The Film
A short documentary about Heidi Schwegler, an artist who lives in the Mojave Desert where she makes “beautiful objects about messy and depressing subject matter.” Faced with a crisis in her art practice, she goes on a journey, and is then profoundly affected by a surprising flip in perception.
Director and Producer
Stephen Funk is a photographer turned filmmaker living in Portland, OR. For years, he has admired Schwegler’s art for its thoughtfulness, beautiful craftsmanship and humor. Funk writes, “It almost always makes me smile, not only because of the humor, but also because of the revelation that hits me when I get a chance to see the world from Heidi's amazing point of view.”
Funk was inspired to create this film not only to showcase Schwegler’s artwork, but also to share a glimpse of Schwegler’s one-of-a-kind personality.
Stephen Funk
The Star
Heidi Schwegler is an artist who lives and works in the Mojave Desert. In 2019 she and her husband Derek Monypeny started the Yucca Valley Material Lab artist residency and learning center.
Before moving to the desert, she was a professor at Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC) and a grad chair at OCAC and Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA).
www.HeidiSchwegler.com
www.YuccaValleyMaterial.org
Existential Action Thriller art installation at PORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Heidi Schwegler
Music
Derek Monypeny is a musician and Director of Yucca Valley Material Lab’s Music Program, which includes the record label Yucca Alta Records..
Monypeny sees his musical mission as adding to and expanding on what he calls the "desert continuum;" the psychedelic sirocco swirl of desert-based stringed instruments played with utter abandon by musicians the world over.
