The crescent moon rose over Joshua Tree heralding the first Gallery Crawl. Sheri Elf played on the car radio, the last song of the Saturday Night Local Talent Showcase on Z107.7, as we pulled into the last parking spot beside
TRUE WORLD GALLERY. Talk about Local Talent: with thirteen area artists skimmed from the desert, like cream from milk, owners George and Bonnie Kopp have served up a generous scoop of the Mojave scene. The flavors ranged from Tina Bluefield’s jewel-like landscapes to Cathy Allen’s smokey sentinels, Bobby Furst’s conjugal contraption to Mary Emminger’s colorful bursts of love.
Moving on Westward, the next stop was The RED ARROW GALLERY where large emotions were conveyed on the small canvases of Sariah Ha, in another room stitches of multicolored thread wove a labyrinth of webs on fabric and shared the walls with local landscapes and in the back, born of graffiti but raised to another level, the collaborative art of Skies Falling Kollective. A combination of stencil, spray paint, latex and found objects, these two pieces were a tart slice of edgy imagery.
Last stop, WINDWALKERS, which was transformed into a gallery, seemingly overnight. Owners Abe and JR have worked wonders with their space, moving all the store stock next door, painting the walls with beautiful Moab Mud and then choosing just the right art to complement the metamophisis. The sepia nudes looked carved from earth itself.
What a night for Joshua Tree, one to be repeated we hope!