if you want to enjoy sunny and warm days i recommed visiting the death valley in the end of august. With an average of only 2 inch rainfall per year and up to 135 degree fahrenheit, you can leave the long underwear at home. With -280 feet below the surface, it tends to be the lowest point in north america.
To stay overnight at lonely places in the desert have a special charm. The complete absence of civilization noise, no, or at least a few annoying lights, loneliness and often brilliant starry sky provide this special flair. Before we drove to death valley we had such a magical place on the edge of nothing.
Before we started our journey I asked günter ludwig for interesting art contacts in america and at once he has recommended to visit jael hoffmann. Jael lives with her daughter noa near olancha in the sierra nevada mountains. Converted shipping containers are used as warehouses and workshops and there she makes her often colorful skulptures . perhaps many can not imagine living in a desert but jael and her 17 year old daaughter feel exactly here bloody good.
many western movies were filmed here, among others, parts of “Django Unchained”. this great scenery provided us a perfect place for the night.
Artist Statement by Marisa:
“I am not here. I am gone.)
I find an object, hear a word, or experience trauma. Any one of these transforms into a finished art piece in my mind. My work is not pleasing to many. I create from a compulsion to expel horrific visions, night terrors, and flashbacks-all related to abuses to many children by my sociopathic pedophile father (portrayed in every piece I do.) Several have asked me what I am thinking when I work in my studio. I don’t think. I am not here; I am gone. My work is extremely detailed, with symbols that are a recurring theme in all the art I make. I do not explain them. I paint only for me. Art is my earthly savior.My work is an ongoing story. As a new piece of information comes, it must be processed immediately. My art fills with dread. I take it to my therapist. He works diligently to alleviate horror, fear, and out-of-control panic. Three or four years ago, I lost the entire month of October. When I rejoined the world, I found a very minimalist finished canvas in my studio. I knew it was my work, but had no memory of doing it. I have no idea what it meant, and no title. It is called, “No Name.”
I will always love art with a passion. I just hope my obsession to paint the evil hidden in my brain somehow disappear. I do not want to tell this story to anyone (although Norbert Guthier asked so many questions, I explained the back story to him, and gave him my truth as best I could.) For now, I seek silent, sacred spaces that hold me in the present. My studio and those beloved escapes are critical to my well-being.
Explanation by wikipedia:
Green flashes and green rays are optical phenomena that sometimes occur right after sunset or right before sunrise. When the conditions are right, a green spot is visible above the upper rim of the disk of the sun. The green appearance usually lasts for no more than a second or two. Rarely, the green flash can resemble a green ray shooting up from the sunset (or sunrise) point. Green flashes occur because the atmosphere can cause the light from the sun to separate out into different colors. Green flashes are a group of phenomena which stem from slightly different causes, and therefore some types of green flashes are more common than others.[1]
