Tina Bluefield

Tina Bluefield is a newer face on the Open Studio Art Tours.  She has been a resident of the high desert since 2006, and this year marks her fourth year on the tour.  Bluefield is an oil painter who focuses her attention on painting large scale abstractions and the desert environment surrounding her home.

(by Pepper Wagner)

After traveling a few miles on dirt roads that crisscross the open desert of the Mojave, I arrived at Tina Bluefield's home studio.  Pulling into her drive, I couldn't help noticing her cabin's unique architecture and welcoming desert landscape.  I knew instinctively this was the home of someone special.  Bluefield's studio is well lit with the natural desert light through large windows.  It was her desert landscape paintings that caused me to pause.  It was like she had captured the heart, soul and essence of our beloved desert and concentrated it onto the canvases, bring all your senses alive.

"Early Light," oil on linen.  8 x 10 inches

Bluefield has traveled the world extensively and lived and studied art in Colorado.  After a decade of designing passive solar homes in Colorado, she bought a homestead cabin in the Joshua Tree area in California and began renovating it in 2006.  She added her passive solar studio, where she paints her exquisite desert landscapes and inspiring colorful abstracts.  As you walk into her home studio, you can feel a true artist's energy.

"Heart of Fire," oil on canvas.  60 x 36 inches.

 "Red Square 9," oil on canvas.  8 x 8 inches.

Long before Bluefield's arrival to the Mojave Desert, she was painting large watercolor desert scenes of Arizona and New Mexico.  Like to many of us, Bluefield is drawn to the rustic beauty, peace, and the ever-changing moods in our desert surroundings.   Tina has shown her paintings in galleries and art exhibitions from coast to coast, having had her second solo show of abstract paintings in New York, NY at BoxoFFICE Projects this past April.  For more information on Tina Bluefield and her paintings, visit tinabluefield.com.  Be sure to visit Bluefield this October, during the Hwy 62 Art Tours.  She will have her studio open the second weekend of the tours, October 30th and 31st.

Michelle and Troy Pence

Tomorrow is the start of the first weekend of the 9th Open Studio Art Tours!  We can't believe it's here already.  For those of you who are without programs, you should be able to pick one up at many of the local art galleries and shops.  There will also be an ample supply out in front of the Donation=Creation Art Store, located in Joshua Tree, slightly east of the Joshua Tree Post office.  The address is 61325 Hwy. 62 in Joshua Tree.  Welcome to the Hwy. 62 Art Tours, everyone!

One stop you will want to mark on your map this weekend is the studio of Michelle and Troy Pence, #17 in the program.

Troy and Michelle Pence

Michelle and Troy Pence have found their version of paradise in Joshua Tree.  Their fenced-in property is home not only to the two artists, but also to a dog or two, a timber wolf, a bullying rooster, three tortoises, and a hungry sheep who ate part of my notes.  The studio, which sits in front of the main house, was a homestead cabin.  It has now become the birth place for the unique art of these two charming people.

The sheep who ate part of my notes.

Michelle Pence works in styrofoam.  She carves and paints the styrofoam, sometimes even adding texture with coffee grounds or sawdust mixed with paint.  Michelle has a way of transforming something as ordinary as styrofoam into fascinating bas-relief paintings.  Most of the materials Michelle uses are recycled.  The styrofoam comes from a company that makes pool covers.  She uses a variety of different paints, including house paint.  Michelle has been working in styrofoam since 1999.  She loves animals, flowers and designs, and will sometimes look for ideas on the internet.

Michelle Pence.  Styrofoam tortoise shell.

Michelle in her studio.

Michelle has shown her work at Metro S.C.R.A.P. gallery in Indio, and both she and Troy show at the 29 Palms Gallery.  They have both taught art and music at Angel View in Joshua Tree.  They have been in the high desert for one year.   Troy and Michelle have been married for six years.  They met at S.C.R.A.P., where Michelle worked.  For their wedding invitations, they made the paper and envelopes the invitations were printed on.  They included seeds in the hand-made paper, so the invitations could be planted.  I admire the way these two artists lead a life that is so integrated with art.  Not only are they both artists, but they both sing and love music.

Troy Pence is a painter and metal sculptor.  He paints in oil, watercolor and acrylic, and has been painting since 1990, when his aunt gave him his grandfather's oil paints and brushes.   Troy comes from a family of artists.  His uncle and grandfather were both oil painters, his mother paints on porcelain, and his father is a cabinet maker.  His interest in art began in high school.  His family opened an art gallery to sell his uncle's paintings, and because of the gallery, Troy's painting became even more important to him.  Troy is a self-taught artist.  His art has been exhibited in the libraries in Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage, the Indio Museum, and 29 Palms Gallery, to name only a few venues.  He has had his work purchased by people all over the United States, Canada and Europe.

Troy Pence.  Abstract painting in one of his metal frames.

Troy Pence.  Abstract painting.

Troy's metal assemblage sculpture is shown in Laguna Beach at the Mint.  He has an avid interest in recycling, and you will be surprised at what he does with objects that have been discarded.  His approach to all of his art, whether it be painting or sculpture, is to focus on the basic shapes.  This approach seems to be working well for him.   In addition to his metal sculpture, Troy also makes his own frames out of metal.  Many of his paintings are frames in this unique frames.

Troy Pence, metal "shovel" tortoises.

More of Troy's metal assemblage sculpture.

Liz Lawliss Jorgensen and Jenifer Palmer-Lacy

"Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.
If we were born to paint, it's our job to become a painter." - Steven Pressfield, The War of Art.

This week's visit takes us first to the beautiful home studio of Liz Lawless Jorgensen.  Jorgensen's studio space is every artist's dream, with a studio space detached from her house, another workspace inside, and a third easel set up outside with a blank, large scale canvas propped upon it, waiting for the next creation.  Jorgensen is a native of the desert.  She lived in Palm Springs and Indian Wells before moving up to Yucca Valley eight years ago.  Jorgensen worked for eighteen years as a graphic designer in the low desert, with clients like Sun World, the Palm Springs Desert Museum (now the Palm Springs Art Museum), country clubs and other corporate clients.  Her experiences as a graphic designer helped her utilize her artistic talents in many different ways, from painting murals, designing ads, logos, and even creating museum shows.  One museum show she designed and created work for was an exhibition about the wind turbines at the Desert Museum in the 90's.   Most of what Liz has learned about drawing and painting she learned on the job, while working as a graphic designer.  She did not study art in school, although she did have one painting class in college that was influential.  While working as a graphic designer and raising her children, Liz did not paint much on her own.  It was in 1996 that she was finally able to do art for art's sake.    

Liz is well traveled, and has a passion for ethnic people and tribal costumes.  She has had a strong connection with Africa ever since childhood.  Even though she has never visited Africa, it is a life-long ambition of hers to travel there.  When she was about four years old, she remembers dreaming that she was sitting on a river bank with her arms crossed in front of her, and as the dream progressed, she realized she was in Africa.
Jorgensen's passion for Africa is evident in her paintings.  The first artwork she remembers doing in Junior High had zebras in it, and she remembers doing pen and ink drawings of other African wildlife.  Now she loves to paint African people.  Her watercolor paintings are skillfully rendered portraits, landscapes and birds.  She carefully researches the costumes and other details, because authenticity is important to her.  Jorgensen's acrylic paintings are vibrant contrasts to the careful detail of her watercolors, where the figure is treated with more freedom and exuberance.  When you look into the faces of the people she paints, Jorgensen wants you to believe you are seeing her, looking through their eyes.

Like many of the artists we have met on this blog, Jorgensen does not limit herself to painting alone.  She also has explored sculpture, and has created a series of carved concrete lizards.  Each lizard is carefully mounted on a rock in the most convincingly lifelike manner.  Jorgensen explained that her family seems to produce two artists every generation.  She knew she was an artist from an early age.  Liz is one person who seems to have succeeded in being who she was meant to be, and her work clearly shows it.   This will be Jorgensen's first year on the Art Tours, and I encourage you to drive the few blocks from Hwy. 62 to have a look.  Jorgensen will be showing the second weekend of the tours.

Our next visit today was to the homestead cabin studio of Jenifer Palmer-Lacy.  Jenifer will also be showing the second weekend of the art tours this year.  In addition to being a painter,  she also makes papel picado, which is Spanish for "cut paper" or "perforated paper."  Cut paper is a traditional Mexican folk art, as well as an ancient art form in China and Japan.  Jenifer cuts the paper by hand with an exacto knife, and most of her cut paper pieces are portraits of people.   The other impressive feature of Palmer-Lacy's papel picado is the size of her pieces.  Not knowing much about papel picado or of Palmer-Lacy's art, I was expecting small, delicate works of cut paper, but she had several pieces that may have been 2 or 3 feet across.  Palmer-Lacy spray paints many of her finished papel picado works, which is also a departure from the traditional art form.  In the traditional Mexican art form of papel picado, the artists would use scissors and fold the paper to cut the designs.  More recently, a hammer and chisel are used to cut tissue paper, and several sheets of tissue may be layered and cut at one time with this technique.  It is a treat to see one artist's own twist on this traditional art form.

In addition to her papel picado, Palmer-Lacy is also a painter, working in acrylic and luminous paints.  (Luminous paints will glow in the dark.)  Her paintings mostly focus on the desert landscape, and are done in plein air.  Palmer-Lacy usually begins her paintings with prisma color pencils.  Once her drawing is complete, she will use water to darken the painting before adding acrylic paint on top.  Jenifer grew up in Houston, Texas, and even though she began her college education in Idaho, she actually did not complete her degree until she was 52 years old.  She earned her BA in art and interdisciplinary studies from Cal State Dominguez Hills, and has gone on to earn her Master's in humanities.  Her house in Joshua Tree, which is not far from her studio, was a gift to herself for completing her degree.  Palmer-Lacy is not a full-time resident of Joshua Tree, but does manage to come out on weekends from the home she shares with her husband, a musician, in Silverlake.

Jenifer currently has a show of her work at the Adult Center in Griffith Park, and it will remain up until the end of August.  For the Art Tours, Palmer-Lacy is planning to have live music in addition to an interactive piece of art.  Visitors will have an opportunity to contribute art of their own to a "Peace" banner made by her son, Charlie.  There is much more to Palmer-Lacy than her art, as I discovered today.  She is an accordion player, and worked as a disc jockey for Pacifica radio in Houston for ten years.  Jenifer is also a newcomer to the art tours.  I am excited to welcome both of these fascinating artists to the Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours this year.

written by Karine Swenson

Ellie Tyler, Cheryl Kandel and Terry Rothrock

This morning, I traveled just one block to visit the sparkly new studio of my neighbor, photographer Elle Tyler.  Tyler will be opening her studio to two other artists - Cheryl Kandel and Terry Rothrock.  This diverse group of artists will be showing both weekends of the tours this year.

Ellie Tyler, a longtime desert dweller, is a landscape photographer.  Tyler is one of the few photographers shooting with film, rather than a digital camera.  Tyler believes patience and truth are important to her work, which is why she prefers to shoot with film.  She likes the sharpness and clarity of film photography, and says she knows when a photo is film rather than digital.  She believes film will always be around because of the richness and color quality of the final image.  Tyler's first publication of her photography was in 1981 in Wyoming.  She counts this as the beginning of her life as a photographer.  (She and her husband lived in Wyoming prior to coming to the desert.)  She loves to photograph natural subjects.   She just wrote a book, which she hopes to have ready in time for the Art Tours.  In her book she writes, "...it is in nature that I find connection to order, beauty and meaning."   She has a masterful way of handling negative shapes in her work.  She focuses on placement and making order out of chaos.  Tyler likes to take photos that give a sense of place, but aren't necessarily site-specific.  She is always seeking a new way to shoot well-known, frequently photographed locations.   Tyler likes to wait for God to "paint" the natural world and then be a witness to this masterpiece.

Relationship

El Nino

In addition to her photography, Tyler has recently begun creating collages from natural objects like leaves, bark, moss, and twigs.  This new work came about after she moved into her new studio this past February, because now she says she "has room to play."  The "natural treasures" are a way for her to arrange and play with color.  She has even begun to combine the photography with the found natural objects, and it will be exciting to see what new things she comes up with for the Art Tours.

Ellie has been on the Open Studio Art Tours for six years.  She has exhibited her work in Arizona, California, Nevada and New Mexico.   Her photography has been published in Sierra Club books, National Geographic Books, Sunset Magazine, and Wyoming Wildlife Magazine, to name a few.  She is also a member of the North American Nature Photographers Association (NANPA).  Tyler has taught photography through the 29 Palms Art Gallery, and now that she has her own studio, she is considering teaching again. 

Ellie Tyler

Cheryl Kandel is an artist with multiple facets.  She runs her own business, called Stitch Art Studio, specializing in embroidery digitizing.  She has been in this field since 1991.  She and her husband are "escapees" from L.A.  They have lived in Joshua Tree for seven years.  They felt like they had been "pushed out" of L.A. by the crowds, traffic and other problems of such a big city.  Before they moved here, they had come to Joshua Tree National Park several times a year to camp.  Kandel had spent three summers in Denali National Park, working for a back-country lodge.  It was ultimately these summers in Alaska that finally prompted the move out of the city.  Joshua Tree feels like a world away from L.A., but they like that they are still close enough to see their families.

Marina del Rey, a fully stitched landscape.

Kandel's embroidery art is an extension of her business, because she utilizes the digitizing software and embroidery machine to create her own original designs.  She has won awards for her embroidery designs, and has been featured on the cover of Stitches magazine.  The embroidery designs she creates are often mandalas, but she also has done fully stitched landscapes that are amazing.  (see above photo)  In addition to her embroidery art, Kandel also paints Joshua Tree landscapes in acrylic on canvas.  Kandel is strongly influenced by expressionism and the Fauves, and her strong color palette is indicative of this.  She loves the juxtaposition of boulders and trees in the Joshua Tree area, and is inspired by the serenity she feels in the Park.  The uniqueness of the Joshua Tree draws her, and she loves it when there are clouds in the sky.  (Which any desert resident can tell you is not an every day occurrence!)   Kandel also considers photography to be a hobby, and uses her own photos as reference material for her other art.

Kandel has been an artist all her life, and even went to a private art school in grade school.  She was always doing crafts as a young girl, and fondly remembers winning an award for art in kindergarten.  She has a BA in illustration from Cal State Northridge.  This year marks Kandel's third year on the Art Tours (she tends to participate every other year).  She has shown her paintings at the 29 Palms Inn and will have a show of her work at Crossroads next year.  You will find denim jackets, purses, hats, and patches with her embroidery designs at Joshua Tree Outfitters year-round.

One of Kandel's embroidered mandalas on a pillow.

Cheryl Kandel in front of her recently completed studio.

The third artist showing with Ellie Tyler and Cheryl Kandel will be a ceramicist named Terry Rothrock.  Rothrock currently resides in Idyllwild, but was a resident of the desert for many years.  He teaches ceramics at Idyllwild Arts Academy.  Rothrock shows his wheel-thrown ceramics at the Joshua Tree National Park Art festival every April.  He was not at the studio today, so I did not get a chance to meet him, but you will not be disappointed in his ceramics, which he creates with his wife Chinlee Chang.

 

written by Karine Swenson

Vera Topinka and David McChesney

This week takes us to the studio and residence of Vera Topinka.  Topinka will be showing with fellow photographer David McChesney this year.  It just so happens that these two photographers are neighbors in Joshua Tree, so it made sense that they pair up and show together for the Tours.  The work of these two photographers blends beautifully.  Topinka focuses primarily on portraits of people, while McChesney's photographs are portraits of wildlife.

Vera Topinka has been in the High Desert for nearly five years, coming from Marin County ( in the bay area of San Francisco.)  She grew up in small towns in Idaho and Oregon, having immigrated from Germany shortly after the war.  Topinka has been a professional photographer for about 25 years, with a portrait and wedding business being the primary focus.  She is inspired by light, beauty, and the expressions of people.  Topinka feels fortunate to have stumbled onto something that will never grow old to her, since there is always so much to learn.  The camera she had at the beginning was "crappy," and since she wasn't able to capture what she saw with it, she was spurred on to get better and better photographs.  Vera considers herself to be mainly a portrait photographer.  She loves it when she can really capture what she calls the "deep essence" of a person; that quality which shows through when people are just being themselves.  Often, her favorite shots occur when the person is not aware of being photographed.  Like most photographers, she does shoot whatever captures her eye, and of course the desert has been a source of inspiration for her.  Topinka often uses metal, bits of cholla skeletons, tin cans, and old wood to frame and display her photographs.   She says the idea came about as a result of living in the desert.  She finds the "funky junkiness" of the desert beautiful, and has found a unique way to incorporate it with her photography.

Topinka has had an ongoing show of portraits at the Wonder Garden Cafe for the last year, which was just changed to represent all new work.  Two years ago, she had a show at True World Gallery in Joshua Tree, and has also showed at Starbucks in Yucca Valley.  For the tours this year, she will show new portraits in addition to smaller works with other desert-related photos on metals that people might like for their homes.  Art, for Topinka, is important as a means of expressing feeling, beauty, weirdness of mood, color and inspiration.  She loves to look at art, or listen to art as a means of being inspired by others.  She feels its one of the deepest kinds of communication.  Topinka enjoys biking, running and hiking as ways to open her up to the natural world.  As she elegantly puts it, the exercise "centers me and helps me create my life, which is my most magnificent artwork."

McChesney has been visiting the desert since he was a baby, as his grandparents lived in Snow Creek.  He bought a home in Joshua Tree in 1998 and visited on weekends from Orange County.  He finally made the desert his full time home in 2008.  (A move he does not regret!)  Spending time in Snow Creek as a youngster, his grandmother would put food and water out for the wildlife.  This is where his fascination with wild animals first began.  When McChesney was a teenager, his parents divorced.  As he puts it:  "They split up and I got the camera!"  That was the beginning of his foray into the world of photography.  He first photographed rock and roll - capturing the likes of Bob Dillon, the Who, and other famous acts while working for KROQ radio in Pasadena.  It was in 1973 that McChesney began to visit National Parks, which led him into becoming the wildlife photographer he is today.

McChesney is drawn to the grandeur, waterfalls and wildlife in our National Parks.  He has traveled to 54 different National Parks, from Hawaii and the Galapagos Islands to Alaska.  In addition to the wildlife he has captured through the lens of his camera while traveling to other places, he has photographed 120 different species right outside the window of his house here in Joshua Tree. This makes our desert the ultimate home for McChesney.  The neighborhood where he and Topinka live is only 1 mile from Joshua Tree National park, providing them proximity to an abundance of desert fauna.   McChesney feels that a lifetime of loving nature and the wildlife in it are what have driven his passion.  He loves the lessons he learns every day, living here and observing nature.

McChesney, like many of our creative minds, has another outlet for his creativity besides his photography.  He also plays the harmonica.  Performing for 30+ years as "hurricane" David, he was crowned a National Harmonica Champion in 2008.  There is certainly more to this artist than meets the eye.  McChesney has written and published a coffee table book of his photography, called Muir Roots: at One with the Wild.  The book is available at several locations in the Morogo Basin, including the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center, Hi-Desert Nature Museum and California Welcome Center.  He is also releasing three new lines of bird cards this year, "American," "Gulf Coast," and "Desert" Bird life.  The "Desert Birdlife" cards will be released in November during his birdlife exhibit at the Covington Park Gallery in Morongo Valley.

Vera Topinka and David McChesney will be showing both weekends of the October Art Tours this year - October 23rd and 24th and October 30th and 31st. 

 

written by Karine Swenson

Mike Smiley

Mike Smiley is a familiar face on the Hwy. 62 Art Tours.  He has been on the tours every year except the first year, when it was only artists from 29 Palms who participated.  Smiley is a many-faceted artist who works in metal, stone, and makes jewelry.   He and his wife Betty have been residents of the high desert for 12 years, and have lived in the area for almost 20 years.  (They lived in the Coachella Valley prior to coming to Joshua Tree.)

Smiley came to art later in life than many artists.  He was working as a policeman, visiting San Francisco, when he was visiting an art gallery with a friend.  He happened to see carved stone whales in the gallery and thought "I could do that."  He went home, got a book about carving stone, and the next thing he knew he was making art.  He feels his desire to be an artist was innate. His father dabbled in jewelry and painting, and he had an uncle who was a poet, but neither of them were able to pursue art full time.

Smiley's father, a machinist, was a strong influence in Smiley's life as an artist.  Smiley watched his father make jewelry and explore lapidary when he was young, and Smiley made jewelry in high school.  However, Smiley didn't return to jewelry making until he and his wife moved to the desert in 1990.   When his father passed away, he left Mike a welder.  It was the inheritance of this welder, and Smiley's friendship with Steve Rieman, that prompted Smiley to look at metal as another outlet for his creative urges.

Smiley is inspired by his love of nature, and the beauty he sees in nature.  He believes the world is full of treasure, and it is this treasure he collects and utilizes in his art - everything from beautiful stones to a rusted piece of metal.  As a life-long amateur naturalist, his knowledge and love of the natural world is evident in all of his work.  A visit to his studio and the sculpture garden surrounding the house he shares with Betty is a stop well worth making.   Smiley's Joshua Tree studio will be open both weekends of the art tours this year, making it easy to fit it into your exploration of all the creativity our desert communities have to offer.