UCR Palm Desert Screening- April 18th, 6pm

                                                      Desert Journey 1935- Private Collection

Hi All!

I'm currently working on lots of different projects, writing some articles and also creating some art of my own and returning to my love of photography. I'll be heading up to Tehachapi next week to shoot stills and B-roll for an upcoming project, can't wait to experience one of Maynard Dixon's favorite places, and hopefully see some of the color and clouds that he loved and painted so beautifully.

Next month, my first documentary, Maynard Dixon Art and Spirit, will be screened as part of the Palm Desert Art Documentary series. The event takes place at the UCR Palm Desert Auditorium at 6pm on Thursday, April 18th. I'll be there for a Q&A after, and hope to meet some new Dixon fans and see my desert friends... especially Dixon's son, John and his wonderful wife, Lee. They have been such great supporters of this film, and we have enjoyed a wonderful friendship since we first met back in 2001!

The film is being shown in conjunction with Desertscapes 2013. For more information on events throughout the month of April based on historic and contemporary plein air artwork in the Coachella Valley visit: www.Desertscapes.net.

Stay tuned! 

UCR Palm Desert Center
75080 Frank Sinatra Drive
Palm Desert, CA 92211

Dorothea Lange biographer Linda Gordon at the Autry National Center

Today I had the pleasure of finally meeting award-winning author and historian, Linda Gordon. Her most recent book, Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits, has received critical acclaim and is featured on the New York Times’ “100 Notable Books of 2009.” Dr. Gordon and I have communicated over the past five years a number of times, as I was researching my film on Maynard Dixon, and his second wife, Dorothea Lange. We interviewed many of the same people and shared years covering similar subjects.

Today's discussion at the Autry National Center focused largely on Lange's emergence as a visual sociologist, recording the impact of economic times with her camera. Dr. Gordon's meticulously researched profile of Dorothea Lange portrays her subject as a complex woman who approached her work with sensitivity and great determination. Indeed, Dorothea Lange lived "A Life Beyond Limits", and this riveting book beautifully details the challenges that she overcame to express her art.

NEVADA MUSEUM OF ART-Thurs. Nov. 19th-6pm

I'm really looking forward to screening at the Nevada Museum of Art next Thursday. John Dixon and his wife Lee hope to join me, weather permitting. We had a great conversation about Maynard Dixon's love of Nevada, his many trips to Carson City and their family trips to Anita Baldwin's cabin at Fallen Leaf Lake. The museum has some fine paintings by Dixon, the one above is titled "Edge of the Amargosa Desert, 1927", and is on display upstairs at the museum.

John will join me for a conversation after the screening of the film. We always share lots of laughs with the audience! I hear that there will be many Dixon experts in attendance, which is always a pleasure for us. We learn that someone grew up with a Dixon painting over their bed, or that their Mother received one as a wedding gift from Maynard. Many wish to comment on Dixon's talent, his palette and extraordinary perspective. It's all wonderful conversation! Maynard was a colorful and witty man, opinionated, with a wicked sense of humor. When these stories emerge, these evenings become great fun!

We hope to visit Lake Tahoe on this trip, and will spend some time at the Tallac historic cabin/museum that still remains on the South Shore. Dixon once produced a brochure for the Tallac resort hotel, which burned years ago. John remembers a summer on the lake with his brother and Imogen Cunningham's twin sons. His most vivid memory is backing into the pot belly stove!

Please join us in Reno if you have a chance. Thursday, Nov. 19th, 6pm- 8pm.