This article first appeared in Palm Springs Life, Winter/Spring 2013 Any Palm Springs visitor can board a bus and tour Liberace’s pad. With only a little more effort, you can see the view that inspired mystical visions from Agnes Pelton’s…
Tag: Agnes Pelton
Rare Agnes Pelton Abstract Saved From Junkheap
I was exiting the rotunda of Cathedral City Hall after a talk by Agnes Pelton scholar Michael Zakian. He had just finished saying that Pelton’s abstracts are rare and becoming more and more valuable. “We think we might have found…
Agnes Pelton Revival in Cathedral City
The first-annual Agnes Pelton Birthday Tea–on August 22, 2011–was hosted by Peter Palladino and Simeon Den, the new owners of Pelton’s former home in Cathedral City. Though Pelton died in 1961, her presence at the gathering was as strong as…
Border Foxes, John Hilton, Eric Merrell, Effie! and More
When a fox named Fresno encounters three border-crossing foxes from Mexico, they all wind up partying at a palm oasis–in a series of enchanting illustrations by British-born artist Anthony W. Parr. “A fox knows no borders, just how to have…
Lomaland, Pil-O-Rox, Diego Rivera, Transcendental Painting Group and More News
Art and Theosophy at Lomaland You don’t have to labor through Helena Blavatsky’s tomes to get a taste for Theosophy, an esoteric belief system that inspired Agnes Pelton and so many others. The teachings are notoriously opaque to modern minds,…
Cady Wells and the Desert Modern
I’m no longer surprised when I hear about a hot Southwestern artist and then find he or she had ties to the Coachella Valley. In fact, I’ve come to expect those connections. The newest discovery is Henry Cady Wells, a…
Two Agneses, Middle Earth Maps, Joe De Yong, Daughter of Zorro and more
April 18, 2019–Ever since Agnes Pelton and Agnes Martin were paired in a 2009 exhibit at the Orange County Museum of Art, the two have seemed like sisters–though apparently they never met. Both women sought vastness in the desert (Pelton…
Bascom Burns, Tributes to Phil Kovinick, Tim Townsley, Silvio Silvestri and More News
November 28, 2018–An update for those of you following the saga of the Bascom Ranch. A group called Coachella Valley Preservationists appealed to the City of Victorville to save the historic home of artist and rodeo star Earl Bascom, but…
Slow Art, Palm Desert Firehouse Mural, Historic Artist’s Home in Danger and More
With Desert X returning to the Valley in 2019, all eyes will be on installations scaled to Instagram. In the shift to Insta-art, those who work in the enduring tradition of 20th Century Impressionist painters are easily overlooked. One such…
Neal Lucas Hitch, Agnes Pelton Exhibition, Eric Merrell’s Plein Air Poem and more
If you’re looking for a land art destination now that the Desert X Mirror House is being dismantled, I suggest taking a drive south past the Salton Sea to see Neal Lucas Hitch‘s straw bale observatory. The lunar viewing pod…