Anahita King and Walter Lawson

Anahita King

This will be Anahita King's second year on the Hwy. 62 Art Tours.  She has also participated in an open studio tour in Topanga, California.  King works in watercolor and she is a gifted ceramicist.  We sat outside on a comfortable back porch while Anahita told me about her art.  A few chickens were eavesdropping, hoping for more of the table scraps they had been given shortly after my arrival.   King has been in Joshua Tree for two years.  She came here from Topanga to take care of her mother.  She and her husband still have a house in Topanga, so she often finds herself going back and forth between the two places. 

One of the chickens.

King says she has been an artist "forever."  Her family didn't have television when she was growing up.  Her mother had a strong design sense, and her father was an engineer and designer.  King's dad had a shop in the garage where he worked on cars and was always "tinkering" with something.  He was notorious for absconding kitchen utensils for his own purposes, driving her mother crazy.  Anahita remembers a teacher she had in the fourth grade who had the students do murals of the desert.  King had painted roadrunners as part of the mural.  It was this experience that made her realize that art was what she wanted.   King went to college in Flagstaff after picking the school out of a catalog.  Northern Arizona University had a great ceramics department.  They have a huge anagama, or wood - fired kiln.  King's college experience undoubtedly paved the way for her to study ceramics in Japan for three months.  She lived in a village called Shigaraki, where the entire population is centered around ceramics.  The anagama kilns there fired for three days continuously, and pine had to be fed into the fire every three minutes.  There is no glaze used in an anagama kiln.  The wood and ash creates the color and textures on the ceramics.

One of Anahita's slab-built teapots

King's Datura teapot with cups

One of the ceramic sinks created by King.

King's main focus in ceramics is slab building, where slabs of clay are used to form the vessels and objects.  In addition to beautiful sets of teapots and cups, Anahita also makes Joshua Tree plates, cups, sinks and ceramic shrines.  The shrines or altars Anahita creates are made so that a person can put candles or photos in them.  They were first inspired by King's meditation teacher.  Her teacher gave her dolls and these dolls have found their way into King's shrines.  Spirituality has become such a big part of King's life now that she wanted to create something to reflect its importance in her life.  Her shrines are the result.  The sinks Anahita creates are a wonderful way to customize a bathroom or kitchen.  She does take custom orders on sinks.  She and her husband have even collaborated on a shower in their Topanga house.  She created 900 ceramic tiles for the shower, and he installed the tiles. 

One of King's watercolors.  "Dally contemplates sneaking into the garage."

This year for the Hwy 62 Art Tours, Anahita King will be showing her ceramic teapots and teacups, her other ceramic wares, her shrines and a collection of watercolors featuring the above mentioned chickens.  You will have a chance to feed the chickens yourself, if you decide to make this a stop on your tour this year.  I highly recommend it.  Anahita is showing in Joshua Tree the second weekend of the Art Tours, October 30th and 31st.

Walter Lawson at his easel.

The next artist we visit this week is Walter Lawson.  Lawson is an oil painter who has been in Yucca Valley for twelve years.  He and his wife moved here to be near his son Ian.  Lawson's grandmother was an artist, and he remembers all his life he loved visiting galleries and museums.  His grandmother taught him to draw figures when he was young.  It wasn't until he turned 86 years old, when his wife bought him paint and a easel for his birthday, that he finally began his artistic journey.  He portraiture is his main passion, although he has painted a variety of other subjects, including seascapes, landscapes and local scenes.  

Lawson's oil painting of Water Canyon Coffee.

Lawson was actually born in California, but he was still an infant when his family moved to Canada, where he grew up.  His father was a pastor, and his grandfather had a printing business.  Walter learned the printing business from his grandfather.  It was the printing business that enabled Lawson to come to the US and finally move to California, the place of his birth.  Lawson's grandfather was also the person who introduced him to sailing, another of his passions.  Walter owned a 30 foot sailboat in Long Beach, which he finally had to give up because he no longer had the strength to wield the mast and sails.  Lawson is a citizen of three countries: the US, Canada and the UK.  He went to boarding school in Canada and England when he was growing up, and served in the British Army and fought with the Highlanders during WWII.  (He switched to the Highlanders because his grandmother wasn't happy that he was serving with the British Army.)  I could sense that there were stories in Lawson that were just waiting to be told.

A self portrait in oil.

Walter will be showing from 15 to 18 paintings for the Hwy 62 Art Tours this year.  There were paintings stacked against the wall and filling every inch of wall space in his studio, but he hopes to have a few more finished for the Art Tours.  Lawson is showing in St. Joseph Arimathea church in Yucca Valley, and whatever paintings sell during the tours, he plans to give the proceeds to the church.  Walter loves the feeling of accomplishment that painting gives.  He is always thrilled when people ask him to paint them.  Please do stop by St. Joseph's  church in Yucca Valley to meet this fascinating artist and see his oil paintings.  Lawson will be showing the second weekend of the Art Tours this year, October 30th and 31st.

written by Karine Swenson

Ellen Hill, Dali Mama and Elizabeth Green

This week's visit takes us up a winding driveway to the home and studio of Ellen Hill.  Ellen will be showing with Louise Akin (a.k.a. Dali Mama) and Elizabeth Green this year.  Unfortunately, Elizabeth could not join us for this visit.  My visit with Ellen and Louise was a visit I won't forget.  While sipping saft - a Swedish drink made from Elder berries - both Hill and Akin regaled me details of their rich and fascinating lives.

Louise Akin (on left) and Ellen Hill

Ellen Hill grew up on the Dxwlilap (Tulalip) reservation in Western Washington state.  Her first art teachers were the "grandmothers", the older women of the tribe who could still speak the Dxwlilap language.  She fondly recalls sitting under "story poles" as a child, listening the the stories of the tribe.  The children learned basketry, dance and a myriad of other handicrafts.  She learned that art is sentient, and has something to teach us.  Hill spent eleven years on the reservation.  Many of the skills she learned on the reservation have stayed with her to this day.  She has a deep love and great appreciation for hand made goods of any kind.  She still makes porcelain bead jewelry.  The beads are usually strung on cotton or silk.  The Tulalip people used dog fur as "wool" and were renowned for their weaving and knitting.   Hill knits, and even taught her son to knit.

Ellen Hill, Burning Bush

Art was always a part of Ellen's life.  Her mother knitted and did embroidery, and her father was a woodcarver.  Hill's father made his living as a logger.  The family moved to Vancouver, WA because her brother had cerebral palsy and was deaf.  He needed more care than what was available on the reservation.  They later moved to the logging town of Stevenson.  Ellen went to the University of Washington on a scholarship.  Even though she was interested in art, she was unsure if she could make money as an artist.  She started school as a pre-med student.  She then immigrated to Canada, where she had to choose her major.  She chose to continue studying medicine.  It was about this time that her brother was killed.  She took time off from school and began "trekking" and painting.  Painting was therapy for her - a way for her to deal with the loss of her brother.  She spent time in Yosemite, hiking, climbing and painting.  Ultimately, she found herself in Ojai, California with no money.  She found out about an art show in Ojai.  She didn't even enough money for the entry fee.  However, she managed to show her paintings to someone in charge who told her she could show her work and if she sold some paintings, she could use the money to pay her entry fee.  She hung her art on a clothesline, and did end up selling some work.  She remembers how the art community encircled her and helped her.  She then found out about another art festival in Ventura.  That was the beginning of her career as an artist.

Ellen Hill, Echo Canyon

Ellen Hill, Inland Sea

Ellen Hill, Colors of Life

 Hill has shown her art at outdoor art festivals as well as art galleries.  She has traveled a lot, settling in the desert in 1979.  She still has connections in Canada.  Hill's approach to her paintings is unique.  She mixes her own paint, using high quality materials she has researched.  She then creates a traditional watercolor painting, usually with strong landscape elements, and then cuts the painting up.  The pieces are manipulated with medium and then re-assembled.  This process of cutting her paintings began in college, as a way to break free from trying to make her paintings too perfect.  The resulting images feel like abstracted landscapes, and have rich texture.  Ellen has been a self supporting artist her whole life.  Money from the sales of her art even enabled her to study homeopathic medicine.  She has a doctorate in homeopathic medicine, and has used her knowledge of homeopathic treatment to help "incurable" patients free of charge.  Ellen Hill will be showing her distinctive paintings, original art note cards and her porcelain bead jewelry for the art tours this year. 

A collection of Hill's porcelain jewelry and animal totems.

Louise Akin has been working since she was 18 years old.  Louise shares Ellen's appreciation of handmade goods.  Her mother did embroidery and other handwork, while her father was a tin smith.  He created metal sculptures for community centers.  Akin studied at an LA trade technical school for two years.  While she was in school, she won a "Gold Thimble" award for an evening gown she designed.  She always felt at home in fashion.  When she finished school, she went to work for Tadashi.  Louise was hired to do a couture line there.  She remembers the challenges of working in couture.  At that time, there were no computers and every thing was hand done.  The work was both creative and technically challenging.  They were given a drawing at the beginning of the day, and by the end of the day they were expected to have created gowns in different sizes finished and in a box, ready to ship to New York.  In addition to her tenure at Tadashi, Akin also worked for Catalina and Platinum.  Akin worked in couture until a rotator cuff injury prevented her from continuing in fashion.  It was because of her injury that she started learning to paint fabrics and learn the techniques she uses now to create her hand-painted and hand-dyed silk clothing. 

One of Dali Mama's silk shawls.

Dali Mama and a silk jacket

Many of the techniques used to make Dali Mama's silk paintings were discovered through trial and error.  Louise was first inspired to dye silk when she saw some beautiful sarongs from Bali.  She wanted to find a way to emulate the beauty of those batiks.  She has studied Japanese techniques, such as "shibori" which is the Japanese art of "memory cloth."  The cloth "remembers" what you do to it.  She has discovered that natural dyes are quite toxic because they contain heavy metals.  The dyes she uses are French dyes.  They are expensive, but high quality dyes.  Apparently, these French dyes have quite a history.  Originally, they were from Russia.  After the fall of the royalty in Russia, the dyes went, along with the women who knew how to make them, to Paris.  The secrets to make these Russian dyes were finally sold.  Now, the same secrets are used to make watercolors as well as high quality silk dyes.  Akin says she has "fallen in love" with wax, and uses beeswax for her batik work.

Louise Akin with another luscious creation in silk.

Each silk piece in Akin's collection begins as a piece of white silk.  She applies color using sea sponges, stiff bristle brushes and other tools, some of which she makes herself.  The layers of color are preserved with beeswax.  Once the painting on fabric is complete, the silk is put in a steam cooker to set the color in the fabric.  She has the pieces dry cleaned to remove the wax.  The beautifully painted silk is then cut and sewn.  Each piece is painted, cut and sewn by Akin, making it a wearable piece of art, unlike any other.  Louise has been working for herself as an artist for twenty five years.  For the Art Tours this year, she has hopes to introduce pieces painted and dyed in Indigo.  Working in Indigo dyes sounds complicated, as the pots of indigo dye must be checked every day.   I wait with anticipation to see what this artist does with indigo dye and silk.

Elizabeth Green is a gourd artist who is currently living in Idyllwild, but has lived in the desert for a long time.  

Elizabeth Green, Jasper Swirl Vase

Elizabeth Green, The Road Within

Elizabeth Green

Make sure one of your stops this year is reserved for a visit to Ellen Hill, Elizabeth Green and Louise Akin.  You'll be glad you did.

written by Karine Swenson

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