How A Trip to East Jesus Rocked This Artist’s Creative Journey, Setting Her on A New Course
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| East Jesus (EWR 2018) |
How
often does a visit to a museum or art show inspire us to greater heights of
creativity? It sometimes happens as we wander among the works of great artists,
some pieces making us stop…in awe. During a road trip in Southern California, I
was very fortunate to stumble on such an environment – one filled with artwork unlike anything I had ever seen. This place was overflowing in outdoor art installations, sculptures,
and mixed media assemblages by countless anonymous artists. It blew me away.
More importantly, it inspired me to raise my own bar and unleash the depths
of my own creativity in coming years.
The sky’s the limit!
I invite you to watch my video “Creativity Meets East Jesus” to experience your own visit to East Jesus...
It could alter your creative journey, as it did mine.
Continue reading to discover more about a creativity-rich region discovered during Elaine Weiner-Reed’s recent California adventures…
Off The Beaten Path in Southern California…
When
the road trip began, I had no idea that the day would end
in a euphoric cloud of creative energy.
My
Sister and I left Cathedral City, taking The 111 East and South. Destination:
The Salton
Sea, an inland saline lake in the Sonoran Desert of
extreme southeastern California. The Salton
Sea occupies the Salton Basin, a remnant of
prehistoric Lake Cahuilla. The Sea’s salinity measures slightly higher
than that of the Pacific Ocean.
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| The Salton Sea (EWR 2018) |
We
enjoyed the almost-deserted beach, wandering along the salty shore,
bird-watching and admiring the vistas. I had never seen an inland sea – not in
a desert! I later learned that we were fortunate in the timing of our visit,
because the pervasive scent of decaying fish baking in the salty water, sun,
and sand is often a strong deterrent to potential guests. As we were leaving
the grounds, we stopped at the gate, asking the National Park Service Ranger what other sights we should not miss while we were in the
area. (I do this whenever I travel.) We were already planning to go see a place
called Salvation
Mountain, we told her. Emphatically nodding her approval,
she advised: “In that case, while you are out that way, you don’t want to miss
visiting Slab
City and East Jesus.”
Really?!
“That’s an actual place!?” I asked her with a skeptical smile, inclining my head as I
said “Jesus.” (Old habits die hard when you have been raised Catholic and
attended nine years of Catholic schools…taught by nuns, I might add.)
Smiling, she confirmed “Yes. It’s a real place.”
On the Road Again…
I
admit, we were rather intrigued as we drove out onto the road. Only a few miles
down the road, we made a quick detour to view the ruins of a 1950’s California
resort town, Bombay
Beach, which has an interesting history. Remnants of
the old now mingle with new homesteads– contrasts in eccentricities,
up-cycling, and resourcefulness.
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| Bombay Beach (EWR 2018) |
California is extremely pro
freedom-of-speech and pro freedom-of-expression. That means pro-ART! For California residents, I discovered there
is a plethora of public art grants and many laws supporting Art and artists.
(To research this, you can start here.)
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| Bombay Beach (EWR 2018) |
After about an hour or more drive, as directed, we turned left “at Main,” and drove along the 2-lane road to our next two destinations: Salvation Mountain first, and then, East Jesus.
The Sisters’ Road Trip Continues…
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| Welcome to Salvation Mountain (EWR 2018) |
Salvation
Mountain is a quite unique place, the dream child of one man named Leonard
Knight, whose life-long ambition became spreading the
Word of God. That Word led him to Niland, California, in the mid-1980’s, where determination
and faith led him to construct first one, and then a second
mountain, now known as Salvation Mountain. Made over the course of
more than 20 years from thousands of bales of straw, adobe, old tires, sticks, flowers,
and thousands of gallons of paint, Salvation Mountain received Congressional
recognition in 2002 from Senator Barbara Boxer, who called it "a unique
and visionary sculpture...a national treasure...profoundly strange and
beautifully accessible, and worthy of the international acclaim it receives."
I find it extremely inspiring to see what one person can create – with an idea,
a dream, and dogged determination. A YouTube video of Leonard Knight’s
Salvation Mountain and his philosophy can be found here.
We
spent at least two hours at Salvation Mountain, exploring its many paintings and formations, and marveling at its
grotto-like alcoves. I felt as if I had traveled back in time to a tolerant,
loving, mellow, and welcoming time and place where we spoke in hushed awe.
Having been born a few years too late, I bypassed the Hippie era, so this was a new experience for me…and a pleasant one at that!
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| The Artist inside Salvation Mountain Grotto (EWR 2018) |
One of
the docents or caretakers of Salvation Mountain was pleased to educate me upon
hearing that I lived in Maryland. He informed me that I could see additional
work by and learn more about Leonard
Knight at the American Visionary Museum (AVAM) in Baltimore. I had no idea, even though I have visited the
museum. Clearly, this calls for a return visit to AVAM in the near future.
Thank you, my anonymous Educator!
East Jesus, Here We Come!
My
sister and I climbed back into the car, wanting to leave enough time in our day
to give the intriguing East Jesus its due. We drove slowly through Slab
City, but did not stop. As we got
closer to the destination, mileage-wise, we did not see what you would call actual road signs, but rather hand-made plaques - when they were present at
all. Unsure at one point on whether to go right or left to get to East Jesus, we
spotted a sign that read: “Left, Satan.”
Needless to say, we chuckled but immediately turned right, and
around the next bend found ourselves in East Jesus. Parking in the small lot, our jaws dropped as we opened our car
doors, spotting a million things to see from the windows.
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| East Jesus (EWR 2018) |
Something to Think About: I know many people think of New York City as the American Art Mecca or “Arts Capital,” but from what I have seen and experienced, I believe that some of
California’s cities top the list for Art, creativity, and especially in their
support of the arts and artists. Los Angeles and San Francisco continue to rock
the world in terms of creativity in the arts and film industries, to be sure.
That said, I personally witnessed the works of California Artists who are truly
rocking their Creative Sides in ways I have never imagined or had seen before.
Welcome to East Jesus
A small enclave that you might never have heard of until now...
While I had not heard of it until a few weeks ago, many California residents with whom I have spoken never heard of it, either!
Before we knew it, more than three hours evaporated as my sister and I
separately meandered through and circled in and around artwork, stopping and
looking, snapping pictures, reading signs, running into each other occasionally
for shared laughter at an artists’ sense of humor, marveling all the while at
the artists’ limitless imagination. One work after another captivated us,
replacing the one before as our new favorite. Enthralled, we became
intoxicated by some of the most remarkable, mind-blowing installations,
assemblages, and sculptures either of us had ever seen. Our heads were
spinning, our senses in overload, as we tried to absorb some measure of its
wealth and gather as many memories as we could. I smiled and marveled to
myself, thinking: “This off-the-beaten-path place in a California desert is
totally off the Creativity Charts! Talk about inspiring – wow… Just WOW!
Move over, brick and mortar Art Museums… And keep on bringing it, East Jesus Artists!”
I
invite you to watch the tribute video I created, “Creativity Meets East
Jesus” to experience a 6-minute visit to East Jesus that
could alter your own creative journey. I hope you enjoy your initial visual tour through the enclave’s many
marvelous creations… I know I will return to East Jesus, my new Art Mecca, but in the
interim, I have over a hundred photos to help keep me on my artistic toes!
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| Resident Artist, East Jesus (EWR 2018) |
After
East Jesus, I reset and raised my own Creativity Bar much, much
higher.
In retrospect, I realized that I have not yet really begun to
scratch below the surface of my own creativity - not while I was at
University (sculpting ribbon shapes using polyester resin and fiberglass or
welding scrap metal found in junkyards) and not during the intervening four
decades, where I primarily have focused on painting. I left East Jesus energized,
motivated, and grateful, imagining where I will take my art over the next
20-plus years!
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| East Jesus Creation (EWR 2018) |
My painting “Dialogue
with A Muse III” (below) was created during the weeks following that special
road trip.
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| Elaine Weiner-Reed - "Dialogue With A Muse" (Copyright 2018) |
Is it just me, or has the magic of East Jesus already begun
to nourish and influence my own Muse…?
Until
next time: Keep Creating!
As
always with my articles and art videos, please feel free to share them with
others who will appreciate their content and ideas. I hope you find my article
and video to be educational and inspiring. I would love to hear from you as we
keep the creativity wave moving. Please let me know if and how it inspired you
in your own creative path. Stay in touch and be sure to email me your favorite
works of art if you visit East Jesus.
Yours in Art
and Creativity,
Elaine
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