El Paso, TX—The last time we updated this blog, the Egg was pointed east on a course across middle American to Chattanooga, TN. Winter storms stilted our plans so we took an unexpected turn south, driving from Albuquerque, NM down to west Texas. Turns out it was one of the best impromptu moves we’ve made. For the last two weeks (with one more to go), we’ve been getting to know our way around one of nation’s finest bouldering destinations: Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site.
Bishop, CA—I was honored to be invited by Gale Straub, the incredible woman behind She-Explores, to do an interview about DesignEgg for an online feature. She-Explores is a lovely, well-curated selection of stories, images, and reviews all centered around women in the outdoors. Gale takes incredible photographs and has a killer Instagram feed. Check out the interview which hits on how DesignEgg came about, how we stay creative on the road, and why design is so important for non-profits.
Bishop, CA—The 16-foot fiberglass travel trailer affectionately called “The Egg” has rolled over 4,000 miles to arrive at its current resting place in the foothills of the Eastern Sierras. Andy and I (and Pickle, the dog), have called this little trailer home for the last three months as we began a year-long adventure to explore the country, connect with new clients, and give away over $25,000 in free design and photography services to artists, non-profits, and entrepreneurs in need.
Los Angleles, CA—How we ended up in a room filled with some of the brightest minds in Los Angeles—from the Deputy Mayor to Moby—was the result of a chance meeting under a boulder in Utah.
While we were climbing in Joe’s Valley, we ran into Orange County native Alvin Kim (check out his blog—you’ll be inspired). Alvin’s sister Christine was one of the organizers of a new event bringing together “creative leaders from across Los Angeles to share best practices and investigate new ways to make their burgeoning civic, architectural or design projects a reality.” Christine reached out to us after hearing the DesignEgg story from her brother and we soon had an invitation to the Making LA Conference, the culmination of a year-long programming series organized by de LaB, an LA-based nonprofit with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Cedar City, UT—On our way out of Joe’s Valley we decided to stop for a week to work in Cedar City, a college town that sits near the northern border of Zion National Park. Like other small towns we’ve had the pleasure to stumble upon, Cedar City has plenty of facilities to support us, including a great public library, a friendly Walmart where we can park our trailer, a local coffee shop, and the entire Southern Utah University campus, complete with a rec center, Shakepearian-style theater (SUU is home to a renown Shakespeare festival), and a lovely art gallery.
Last night, the gallery—and more specifically, an incredible image of a Julia Galloway pitcher—caught our eye as we wandered around campus. When we stepped into the Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery we were greeted by a plethora of familiar names and some of the best ceramic sculpture that we’d seen in a very long time. As Gallery Director at Lillstreet Art Center, I had the pleasure of working with many of the artists included in this show, 50 from 6: Contemporary Ceramics from Six Rocky Mountain States, and the exhibit brought back warm memories of my time at Lill.