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Ann Japenga

Ann Japenga

Ann Japenga is a Palm Springs-based writer specializing in stories about the art, history and landscape of the California desert. As a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times she roamed the West and discovered a love of stories tied to the land. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, Utne, Sierra, Palm Springs Life and the Los Angeles Times Magazine, as well as anthologies such as True Tales of the Mojave. She is the founder of the online magazine www.CaliforniaDesertArt.com.

Ann Japenga
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A black and white photo of a woman in the cockpit of an early airplane.
If ever there is a Palm Springs LGBTQ Hall of Fame, Rose Dougan will surely require her own wing. Named Flying Rose, she lived an adventurous life learning to fly with Wilbur Wright, taking "the longest all-woman drive," and eventually working to help preserve the art of Native American basketry for generations to come.
Paul Grimm stands on the side of his painting of Harry Bennett and his horse Sonny.
From stopping union uprisings for Henry Ford to a desert landscape painter, Harry Bennett wasn’t just a militaristic figure in corporate America but also, strangely, a skilled artist.
Jon Gnagy signs his name on an easel with his back turned to the camera. The profile of his face can be seen and he is wearing a plaid collared shirt.
As America’s first TV artist debuting in 1946, Jon Gnagy was a predecessor to the now-trendy Bob Ross. Hundreds of artists and artists credit him as their inspiration, from New York contemporary artist Allan McCollum to Andy Warhol.
 Agnes Pelton, "Star Gazer," 1929. Oil on canvas. | Collection of Susan and Whitney Ganz
Agnes Pelton’s Cat City home is no majestic artist enclave, but unable to drive, she still found her mystic inspirations in her small hometown. Walk in her shoes.
Night's Regent, 2000 | Courtesy of Sharon Ellis
Sharon Ellis' luminous landscapes draw on nearly the whole history of landscape painting. Think American Luminists, Charles Burchfield and his "animated landscapes" and even Light and Space artists James Turrell and Robert Irwin.
Norton Allen map of Corn Springs, between Indio and Blythe. There was no I-10 at the time the map was drawn. | Courtesy of Ethel Allen
"Desert Magazine" published from 1937 to 1985, offered readers an appealing world of mirages, ghost towns and lost treasure. Its maps sizzled with life and adventure. They were created lovingly — and it turns out painstakingly — by an elusive mapmaker.
Cathedral City in the era of the Sven-Ska art colony with Mt. San Jacinto in background. | Courtesy of the Cathedral City Historical Society
She was a beautiful blonde artist — a friend to Greta Garbo, D.H. Lawrence and Agnes Pelton — and she ruled over a Valhalla of early artists, Sven-Ska, somewhere out in the California desert.
The former home of architect R. Lee Miller. The sign on the door says: "Shanti. Enter with Primitive Bare Feet." | Courtesy of Palm Springs Historical Society. All Rights Reserved.
A masterwork of organic architecture by a virtually forgotten 1920s Palm Springs architect, R. Lee Miller, the Araby Rock houses could be mistaken for the Shire from "Lord of the Rings," and over the years, it has attracted its own vivid residents.
 Hazel's Garden viewed from above | Joe Barrett
Over decades, Hazel Iona Stiles created an uplifting — almost invisible — piece of land art that could only be appreciated from the elevation of an airplane, or even higher.
Susie Keef Smith and Lula Mae Graves on the Bradshaw Trail, a historic gold road through the California desert, 1930.| Warner Graves Collection.
In the 1920s, armed with a .38 revolver and a large format camera, Susie Smith and her cousin Lula Mae Graves set out to photograph the last of the prospectors, burro packers and stage stops in the remote desert to the east.
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