Curate Joshua Tree

Interview with founder, Emily Silver
Questions by Emily Burns

What is Curate Joshua Tree?
Curate Joshua Tree is a podcast/blog/website that features artists in and around the High Desert in Joshua Tree, CA. With so many artists, musicians and creative types living in and around Joshua Tree, this project was conceived in late 2015 to start archiving the community. We have recorded studio visits that you can hear on iTunes. There is a written interview featured on the blog page on our website, and each artist has their own photo gallery from the studio visit so the listener can see what we are talking about.

What are some cool projects or artist opportunities that are unique to this project?
Curate Joshua Tree is pretty unique and special. It gives listeners the ability to get inside these artists’ work spaces and processes. It’s really exciting to be interested in someone’s work and have the opportunity to tune into them them discussing what they’re currently working on.  

In October 2016, I curated the first group show Surveying the Land including all of the artists that had been featured, and a few that will be interviewed in 2017. The show was held at an artist run space called OutPost Projects in Flamingo Heights. We had an amazing turnout. Over 200 people came to the opening. I had no idea there were that many people that had any idea what this project was. There’s such an incredible, supportive community out here. I think my jaw was open in awe all night.

Can you talk about the importance of artist-run projects today?
Artist-run spaces are vital. These unique spaces are helping to build a community around the work and artists, creating an inclusive space for people to come together. They take the edge off the idea of any “market”and soften the edges around expectations. I think this allows artists the freedom to try new things, experiment and take risks. It’s hard to feel like that’s safe. These artist-run spaces, magazines, Instagram’s, blogs, etc. are so important in supporting growth. They tend to have a great pulse on what’s actually going on. These platforms also give people and artists opportunities. So many great artists aren’t “represented” or paid much attention to because they haven’t received some sort of art world approval. That makes these opportunities that much more important. 

Any upcoming cool stuff to look out for?
I hope to have another group show this fall. It’s a challenge because I’m a one-woman show right now, and this is truly just a labor of love. My dream for this project is that I can put out a catalogue a few times a year that features these artists’ work and interviews—something that I could have available online and hard copy. I have a giant storage container on my property that I am going to work on converting into Curate Joshua Tree gallery, hopefully for 2018. You can always look forward to another podcast episode too, with a bunch more episodes planned for the spring!

To find out more about Curate Joshua Tree, check out the links below:

Website www.curatejoshuatree.com
Instagram CurateJoshuaTree
iTunes
Soundcloud