PRIMA MATERIA by Rohini Walker
Caitlin Deane is an old soul. In human terms she is still young, embodying all the youthful beauty and vigor of her twenty-six years. But she exudes a quiet wisdom, a sense of imperturbability that brings to mind the deep roots of an ancient tree. It’s no wonder that she has been drawn to make her home in the remote high desert canyon country of Pioneertown, California. This area of the Mojave high desert is unique. In winter, temperatures regularly drop to well below freezing. The landscape teems with a vegetation you wouldn’t expect from a desert, including the beautifully gnarly old Piñon pine trees rising up from the boulders and scraggy rock faces. If the Mojave high desert has its own unique color palette, its higher altitude canyonlands take this one step further.
rather than seek out the bustle and energy of a cosmopolitan city in which to establish herself and her art, presumably like the majority of her peers.
Caitlin’s apprenticeship at the California Institute of Earth Art & Architecture (Cal-Earth) initially brought her out to the desert, when she visited Pioneertown during a weekend trip to the area. The couple made their move there incrementally, living close to downtown Joshua Tree at first. Caitlin had already been working as a production potter at the family-owned MazAmar Pottery on Main Street in Pioneertown since first moving to the desert. Increasingly, the need for more space, where they could both have studios, and where Caitlin could have space for her wheel and for making a pit-fire, compelled them to Generally devoid of cellphone service, with little to no start looking further afield at more secluded areas. internet connection to speak of, many of the residents in this area have lived here for generations: ranchers who And the move has made a definite impact on her work: are understandably protective of their secluded lives “I’m noticing more of a sensitivity happening in my body and a close-knit community of long-standing friends and in my work. Kind of realizing the quietness of this and neighbors. It’s a bold move then for a young artist, place and really deepening into my sensory body and just originally from the outskirts of Philadelphia, along with being present more.” her partner, Toby Verhines, also an artist, to move out here. Of course, it’s not uncommon for artists to seek out Disconnected from the relentless and intrusive distracrural environments in which to live and work and create. tions of social media and text messages, and no longer What’s interesting is that, given Caitlin’s youth, and the able to just drive into town on a whim created a more profact that she had just graduated from the Maryland In- found connection with this ancient landscape, bringing a stitute College of Art in Baltimore with a BFA in Ceram- deeper presence and inspiration to her work and her art. ics, she chose to spirit herself away to the Mojave desert 25