Nadia Clark
Title: TBD
Originally from Arizona, where he spent his childhood, Joshua Tree was like coming home. This is where he and his husband, JR, opened the Wind Walkers pottery and native American jewelry store. It was also here that Abe’s indigenous heritage was rejuvenated and where he began exploring his roots. After closing the store upon JR’s passing, Abe was called by the Great Spirit to assist others along their journey by creating a medicine wheel and meditation trail on the land that he stewards with his partner Rex. Abe also reconnected with his passion for theater by starting a summer theatre program where he has directed and acted in several local award winning productions.
Omar Columbus
Title: TBD
Omar Columbus is a photographer, poet, curator, advocate, and an Air Force veteran. A native of North Carolina, now residing in the Coachella Valley, he enlisted after high school and served for 12 years on active duty. An Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom veteran seeking healing and comfort from post-traumatic stress, his poetry and photography have become his creative outlets. Omar has always believed that events in his life have been compelling. He is now learning to work through his trauma creatively, talk about those things, and heal through his art, storytelling, and advocacy.
Glen Harris
Title: TBD
Glen Harris was born and raised in the suburbs of NYC into a family that loved art, music, and theater. He earned a bachelor’s from NYU and spent more than 30 years in LA in TV production, PR, and talent management. He and his husband Tom moved to Joshua Tree in 2016 where Glen dedicates himself to several local charities, community groups, and organizations. He is an advocate for the arts, civil and equal rights, and the environment. Glen is the local Field Rep for the Third District County Supervisor and serves on the boards at Joshua Tree Retreat Center, Joshua Tree No-Kill Animal Shelter, and Desert Regional Tourism Agency.
Gillian Keller
Title: TBD
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Gillian Keller, the artist known as Enlightenment Barbie, has been translating esoteric visions from the ether into visual art since a sudden awakening zap in 2013. As an explorer of dreams, investigator of the seen and unseen, and worshiper of dynamism, Gillian doesn’t see herself as merely human. Rather, she sees everyone (and everything) as “god” experiencing itself- an ever-unfolding, self-creating, self-decaying continuum of perpetual revelation. From that perspective, she lives and creates. Gillian grew up in the Pacific Northwest, attained a BFA from University of Idaho, spent ten years in San Francisco, and has dwelled in this desert since 2020.
Snake Jagger
Title: TBD
Snake Jagger is a California Desert artist. He begins with what he knows best – the California Desert and transforms that raw material into novel images that amaze and delight. His meticulous technique details every rock, cactus, and palm frond, giving each an intense presence.
Snake paints in a style he calls “whimsical surrealism,” his artwork is meant to entertain, but also to inspire thoughts of preserving our home planet.
His landscapes are too pristine, too perfect. But that is their appeal. For Jagger, the desert offers escape. His paintings allow us to share his sense of whimsy and hope.
Liz Lapp
Title: TBD
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Liz Lapp is a California native raised in Santa Cruz County among the surf, sand, and agricultural fields of the Central Coast. She graduated from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco with a major in advertising. Her professional journey in marketing, art, tech, and social media has taken her from the West Coast to the East Coast and back again. She currently resides in Yucca Valley and is the owner of the Hi Desert Times magazine shop in Twentynine Palms.
Valerie Eagle Heart Meyer
Title: TBD
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Born in Illinois and raised in LA, Valerie decided on the magic of the High Desert to follow her heart-led dream. She is stepping into her 25th year on the land she and her late husband chose together. Valerie is a teacher, intuitive, ceremonial dancer, and leader. She incorporates what has worked for her through prayer dances, women's circles, retreats, medicine wheel ceremonies, and other classes and workshops. With two associates, Valerie opened Rainbow Stew in Yucca Valley in 2011. Rainbow Stew offers a variety of treasures, healing therapies, works from local artists, as well as classes and workshops "to feed the mind and spirit."
Rosa Pullman
Title: TBD
Rosa Pullman is a singer and songwriter based in Southern California. Steeped in the traditions and lineage of folk, soul, blues, and rock and roll, she writes from personal journeys as a way to offer both solidarity and reflection to her fellow people of the world. Her love for the rhythm of poetry lands naturally in song and lends itself to many a meander through the labyrinth of experience and expression. She lived in the Twentynine Palms and Joshua Tree areas for three years most recently where she wrote many a song with the winds and the sands and chollas.
Nigel Roman
Title: TBD
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Nigel Roman is a California native hailing from Joshua Tree. Raised by his grandmother on Sunburst Circle, he embodies the essence of his close-knit community. Nigel is a multifaceted individual, channeling his creativity as a musician and artist. His passion lies in exploring the depths of the human experience, valuing the truth, and drawing wisdom from personal traumas. He's dedicated to guiding others on their journey to comprehend this complex world, weaving a tapestry of empathy and insight. As a student of life with a profound love for his roots, Nigel Roman is a testament to the power of art, community, and the pursuit of understanding.
Mike Usher
Title: TBD
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Mike Usher is a native of Twentynine Palms and an alumnus of Twentynine Palms High School. After high school, Mike began college in San Diego, before serving eight years in the Air Force. After the service, he earned a Masters in Education from UC San Diego and became a public school teacher in San Diego while moonlighting as a bartender in local breweries. In 2017 Mike and his family returned to Twentynine Palms where he took a job at Twentynine Palms High School. He taught and coached there for five years, leaving after the pandemic to open GRND SQRL, a scratch-made gastropub and craft beer bar in Twentynine Palms.