California Desert Art by Ann Japenga

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Desert Artists, Featured

Edgewalker: Columba Krebs’ Search for Cosmic Community

by Ann JapengaNovember 11, 2023

On the final night of the Joshua Tree spacecraft convention in 1958, Hollywood stuntmen tumbled seven stories off the face of Giant Rock. Columba Krebs waited in the wings while organizer George Van Tassel’s daughters performed songs taught to them…

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Desert Artists, Featured

The Last Eviction: Edward H. Davis and the Quest to Document Native California

by Ann JapengaJune 24, 2023

The evicted residents of the Kumeyaay village raced to assemble a goat corral and government-issued tents before the rains came. Trunks, boxes, stoves, manos and bedding were scattered around the camp. A frail Easterner sat nearby making sketches of the…

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Desert Artists, Featured

Bloom in Luxury: Effie Anderson Smith and the Yucca School of Desert Art

by Steven CarlsonApril 13, 2023

Editor’s note: This article by Steven Carlson suggests an entirely new school of desert art. While we’ve deemed the Coachella Valley painters the Smoketree School, Effie Anderson Smith (Steven’s great-great aunt) devoted much of her work to the misunderstood yucca.…

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Desert Artists, Featured

Back to the Pleistocene: Adventures with a Forgotten Taos Modern  

by Ann JapengaDecember 7, 2022

On a November day in 1961, Emma Lou Davis was returning home from an archaeology dig in her usual grunge attire: Shorts, heavy boots and work shirt. Her sweat-sculpted hair stuck out in all directions, her fingernails were grimy, face…

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Desert Artists, Museum Exhibits, News

Sharon Ellis, California Biennial, Rita Deanin Abbey, Ol’ Paint and More

by Ann JapengaOctober 14, 2022

It seems the desert herself has elected an ambassador and sent her out into the world to represent us. Sharon Ellis–who works quietly in Yucca Valley–has a show, New Works on Paper, at the Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles through October…

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Desert Artists, Featured, Galleries

Happy Are the Painters: How a Cocktail Waitress and a Roadside Artist Sparked a Desert Art Happening

by Ann JapengaSeptember 28, 2022

Each day when she finished her shift at the Shadow Mountain Club in Palm Desert, Evelyn Chevoor swung by the base of the mountain where Fred Chisnall was painting beside the panel truck that doubled as his home. Chisnall was…

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Newest Comments on California Desert Art

  • Gary Shepherd on The Hidden World of R. Lee Miller and the Araby Rock Houses
  • jim develyn on The Desert Art Dynasty of John and Kathi Hilton
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  • Denise Marie Cross on Staying Visible: How a Small-Town Couple Boosted Agnes Pelton’s Star
  • Leslie Roth on Agnes Pelton’s Fish Story, Billie’s Cabin, Sharon Ellis Show, Tribute to Jan Rindfleisch and more
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NEWS

  • Agnes Pelton’s Fish Story, Billie’s Cabin, Sharon Ellis Show, Tribute to Jan Rindfleisch and more
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  • Sharon Ellis, California Biennial, Rita Deanin Abbey, Ol’ Paint and More
  • Eric Merrell at La Quinta Museum, a Headstone for Christina Lillian, Farewell to Kathi Hilton, Agnes’ Dead Reckoning and More
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READ THE LATEST NEWS

  • Agnes Pelton’s Fish Story, Billie’s Cabin, Sharon Ellis Show, Tribute to Jan Rindfleisch and more
  • Carl Bray Revisionism, Jane Culp’s Bighorn Skull Studies, Fair Ladies, Agnes’ Encourager and More
  • Sharon Ellis, California Biennial, Rita Deanin Abbey, Ol’ Paint and More
  • Eric Merrell at La Quinta Museum, a Headstone for Christina Lillian, Farewell to Kathi Hilton, Agnes’ Dead Reckoning and More
  • Michael Moore, Carl Chew, Cholla Chairs, Triassic Quilts and More

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