Michael Bedilion and Helen Matoush

The best part about writing this blog is that getting to meet new artists every week.  This week took us to 29 Palms to visit two artists, Mike Bedilion and Helen Matoush.

First stop:  the home of photographer Mike Bedilion.  Mike and his wife, Teri, have been part time residents of the high desert for the past four years.  Before they bought their house here, they would come out from Orange County to spend time in the desert, specifically Joshua Tree National Park.   They would camp and hike, sometimes staying at the 29 Palms Inn or the Homestead House.  There finally came a point at which they felt they needed to spend more time out in the desert.   When they are not in 29 Palms, they live in Westminster, California.

Mike Bedilion

Mike has been interested in photography for nearly all his life.  In high school, he had a choice between taking a yearbook class or taking machine shop, and he chose yearbook class.   That decision turned out to be a good one.  Bedilion has worked as a professional photographer since 1980.  He worked for the Department of Education in Orange County, shooting school board photos and still photos to be included in a video for helping children learn to spell.  He worked as a public relations photographer for Disneyland Hotel part time, where he got to meet the Lone Ranger and the Wrathers, who owned the Disneyland Hotel.  He even worked as a photographer for Sororities along the West Coast and Arizona, shooting portraits.  Bedilion has also worked as a producer for various professional photographers.

The photography that Bedilion does for himself varies in subject matter, but his most recent interest has been with Urban Landscape.  He has an interest in local history, and he will actually drive up and down alleys, looking for urban scenes that capture his attention.  He likes "funky stuff."  Bedilion does not really consider himself a documentary photographer.  His work is about seeing things change.  He will photograph something like Al's Swinger in 29 Palms, which was first a church and then it became the black marine bar.  Oftentimes, when things like this change, the changes are forgotten.  Having a photograph of the original state of things will remind us of what was before.  Bedilion's photography is centralized around observation.

In addition to his photography, Bedilion also plays bass for a surf band called the Goofy Foots, is a woodworker, and has even begun making lamp shades with images from his photography and scenes of the desert.  Like many creative individuals, Bedilion doesn't know where his imagination will take him next.   One thing is for certain, wherever his muse takes him, we will be waiting to see the outcome.  Bedilion will have postcards, photographic prints, both framed and unframed, magnets and pins for sale during the Art Tours this year.  He is also hoping to have more lamp shades. 

One of Bedilion's photographs, made into a lampshade.

Our next visit today was to the home studio of basket weaver and gourd artist Helen Matoush.  This year will be her third year on the Art Tours.  She and her husband Joe have been in 29 Palms for 20 years.  They first came here when he was a Navy Chaplain and was stationed in 29 Palms.  Matoush is originally from Queens, NY.  She lived in North Carolina for 20 years with her first husband before coming to the high desert.  When they first moved to the desert, she didn't like Southwest Art.  After living in the Southwest, her feelings about it have changed considerably.  She loves the colors and the tribute to the Native Americans that is found in Southwest Art.  Many of her gourds are created in the Southwest style, and she executes it beautifully.

A finished gourd with waxed linen weaving.

A finished gourd with horsetail on top.

Helen Matoush has sewn her whole life.  Crafting comes naturally for her.  Matoush began basket weaving first, while living in North Carolina.  She learned the Appalachian style of basketry, which is utilitarian rather than decorative.  She has since branched out from the Appalachian style.  The baskets are woven using processed rattan vine.  The rattan vine comes in a variety of sizes, and Matoush may use as many as 5 different sizes of rattan vine in one basket.  All the rattan she buys in a natural color, and if she wants colored rattan, she dyes it herself.   Upon asking how long it takes to weave a basket, Matoush told me that speed comes with practice. When a student first tries weaving a basket, it could take 5 or 6 hours to complete one basket, but after years of weaving, Matoush finds that she can finish a smaller basket in an hour or two.    Helen has begun teaching basket weaving again, after taking a bit of time off from it.

A gourd spirit doll with woven waxed linen.

Helen has been working with gourds for about 7 years.  She only works on gourds part time, while working on other crafts in between.  She sews, makes Christmas ornaments, jewelry (from gourds) and even grows a beautiful organic garden.  Matoush loves to pull from the bounty of nature in the creation of her gourds, incorporating pine needles, seed pods, horsehair, and other natural materials.  She also combines her weaving skill with her gourds, weaving open sections of the gourds with waxed linen or finishing the tops of them with woven pine needles.   Helen told me that the gourds have to speak to her.  Sometimes she may have an idea for how she wants the gourd to look upon completion, but the gourd has other ideas.  Matoush uses permanent ink dyes to color most of her gourds because they are resistant to fading in sunlight, although she will sometimes use leather dyes, acrylic paint and gold leaf.  Matoush will be participating in the first annual gourd festival in Yucca Valley this September, but you won't get to see her studio unless you add her to your list of venues to visit on the Art Tours in October. 

Gourds waiting to be worked on.

Helen Matoush.

You will be busy this year, with so many talented artists to visit on the Hwy 62 Art Tours!  Both Bedilion and Matoush will be showing on the first weekend this year, October 23rd and 24th.  Be sure to include them in your tour.

written by Karine Swenson

Gourds and Mixed Media in 29 Palms

This week I got a glimpse into the studios of two artists from Twenty nine Palms - Cynthia Enfinger and Jacqueline Angove. 

The first studio I visited today was Works of Grace, the studio of Cynthia Enfinger.  Enfinger was a basket weaver for over ten years before being introduced to gourd art.  It was another artist from Twentynine Palms who first introduced Enfinger to gourds.  She has been "hooked" ever since.  Most of the gourds Enfinger uses are from Wellburne's Gourd farm near Temecula.  Enfinger likes that Wellburn Gourds are grown organically.  She washes the gourds, lets them dry, and then begins transforming them.  I got to see how she cuts the top of a gourd off, cleans out the inside, and begins smoothing the inside and top edge.

She uses different kinds of pigment and dyes to color the gourds, and will eventually embellish them with seeds, feathers, pine needles and other found objects from nature.  Some of her finished gourds also feature fiber and/or pyrography.  She allows each gourd to "tell her" how it wants to be finished, working intuitively.  Enfinger compares the imperfections of each gourd with our own imperfections.  While she is working, she thinks about how, for her, the process of her working with these gourds is symbolic of how God works in her life, taking her flaws and imperfections and through His grace, shapes her into something better than she was before.  It is this belief that gives "Works of Grace" its name.

Gourds waiting to be worked on.

 

Finished Gourds.

Enfinger teaches school during the winter months, and so it is during our hot desert summers that she spends time creating her gourds.  This Georgia native has called Twentynine Palms home for 18 years.  She and her husband first came here in 1977, when he was stationed here as a Marine.  Not only are her roots evident in the southern charm she emanates, but she has even saved pine needles from Grandma's Georgia long leaf pine tree, and these infamous needles will occasionally make their way into one of her beautiful gourd creations.   Making Works of Grace a stop on your Art Tours this year will be time well spent.  You, too, will have a chance to see Enfinger in action, as demos are part of her repertoire during the Tours.   You may even be fortunate enough to try your hand at some of her techniques, as this high desert artist is generous with her knowledge and experience.

Enfinger.

Angove in front of her studio.

The second artist I was privileged to visit today was Jacqueline Angove.   Ms. Angove works and lives in a large space just off of Hwy. 62 on Cholla Ave. in Twentynine Palms.  Her studio is easy to spot, as it is adorned with an angel and the word "Peace" in bold letters.  Angove was born in London, and told me she was a child when the bombs of World War II were exploding.  In fact, she is in the middle of a series of mixed media paintings about the Second World War.  This series of work is done as though seen through the eyes of a child.  She informed me that she didn't know why she was doing these paintings, but that she felt like she HAD to do them.  Angove lived in London until she was 21 years old, when she came to the US with her husband, and Englishman and Olympic runner.  They spent three years in South Carolina.   They moved to Philadelphia after their stint in South Carolina, and then jumped around from Palo Alto to Southern California to Tennessee. 

One of the works in the WWII series.

Angove has been painting since the 80's, when she and her husband divorced.  At the time of the divorce, she had two teenage sons, and discovered that she could make a living, creating art for people remodeling their homes and corporate offices in Los Angeles.   Angove feels fortunate to be an artist, because she is doing what she wants to do.  Her goal is to "become one with nature and reflect that in my work."  She hikes often, and particularly enjoys the desert wildflowers.  She feels that she can absorb the colors that she sees in nature.  Angove has been in the high desert for fourteen years, six or seven of which have been in her current space.  She lives behind her spacious gallery and studio space, and is kept company by her beloved cats, now that her sons have grown.  Her art work is mixed media, incorporating acrylic paint and rice paper.  Some of her work is quite sculptural, breaking free from the traditional "paint on canvas" motif.  Many of the pieces she creates are impressive in their large scale, and well worth viewing in person.  

I am constantly amazed at the artistic variety and excellence of the artists who make their home in the high desert.  These two talented artists are another example of the plethora of creative talent we enjoy here.   I hope you will consider visiting the communities of Joshua Tree National Park this October, when we host the Hwy 62 Art Tours the last two weekends of October.  Both Cynthia Enfinger and Jacquie Angove will be stops on the tour the first weekend, October 23rd and 24th.  You will not be disappointed.

written by Karine Swenson