The Dhu Varren Barn – Photography by Rheagan Martin showing @ Sagebrush Cafe

“The Dhu Varren Barn” is a collection of photographs of a single barn in Michigan.

As Rheagan Martin has it in his description of his new photography show at Sagebrush Cafe, “The barn on Dhu Varren Road will not last long. When I moved into a house on the farmland, I had no idea that the barn was on the last undeveloped parcel of land in the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan. But as long as the reluctant city council denies plans for its development, the barn still stands.”

The photos in this show capture the Dhu Varren Barn under different conditions of weather and light, inviting thoughts of the tension between continuation and change. 

In an age of rapid change, we tend to think that we are the non-permanent part of our landscape.

The world we were born into has been swept away by Twitter, by Apple and by Amazon. We’re half a hashtag away from a brave new world and we gleam in the cast off glow of our personal devices. We’re the blue-lit faces of the future, but in the whiz-bang of tweets and updates we hardly have a breath to wonder what’s next.

We are undergoing a sometimes torturous and sometimes joyous metamorphosis into a new society, which is difficult to acknowledge because we have never known what it’s like to be whatever it is we are becoming. We know, like the caterpillar knows, only where we’ve been.

The iconic Midwestern barn naturally symbolizes this sense of change. It is a literal picture of where we’ve been. But the barn – static, totemic, stoic – here is also suggestive of an idea that re-frames our sense that we are changing against an unchanging background.

The barn in spring offers another context. The barn in sunset too. It complicates the simple sense that we are changing against a permanent backdrop. Because our legacy includes the land – what we’ve done to protect it, to cultivate it, to store its fruits, to love it, in our way.

We have a legacy, but there is an open question as to what that legacy means today and what it will mean tomorrow.

Which light, striking an old barn on Dhu Varren Road, is the real light – the one that tells us the truth about where we’ve been and where we’re going?

 

---

 

This barn won’t last long, Martin says. The world is changing around it.

In an interesting turn of metaphor, the barn in these photographs becomes a double-edged symbol. It represents a changing world, standing here as the emblem of a past that has already been left behind. The distance between this Barn and Us – with our sense of being rushed toward an unknowable future – is wide, and getting wider.

These photos speak into that distance.

“Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”  – William Blake

 

But the Dhu Varren Barn is also the vessel of a certain beauty – the kind we experience when we encounter an object outside of its time, an object that has endured. It is the past – still miraculously present. The past still intact and wholly itself.

When we hold an object like this in our hands now, or in our gaze, we feel that we are reaching back through time, and for many of us it becomes a moment of dumbfounded wonder. We don’t have words to put to this feeling of being stretched across time to touch the past, here, with our cell phones buzzing in our pocket and the news cycle chasing us like a shadow. But without words, we still feel the wonder. That’s why we keep going back to stand in the field and look at the barn. (At least, that must be why Rheagan Martin did it.)

So, the barn is a symbol of a part of the past that is still with us. It may feel fleeting and it may actually be fleeting, but for now it is still here. It’s part of our landscape, however anachronistic it may seem.

---

You wonder – How can this solitary barn be so active in its symbolism, so two-edged? How can it represent a changing world running full speed from any thoughts of an agrarian past while simultaneously representing the constance of that past, its ability to endure?

What should we say this barn means?

Is it a chance to reflect on a fleeting, pastoral American life, a message about how quickly and how far we’ve come toward changing into something new? Or is it a sign that even amidst all this change, something remains intact? Is it a link to a romance with the land that may flicker but never entirely fade?

Rheagan Martin’s photographs meditate on these questions, which spring to mind in the more poetic rooms of our brains, even if we don’t put these words to them.

“The Dhu Varren Barn” does the work of bringing us to a strange piece of land where the past and the present are hewn – together and apart.

 

The Dhu Varren Barn 

Photography by Rheagan Martin

Showing at Sagebrush Cafe in Quartz Hill, CA

Advertisement

A Special Art Show: Hosted by Bravery Brewing & Sagebrush Cafe

Bravery Brewing and Sagebrush Cafe have teamed up to craft a beer together. To celebrate the event, Bravery is throwing a beer release party with an emphasis on collaboration and the arts.

Two local small businesses, bringing their strengths together.

And you can be a part of it.

Artists  interested in displaying art at the event should send in their work (following the guidelines listed on the flyer) before May 5th.

The show will be held on May 11th at Bravery Brewing.

It’s going to be a blast. If you don’t get a chance to submit and participate as an artist in the event, you can participate by coming out to celebrate the artists of our community as well as a couple small businesses that are known for showcasing local talent in the Antelope Valley.

Cheers!

What Air Ordered – Photography by Gabriel Malikian @Sagebrush Cafe

“What Air Ordered” is a show of photographs by Gabriel Malikian that may put you in mind of journeying. But that is not because it is a set of exotic landscapes with pictures of far-flung places. It’s something else.

To put it one way, Malikian is giving us an invitation in “What Air Ordered.” The show is a collection of photographs inviting us to rethink the things we see every day.

If you have ever walked a street that you usually drive, then you know that the adjustment changes things, transforming a semi-conscious commute into a new experience. It’s not just the speed that changes. Somehow, it’s a different street.

The photographs in this show are not “domestic” images that have been reinvented through a camera lens. This is not a show about commuting – and that is not the point here. What the photographs are doing is capturing street-side, roadside and nature scenes in ways that emphasize geometry and color and manage to intimate meanings pitched just above the co-valence of the parts and their whole.

In a related way, there is an idea in this show that brings home the point that what we see is determined by how we look at the world around us. When we embark on a journey, we begin to look actively at the landscape in ways that we often don’t look at our own neighborhood. In drawing attention to this notion, you might say that “What Air Ordered” becomes a journey of ten images, images that consider both what we see and how we look at things.

As a photographer and writer, Malikian is probably more invested in this what/how relationship than most people. And this interest is certainly part of what you will see when you look at the show on display now at Sagebrush Café in Quartz Hill.

But there is more to it than that. To get at some of the other ideas that animate both the show and the artist, we sat down and asked Malikian a few questions:

-Tell us about your experience taking pictures in Montana. Did the specifics of the region invite a different approach to compared to the places you have spent more time with a camera (like Los Angeles)?

Very much so. I was in Billings for work on a film shoot and I suffered a back injury a week into filming. I had to be replaced at short notice, which is no easy feat so far from LA. The agitation my injury caused around me informed my need to creatively get something out of me, so I made a point of walking around Billings with my camera and focusing on taking photographs. This also served to prove to myself that I wasn’t irreversibly injured (my work demanded a functioning body).

In doing so, I found places in the small city that were novel to me. Uniquely American and discarded. Uniquely hidden or protected. I felt the pioneer mentality play out in the places I visited and felt it move through me. I turned down offers from friendly strangers for a ride to wherever I was going – in favor of seeing what else was hidden from the roadside. I had read about the Terrain Vague movement around that time, so I wanted to find what about the city had been left for nature to reclaim and break down.

In Los Angeles, there is a knowledge I have of its various neighborhoods. They each have an aesthetic and feeling that I know well. I know that a photograph in Echo Park will emote one thing, while in Boyle Heights other feelings can be distilled. Nothing about my time in Billings was predictable.
-Are there any photos in your show that have a surprising story behind them? Any photos that you were able to get that made you feel really lucky?

I can’t say that any if the photographs have any special stories behind them, except perhaps those in Montana. I can’t really say I feel like those captured in LA or in the desert are less special to me either.

As far as luck, I think timing played out in interesting ways in almost all these photographs. I found myself in the right places at the right times. But, that happens when a person puts themselves fully into their work. Many other photographers have captured incredible images, and timing played a huge role. As a photographer, you have to explore and be curious or your lens won’t find those moments.
-In spending some time with the photos in “What Air Ordered” we were struck by the idea that the show seems to pose some questions about how we collectively try to move forward into new territory, mentally anyway, but we do so inside a physical landscape that is littered with yesterday’s artifacts. There is a sense that objects and scenes from mid-century America (and from last year) show us how flawed our ability to move forward may be – or, alternatively, these scenes comprise an ironic commentary on our tendency to get tired of things, set them aside, and let them just sit there rusting while we play with our shinier, newer ideas. Does this observation fit with your own sense of this collection? Is this sort of idea represented in your work more generally?
There is a generally pervasive attitude that abandons the troublesome older thing for whatever is convenient, flashy, and works. People have abandoned Detroit. Because of the ease of access to the next best thing, last year’s model is set aside. Sold back. Put out in the trash. It could be fixed, but why bother? Why even learn how to fix anything?

Psychologically, many people do the same thing. Maybe this will fix my aching heart. Maybe if I just travel the world I will understand. If I just had that, I’d finally be happy. Conversely, to celebrate and repair the broken and forgotten brings a genuine sensation of achievement. I once watched my friend puzzle over a broken camera from the 1920s. She fixed it. The film we found inside was incredible and we marveled for a month over it, wondering what the story must have been. If we just threw the thing away (it was only worth $10) our imaginations and her accomplishments would have been cheapened.

I see yesterday’s artifacts as both beautiful reminders of hardiness, as well as living history. From a material point of view, we don’t make things as long-lasting or as physically heavy as we once did. This makes these items and scenes feel foreign, but one could say the same of our forward progression. Plastics replacing steel sheeting. Engineered obsolescence. The next firmware upgrade.

The weight of these old things informs, emotionally, the tone of my photographs. I feel it stops me in my movement and forces me to reflect on what was, both internally and in a larger sense.

There is indeed an irony in our charging forward to fix yesterday’s problems. I think there is ample opportunity to stop moving and study the past, of what has been. Perhaps in a literal, visual sense, my photographs utilize sparse scenes and older items to provoke a movement inside, and back in time. It may be that the happiness or fulfillment we want is not in a new house or car, it might just be in understanding that which has already happened. To meditate on a certain nothingness (a seemingly barren landscape, actually a space of huge mental potential energy) or the nothingness of the carcass of an old building, can have more impact on our lives and mental wellbeing than keeping abreast of the eternally shifting contemporary.

Every photograph is a piece of history, so it’s fine to get stuck in the past.

---

 

Take a look at a few more thoughts on “What Air Ordered” over at Sagebrush Cafe’s blog page. 

---

 

Conjuring Marz

If you grow up in a family of artists, it’s not always easy to be an artist yourself. Instead of being “the creative one” and standing out, your creativity is given automatic comparison. Any artistic freedom and open-ended exploration of ideas can be dampened by a sense of a pressure to compete or to perform at a certain level. It can drive you away from art entirely.

With an artist for a mother and two artistically talented older sisters, Maggie SanFilippo was not always sure that she wanted to enter the fray. She followed her own path. But – and here’s the thing – that path seems to have always pointed back to art.

Doing costume design in the film industry and working for years as an entrepreneur in the area of vintage and hand-made furniture, SanFilippo never strayed far from art, even if she didn’t think of herself as an artist. She works in fields where design and aesthetics are central. Her furniture work in particular had her hustling to rescue and refurbish furniture, applying some imagination to give life back to thrift store finds and in that way bring new ideas to life.

She found herself naturally drawn to musicians and photographers. Maybe she tricked herself in a very quiet way into becoming an artist despite the fact that she wouldn’t have given herself that title. Or maybe she was just waiting for the right encouragement.

When her boyfriend and business partner, musician Ainsley Hubbard encouraged SanFilippo to take her occasional sketches and run with them, the moment seemed right and she did.

In Conjuring Marz, SanFilippo’s show at Sagebrush Café and her first solo show – you can see the process of “running with it” at work in a collection of pieces combining sketching and water color that become a sort of jazz-couture style: firm lines and inventive improvisations of color, gesture and attitude that bring to mind both Ella Fitzgerald and Coco Channel.

And there is a very deliberate harkening back to the past in Conjuring Marz. SanFilippo was inspired to create some pieces for the show while she was watching Feud, the television series about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, figures of glamour and great emotion – and a scrappy determination to insist on themselves and on their own success.

The style that is at work in Conjuring Marz calls on a certain understatement that hides in plain sight. Many of the pieces contrast vivid splashes of color with images of composure and self-possession. There is something in the drawn figures that the color points to, but the faces aren’t giving anything away.

So the joy that seems to shout itself from the bright and quite direct works in the show becomes at least a little bit complicated. There is something else here too.

Many of the figures in the drawings are wearing sunglasses, holding something back, maintaining a cool secret. That, in a way, is what elegance is – flair that is at the same time somehow restraint.

In Conjuring Marz, SanFilippo gives us a set of pieces that seem like the result of a meditation on this dance between the said and the unsaid. There is a sense that the stage sees what the actress wants to show but those inevitable off-stage incidents, those episodes in the wings are what stand behind the knowing smile when the actress takes her bow.

Conjuring Marz

Showing @ Sagebrush Cafe

42104 50th Street West

Lancaster, CA 93536

 

 

Kaleidoscope Music & Arts Festival

The City of Palmdale is reaching out to local artists to participate in this year’s Kaleidoscope Music & Arts Festival – happening October 14, 2017.

The event:

Join us for this free event featuring live chalk artists, artisans, entertainment by Grammy-nominated Lisa Haley & The Zydecats, Stone Soul, High-D Boys, Paddy’s Pig and more, visual & performing arts, Art of the Brew, Brushes & Brews, Fresh Made Market, food vendors, and more! Admission and parking are free.

What’s new this time around:

We are introducing a new component this year: Fresh Made Market, if you know anyone who produces any of the following please share the link and application with them.

Kaleidoscope Music & Art Festival is accepting applications for its Fresh Made Market, perfect for cottage industry and farmers market vendors who specialize in handmade candles, home scent products, skin and body care products, baked and canned goods, salsas, pestos, sauces and traditional farmers market products.

The info and applications for Professional Artists, Student Artists and Fresh Made Market vendors can all be found on the Palmdale Amphitheater’s website.

 Check it out. Get involved. Get your art out there!

Figuring the Volume of a Utopian Cylinder

ON ALL Eve – Figuring the Volume of a Utopian Cylinder

Positional Projects invites the community to:

JOIN US FOR A SHORT DESERT WALK, REVISITING THE LLANO DEL RIO COLONY 100 YEARS AGO FOLLOWED BY A SPECIAL EVENING SOUND BATH IN THE SILO RUIN

Friday, August 4th, 2017

Llano, CA – 7pm, 8pm, 9pm

Image: Karyl Newman

Positional Projects in collaboration with Anahata Mousai present “ON ALL Eve – Figuring the Volume of a Utopian Cylinder” an evening event featuring a history walk and conversation under the waxing sturgeon full moon, reflecting on the end of the Llano del Rio socialist Utopian community in the Antelope Valley followed by a meditative sound bath amplified by the silo’s architecture.

In August of 1917, the colonists at Job Harriman’s cooperative experiment were deciding the fate of their desert future. Beinecke fellow and organizer Karyl Newman will share her discoveries at multiple archives specific to their struggle exactly 100 years ago – whether to stay and enact feminist city planner Alice Constance Austin’s innovative plans for the New City or organize an exodus to a more hospitable environment. Each guest will receive a limited edition printed guide and map created by Newman for “ON ALL Day”, a centennial event marking the final May Day of the Llano del Rio Cooperative Colony in Southern California’s Antelope Valley held on May 6th, 2017. Participants at the May event enjoyed the sound bath by local artists Jean Monte, Kristen Cramer and Moriah Cain Gross (Anahata Mousai), and requested an evening encore. Join us at 7pm, 8pm or 9pm on Friday, August 4th, 2017. Capacity in the silo is limited. Tickets are required and available for $10 at https://onalleve.eventbrite.com.

The site of Llano del Rio (located near the border of Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties) occupies over 2,000 acres of open desert dotted with evidence of the historic endeavor, which began in 1914. “ON ALL Eve” takes place in and around the silo, the most intact of the remaining colony structures – a stalwart sentinel on the Antelope Valley horizon. Nearby are the walls of the dairy barn, creamery and bunk house. A cistern and aqueduct are adjacent to a fork of what is now Big Creek Wash, a contemporary example of the water issues that challenged the community’s viability in the Mojave. Explore the “ON ALL Day” digital exhibit to learn more.

“ON ALL Eve” ticket holders will meet and walk with Newman to the silo, learning about the final months at the colony, arriving at the silo where Anahata Mousai will sonify the structure using quartz bowls, bells and a gong. Guests will walk back together through the nearby ruins in conversation with Newman. The program is offered at 7pm, 8pm and 9pm.

“ON ALL Eve” is produced by PositionalProjects.org and LaunchLA.org as an auxiliary project of “ON ALL Day – A Desert Reflection at Llano del Rio”, a program supported in part by a grant from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit calhum.org. Fiscal sponsor, Arts Connection, the Arts Council of San Bernardino County, http://www.artsconnectionnetwork.org/ hosts the digital exhibit.

For further information and images please contact:

Karyl Newman           

kaz@positionalprojects.org    

310.766.9476

Image: Michael Hepburn

(Note: All above text provided by Kaz Newman.)

Lakes and Valleys Art Guild hosts “Transitions” 14th Annual Fundraiser Event

Lakes and Valleys Art Guild hosts “Transitions”

14^th Annual Fundraiser Event

 

A Live Auction, Silent Auction and Raffle to support the growth of

Fine Art in the High Desert Communities.

 

Lake Hughes, California July 22nd, 2017 – Lakes and Valleys Art Guild invites Antelope Valley and surrounding community members to attend “Transitions”; their annual fundraiser event, on Saturday July 22nd, 2017 from 3-6 pm.

The local nonprofit fundraiser will be held at the Shadowlands Foundation located at 18832 Pine Canyon Rd, Lake Hughes, CA 93532.  Tickets can be purchased in advance for $15 via PayPal (contact us via LakesAndValleysAG@gmail.com) or for $20 at the door.

All funds raised during this event will be used to help nourish artists of all skill levels and art related events/programs within our communities.  Lakes and Valleys Art Guild shares a gallery space on Lancaster Blvd, to showcase local artists and makes annual donations to MOAH, MOAH:Cedar, YMCA, Public School Art Programs, Youth Art Scholarships and more.

“I am surprised how many talented artists reside in this area, that I was unaware of, prior to this event,” said Kathy Stinson, resident of Lancaster CA.  “All mediums were showcased; sculpture, wood carving, jewelry, digital, oils, acrylic, watercolor, pencil, pastel.  After attending the fundraiser, I felt encouraged to pursue my own art.  It is an incredibly fun event, for a good cause.”

This fundraiser will be packed with entertainment; including live music, hors d’oeuvres, beer & wine (cash bar), live art auction (at 5 pm), silent auction and raffle.  Award winning artists have donated one-of-a-kind original pieces of artwork.  Museums, galleries, amusement parks, casinos, spas, and restaurants have made donations in the past.  It is the event to attend, in support of the arts.

The Lakes and Valleys Art Guild is a member-driven nonprofit organization formed in 2003; dedicated to the artists of the communities within the High Desert in and near the Antelope Valley.  Our members are drawn from a wide variety of backgrounds – from professional artists, and teachers, to those who have a strong interest in, and love for art.

Our goals are to provide support and encouragement to our artists and give them a place to meet, attend classes and workshops, and to display their work.

It is the goal of LVAG to positively influence the communities.

—

This material was written and shared with AV Arts by Kristi Arzola.

Graphic Experience & Lakes and Valleys Art Guild present “Riding Coat Tails”

Graphic Experience & Lakes and Valleys Art Guild present “Riding Coat Tails”

A Spontaneous Art Show Showcasing Local Talent

 in the High Desert Communities.

Lancaster, California June 17th, 2017 – Graphic Experience and Lakes and Valleys Art Guild invites the surrounding community of Antelope Valley to attend “Riding Coat Tails” art gallery opening reception, on Saturday June 17th, 2017 from 4-8 pm.

This art event will be held at the Graphic Experience Gallery located at 622 West Lancaster Blvd, Lancaster, CA 93534.  This event is free to the public.

The opening reception will include music, hors d’oeuvres, and the opportunity to meet some incredibly talented artists.

Within the High Desert communities, opportunities for local artists are growing with each year that passes.  Graphic Experience and Lakes and Valleys Art Guild are excited to be a part of it.

There are multiple community-based art events on June 17^th.  In addition to the “Riding Coat Tails” gallery opening reception, the Museum Of Art & History (aka MOAH) will also be hosting their “32^nd annual Juried Arts Festival” at the MOAH Cedar center, which is on the same city block.  If that’s not enough, afterwards you can walk down Lancaster Blvd to enjoy the twelve murals that are a part of a global public-art event called “Pow!Wow!”

The engagement and support of residents like you; will ensure the successful advancement of community-based art for years to come. Visit us Saturday June 17th, and bring your friends and family to enjoy a Saturday on the BLVD, surrounded by art.

If you’re a local artist and you’re interested in exhibiting or supporting more community-based art events, please contact Kristi Arzola at lakesandvalleysag@gmail.com.

The Lakes and Valleys Art Guild is a member-driven nonprofit organization formed in 2003; dedicated to the artists of the communities within the High Desert in and near the Antelope Valley.  Our members are drawn from a wide variety of backgrounds – from professional artists, and teachers, to those who have a strong interest in, and love for art.

Our goals are to provide support and encouragement to our artists and give them a place to meet, attend classes and workshops, and to display their work.

It is the goal of LVAG to positively influence the communities.

The Sagebrush Café Arts & Crafts Festival is back!

The Sagebrush Café Arts & Crafts Festival is back in action this year on April 8 from 9 to 4.

Local artists and artisans will be arrayed around the café selling locally made, handmade goods of all sorts. There will be fine art. There will be boutique crafts. There will be handmade, original jewelry. There will be good times.

(^Images from last year’s festival.^)

We’ve got Kids Activities, Make-and-Take Crafts, Games, a Special Menu and a yard full of Arts & Crafts Treasures.

The coffee shop and art gallery is celebrating eight years of business in Quartz Hill and inviting the community to come out to join in the festivities. Grab a cup of coffee, take a gander at the current art show featuring work by Julius Eastman, order up a pastry or grilled sandwich, browse the manifold talents of the Antelope Valley that will be gathered to vend their goods.

This is very much a community event. It only happens once a year event, so take advantage!

Sagebrush Café Arts & Crafts Festival

Saturday, April 8^th from 9-4

42104 50^th Street West, Quartz Hill 93536

Facebook | Instagram | Sagebrush-Café.com

What’s going on in the Antelope Valley?

What is going on in the Antelope Valley? Hey, thanks for asking.

As it happens, there is a good bit going on. If you are looking for some sites to see in the AV, check out the art scene.

The MOAH is currently featuring a show called, “British Invasion.” Among the two dozen artists included in the show is David Hockney, “one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century” (MOAH).  The work ranges in medium and in style as the show intends to both reference and update the 1960s musical and cultural British Invasion. Fittingly, these artists are showing work inspired by American culture, just as the American blues spurred the inspirations and innovations of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

 MOAH is excited to feature the work of several of the artists who participated in the original British Invasion of the sixties as well as a diverse group of up-and-coming and recently established Britons, whose California-inspired body of work could be said to comprise a contemporary British Invasion.

Also on exhibit at the downtown Lancaster art museum – “The Mojave Project.” This show includes paintings and photography by regional artists and artists interested in the desert region. Kim Stringfellow, Ron Pinkerton (image below) and Terry Cervantes are three of the eight artists taking part in this show.

The current exhibit is part of a larger, ongoing project that promises to fascinate desert and city dwellers alike.

From The Mojave Project:

The Mojave Project is a transmedia documentary and curatorial project led by Kim Stringfellow exploring the physical, geological and cultural landscape of the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Project reconsiders and establishes multiple ways in which to interpret this unique and complex landscape, through association and connection of seemingly unrelated sites, themes, and subjects thus creating a speculative and immersive experience for its audience.

The scope of the conversation represented by the Mojave Project is admirable, especially in a climate wherein flashy news trumps deeper discourse and distraction is king. The artists working with Kim Stringfellow on this project are going against the grain of the instantaneous and developing a substantial and sustained artistic dialogue on what the desert is, what it means, and what it kinds of ideas it contains.

Looking for more inspiration?

Chuck Tedecshi

The city of Palmdale is hosting “Inspired by Nature” – Art by Chuck Tedeschi. The exhibit beings with an opening reception on January 26 and will be on display through March 12 at the Palmdale Playhouse.

Chuck Tedeschi

 

Information on Tedeschi is hard to come by, but his work seems to speak for itself. The artist will be present at the opening reception so you can ask him how in the world he is doing what he does…

Also, as you scan the horizon for more arts-related events keep an eye out for happenings groups like these: LPAC, The Lakes & Valleys Art Guild and The Antelope Valley Thespians.

For an outsider’s take on how the intersections between the arts, the desert’s open spaces and the Antelope Valley, check out this article from Curbed LA by Jennifer Swan.

Swan still has a 661 area code, according to her bio, so she is not the outsider here, not exactly. But she portrays an interesting image of the Lancaster, Palmdale, Mojave area – seen through the eyes of Venice Beach folks as a place simultaneously full of potential and kind of down-at-the-heels.

Giving a good amount of space in the article to local figures like Robert Benitez (a director of/at MOAH) and Larissa Nickel (artist, advocate, writer and professor), Swan ultimately poses a sort of bizarre question about whether or not the art scene is about to be gentrified here where the population has surpassed 500,000 and the average annual income is just slightly under the California state median income of $60,000.

Presuming Swan is clear on what gentrification means, she poses a strange and intriguing question that seems fitting for a region on the outskirts of Los Angeles, a city of big dreams, big incomes and also little dreams and little incomes. If there is a “culture creep” spreading from Los Angeles, what exactly does that culture consist of? And what does it mean if that culture – however vibrant, however exploratory, however chic – shows up on the outskirts of town?

The desert of the Antelope Valley certainly has wide open spaces and unoccupied territory, but if people occupy the scrub-brush and the dry-washes does that mean Palmdale has been gentrified? In Brooklyn, people didn’t gentrify the alleys and the warehouses…they bought the brownstones, right?

The Antelope Valley is often a projection, for Angelenos, of their own fantasies and biases and Swan would appear to ask what projection might win out: Will it be one that invites notions of a creatively inspiring blank slate and uses this invitation as a call to take ownership of the region’s arts mantle or one that sees the Antelope Valley as place with an identity of its own, defined by the people and artists who already live here?

The answer may clarify the fact that the ideas behind “desert gentrification” are anchored to psychology and class-consciousness as much as or more so than they are to actual class. Ultimately, Swan’s article examines the battle of ideas and identity that persistently crops up in and around the Antelope Valley. Take a look if you have a chance. It’s a really interesting read.

“The last artist’s haven in Los Angeles” by Jennifer Swan.