It’s late June— somehow, already— and I’m back in Montana. The cottonwoods are snowing in the valleys. The highway is crowded. The days lately have been marked by dark clouds and hot sun and high winds and thunder. The gold of the dandelions and basalmroot on the hillside has given way to purple asters and bee balm. The nighthawks returned. There was new snowfall on the mountain that melted the next day, and the river is colder for it. I had been waiting on the peonies in the garden all spring. They bloomed and passed in the time I was away.
I’m trying to stop looking for metaphors in everything.
Life has been chaotic (and frankly, just hard) lately, which I know is not a unique experience. I’ve been trying to pay attention, to the large and the small, to the shifting of the river running.
I am
—still—
thinking about moon time.
of creosote time.
time written in tree rings.
time as echos.
time as a circle,
always expanding outward.1
A couple weeks ago, when I was back in the Mojave, I set out north on Old Woman Springs Road in the 102 degree heat, because I needed to meet a very specific plant.
Chaparral. Greasewood. Creosote grows in a circular pattern. They are some of the oldest living beings on earth. Root systems will put out new stems on the periphery as the inner stems die, over time creating a crown of clone plants growing from the same roots. For thousands of years longer than we started forcing time into a straight line. Trying to make it all mean something.
King Clone Creosote is believed to be oldest creosote ring in the Mojave Desert, and one of the oldest living organisms on the planet. Estimated to approximately 11,700 years old, at its widest the ring measures over 65 feet across, with an average diameter of 45 feet.
Few other plants are resilient enough to grow in Johnson Valley. Creosote can survive up to two years without water and withstand 120+ degree summer temperatures, and their aggressive root systems generally out-compete other flora in places where resources are scarce. Roots and branches providing shelter in a “desolate” landscape. Resinous, healing leaves incensing the desert when the rain finally comes.
The massive crown of King Clone is only a short distance off the dirt road that spurs off the highway, but I spent about an hour wandering through the ancient creosote rings on the sun-scorched expanse of earth. I haven’t been walking much this past winter and spring, and I’ve missed it. A few times I had to stop and sit down, the hot sand burning even through my denim, trying to take the pressure off my feet, my body that seems to be coming apart, but keeps going.
Except for the wind, the soft brushing of branches, the landscape was silent. A single lizard scurried across the dirt and dove under a tangle of roots and earth. I sat with this halo of plants— rooted to this place since the last ice age— and wept and laughed at how comfortingly and dizzyingly small a person can feel.
Even the landscapes and life defined by it’s absence are shaped and marked by water. The plants that know how to seek it out with deep searching roots, that can carry it in their bodies, that can go without when needed. The canyons carved by floods, basins dried up, water holes in stone. Rivers and creeks that run underground and emerge to touch sky and disappear again.
I have wanted for a long time my body to grow roots, but maybe it has tributaries. always on the move picking up soil and grit.
some art updates…
new print releases online
dust + light on view at mojave flea trading post Palm Springs
Most of my newest works are still up in Palm Springs.
For those interested in collecting any of these works, Mojave Flea has changed some things up recently, and I realize that purchasing isn’t super clear, in person or remotely. If you are having trouble inquiring with them directly, feel free to send me an email and I’m happy to assist in closing the loop. You can view the full artwork catalogue, details, and contact on my website.
Other original artwork available
I have two original artworks available at Radius Gallery in Missoula, MT
There are a few works available at Commerce Gallery in Lockhart, TX
Thank you for being here~
love,
K
some excerpts of this letter have been adapted and expanded from one I sent out in September, 2024.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful experience. 🏜️