauntingly amazing realist paintings of abandoned wonder valley homesteads were on exhibit. 

-        saturday night circus and after-party under the stars and in a massive converted big top barn.  i showed up with my friend matt, somehow recognized the first 4 people i ran into (pretty much the 4 people i know in town), and then immediately stumbled upon a massive photoshoot, where scandalously-clad humans in various wild outfits were posing with a giant pair of silver sequined angel wings (7ft wingspan) in front of an abandoned freight car.  spotlights, disco lights, everywhere.  stepping into the barn the scene only got stranger (slash better).  the first person i ran into was a man in a giant spandex transformer-like unisuit with a full HD television screen playing psychedlic animation across his abdomen, and a silver 2ft-long battery pack on his back that shot 3 fluorescent green laser beams up onto the ceiling as he danced.  nope, this was not a costume party. never, sober (until of course, i found out there were $2 beers), have i felt like i was on so many drugs.  it was amazing.

  

-        the weekend-capping event:  sunday night dinner & festivities in steve’s woodshop.  it started years ago as steve & ruth gathered their fellow artists together to have a drink and put their feet up after the tours were over.  but now, it has morphed into a full-on 40-person potluck and party, complete with a full bar, and open-air guitar singing.  steve’s margaritas are, without a doubt, the epicenter of the night.  ruth cooked a feast, including pork with spicy tomato sauce and spiked with chocolate.  everyone gathered around the woodshop tables and spilled out in the courtyard to recount stories from the weekend, and share their love for each other and this incredible desert community.

       

all in all, steve & ruth sold (i’m guessing, but am not sure) roughly $20-22,000 worth of art.  ruth was cooking pork for 5 days.  the two of them were on their feet all weekend, and still were the life of the party sunday night.  over the course of two days, we had hundreds of visitors come through the property and studio from places as far away as germany and austria.  some people’s minds were blown.  some couldn’t speak.  some cried.  many snuck onto my porch to sit down and take it all in.  it’s impossible to overstate how overwhelming an experience it is just to be here amidst the art and the landscape.  its a feeling that, every moment, i try not to take for granted.  

at one point on sunday afternoon, i was in the studio talking to a charming woman named phillis, who i’ve now met a few times and know well.  i was gushing over just how happy i was, how impossible it all is to articulate, when steve walked over.  she made a comment about how absolutely lucky i am to be working with him, and how lucky he must feel to have me.  for a moment we were like an awkward high school couple, unsure who should, and how to, respond.  finally steve turns and looks at me, smiles, and then says to phillis, “yeah….we’re in love..”

it was hands-down my favorite moment of the weekend.