Mike Fagan and Suzzann Macleod

Suzzann Macleod and Michael Fagan

Today's visit takes us to Magic on the Mesa, the studio of ceramicist Michael Fagan.  This year, Mike will be joined by photographer and sculptor Suzzann Macleod.  Mike and Suzzann will be showing the second weekend of the art tours.

Mike Fagan with a pot, still hot from the pit fire

Fagan is a southern California native, born in Englewood, CA.  He and his wife Cyndie lived in La Quinta before moving to Yucca Valley a year and a half ago.  As Fagan eloquently puts it, "we traded the high life and low country for low life and the high country and are the happier for it."  Fagan and his wife are avid collectors of American paintings and pottery from the first half of the 20th century.  It is Mike's love of the simplicity of the Arts and Crafts movement in the country that inspires him.  Fagan never thought he had talent to create art on his own.  In fact, his move to begin making pottery began when he found he couldn't afford to collect the pottery of the Arts and Crafts movement, so he decided to make one of his own.  That vase became the first in a long line of clay vessels.  Fagan has been making pottery for about 7 years.

When Mike and his wife moved up to the high desert, he was able to learn about traditional pottery making techniques from Tony Soares.  Even though Mike learned techniques from Soares, he has developed his own style.  He claims the pots tell him what they want to be.  Fagan digs his own clay, processes it at his studio and makes the vessels using traditional techniques:   by pinching and with a paddle and anvil.  The rock or anvil is on the inside and the stick is used to pound on the outside to shape the clay around the rock.  Once the pot is completely formed, Fagan will pit fire it.   The colors of the finished pottery come from different colored slips rather than glazes.  ("Slips" are just watered down versions of the same clay used to make the pottery, and the color comes from different minerals in the clay itself.)  I was fortunate enough to be there when Fagan removed two vessels from the pit fire.  This is always an exciting moment in the process of making pottery.

Mike, lifting the cover of his pit fire.

Hot out of the fire.

The straw bale studio

Fagan loves the process of making something using only earth, fire and water.  He considers playing in the dirt a zen experience.  He talks about coming full circle - he played in the dirt with toy cars and trucks as a boy, and now that he is retired he is once again playing in the dirt, making pottery.  To fire his pots, Mike will use dead Joshua Trees from his property, various hardwoods, and sometimes even charcoal.  Fagan adds caliche to the clay to get the red color many of his vessels have.  (For those of you unfamiliar with caliche, it is a desert gardener's bane - a concrete hard layer of calcium carbonate found in the desert that is nearly impossible to dig through.)  It is a pleasure to meet an artist who literally uses the desert to create art.

Suzzann Macleod, holding one of her sculptures.

Suzzann Macleod is another California native.  She was born in Redlands, while her family was visiting an aunt who lived there.  (They lived in Joshua Tree at the time.)  Her father, a civil engineer, worked in the Salt Mines, and liked to race cars on the salt flats.  Her family vacationed in Northern California, and in 1964, Macleod moved with her family from Joshua Tree to Smith River, California, which is near Redwoods National Park.    In Smith River, her family had a seven acre farm.  She learned how to can food from her mother, who was a nurse and a veteran of WWII.  Her father loved the fishing near Redwoods National Park, and she remembers he used to smoke the salmon that he caught.    Macleod is a descendant of the Keys family; her mother is the eldest Keys daughter.  Suzzann is writing a Keys Ranch cookbook, and she and her brother are in the process of creating a film documentary about the Keys Ranch.

When she was 12 years old, Suzzann was given a camera for a vacation the family was taking to Crater Lake and Yellowstone.  That was the beginning of her life as a photographer.  Most of Macleod's work is now digital, but she still uses film, especially for black and white photography.  Many of Macleod's photographs are of the rusted cars on the Keys Ranch.  She worked for Joshua Tree National Park for a while, giving tours of the Keys Ranch.  Many of her photographs from the Ranch and the park were taken while she worked there.  (Who better to give tours of the Keys Ranch than a descendant of Bill Keys himself?)   She continues to take photos in the Joshua Tree National Park and surrounding areas.  Macleod is also interested in macro shots.  She has a love of texture and patterns.  She photographs the designs found in peeling paint, rusted old cars, and in particular, the glass in old cars that have sat out in the intense desert sun.  The abstract qualities of this sun-baked glass hold her interest.

Suzzann is also a sculptor.  She has worked in bronze, copper and steel.  She had a friend up north who had a foundry, and the first time she saw the melted metal, she was hooked.   She loves to weld, and hopes to have some smaller metal vegetables for the art tours.  Suzzann uses recycled metal and found objects in her metal sculptures.  She is planning to have framed prints of her photographs along with note cards and unframed prints.  You will also be able to look through a catalog of her other photographs.

Macleod's bronze and copper pea pod.

This is the first year on the Art Tours for both Suzzann Macleod and Mike Fagan.  Your visit to Magic on the Mesa is sure to be a rewarding one.

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

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