HIGH DESERT DINNER

In November of 2020, I got to celebrate the ten year anniversary of my first desert trip – a moment that proved to be a veil between worlds for me a threshold on the other side of which I find myself feeling grateful.

This experience was and is for me an expression of gratitude for what came before and since.

The first event I was part of was called High Desert Brunch Club, made in collaboration with my former partners at Von Tundra and our chef friend Colleen French at A-Z West in the same serene space where this second dinner was served.

Many people contributed to the success of this whole experience.

Yucca Valley Material Lab created molds from a few objects that I made in wood and then cast the glass candleholders, vases, and bronze worry stones for the tabletops – and a few concrete seating scenarios. My good friends at Farrington Press printed the linen napkins from a couple wood blocks that I carved. Stay Ceramics pulled off the impossible, 30 sets of ceramic dishes in 30 days – made from molds that I first shaped in wood.

Big thanks are due to Sal Pulido, Ethan Primason, Caroline Partamian, Nora Rolf, Connor Schwab, and Genevieve Dellinger in helping with the heavy lifting in the creation of this work. Getting to work with all of these amazing people through various materials was very rewarding.

So many thanks for so many things to Andrea Zittel, but in this case in particular as a steward of such a special place, putting so much into a place that has provided so much more for so many.

Of course this all was taken to the next level with the involvement of La Copine Kitchen. Clearly artists in their own right, getting to share this time and space with them was an unforgettable inspiration and pleasure.

Lastly a major thank you to all who made the effort to attend – the final collaborators whose presence and participation supercharged the space and imprinted back into the work that was put before them – bringing it all to fruition.

All profits from this dinner were paid forward in support of our local food banks via Community Action Partnership of San Bernadino County.