Palm Desert Center

February Marks the First Steps Towards Interdisciplinary Desert Studies at UCR PDGC

Earlier this month, Dick Hebdige, Director of Arts & Interdisciplinary Programs for UCR's Palm Desert Center, in partnership with the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts organized a three-day artist retreat and research project held at the University of California's 16,000-acre Boyd Deep Canyon Nature Reserve located five miles south of Palm Desert.

The retreat brought together arts students and faculty from six UC campuses - UC Davis, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz - together with members of international eco-arts consortium, Luminous Green. The retreat featured a series of on-site wilderness workshops focused on the following themes: future desert ecologies; native desert knowledge systems; sustainable design strategies for a world without water; desert navigation; the new desert social order; and desert food and waste cycles.

Using "Open Space Technology," a pro-active facilitation technique, the gathering intended to draw upon and synthesize the knowledge and expertise of the participants, all of whom are engaged in work related in one way or another to issues of cultural and ecological sustainability.

The retreat concluded at the Salton Sea on Monday, February 16, with "Honolulu Club", a lunch time performance by Xtreme sports artist, Sierra Brown in which participants were served lobster bisque prepared in advance by Brown, who also captains a dive boat out of Long Beach. As the group sat at beachside tables, the artist swam into the sea, did a number of exhibition dives and emerged after 10 minutes with a net containing seven lobsters which she had planted prior to the group's arrival. Brown measured each lobster and declared the catch "legal." The performance was designed to call attention to what Brown calls " the failed recreational utopia of the blighted Salton Sea, California's largest, most saline and periodically most toxic lake."

"The aim is to get people thinking about how and where we get our food from," Brown said.

The retreat served to launch interdisciplinary Desert Studies as a research and teaching focus at UC Riverside's Palm Desert Center. The program is led by Hebdige, who said, "The Desert Studies focus grows naturally out of the Center's geographical location in the Coachella Valley, but it also reflects the extent to which issues such as population density, warming trends, cultural and environmental sustainability, species and landscape conservation, water use and the search for alternative energy sources have shifted the desert from the margins to the forefront of debate on the future of our planet in the arts, the sciences and the broader public realm."

Plans for interdisciplinary low-residency graduate programs in Desert Studies at the Palm Desert Center include opening up potential areas of study such as: Comparative Desert Studies, Art and the Environment, Spatial Studies, Experimental Geography/Mapping the Desert: Southern California, Native American Studies, Conservation and Resource Management, Media Production, and Arts Management.

UCR Supports College of the Desert at its Mecca-Thermal Campus Grand Opening

On Saturday, February 7th, College of the Desert held the grand opening for its new Mecca-Thermal Campus. Hundreds joined the celebration, which included remarks from guest speaker Victor Villanseñor, public safety displays, a formal blessing from the Torres-Martinez Indian Tribe and local live entertainment provided by the Coachella Valley High School Mariachi Band, Folkloric Ballet Dancers, and Marching Band.

UCR Palm Desert participated in the celebration by hosting an interactive "Community Haiku Mural" booth. Staff and students in the MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts program taught the visitors to the booth how to write haiku poems, which were then written on large posters to create a mural. People of all ages joined in, writing poems in English and Spanish, on topics ranging from cactus to Cheetos.

"The great thing about haiku is that it is short and easy to learn," said Toni Lawrence, UCR PDGC's Director of Programs and Outreach. "Some people needed a little coaxing, but it didn't take long before they let their inner poet emerge."

With classes in English, math, history, and psychology in its inaugural semester, the COD Mecca-Thermal campus offers students in the East Valley an opportunity to take classes that apply toward their A.A. degree.

"This is an important moment in College of the Desert's history and we were proud to be there to help them mark the event," said Carolyn Stark, Executive Director, UCR Palm Desert Center.

Coming Soon, Best-selling Author Elizabeth Gilbert

"Wise, jaunty, human, ethereal and heartbreaking," are just a few words critics have used to describe Elizabeth Gilbert's best-seller, "Eat, Pray, Love," a memoir about the year she spent traveling the world alone after a difficult divorce.

Not only did the book land Gilbert in the number one slot on The New York Times best-seller list, the book has been a worldwide success and is published in over 30 languages with over seven million copies in print. In 2008, Gilbert was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time Magazine.

Gilbert is the featured speaker at the Arts & Letters Lecture Series event on Thursday, March 12 at 6 p.m. at the Palm Springs High School Auditorium. The lecture is the final lecture in the series, which is designed to provide the community an opportunity to examine the work and creative vision of celebrated literary figures.

Gilbert was born in Connecticut and was raised on a small family Christmas tree farm. She went to college in New York City in the early 1990's and spent the years after college traveling around the country and the world, working odd jobs, writing short stories and essentially creating what she has referred to as her own MFA program.

Much of her writing has been optioned by Hollywood. Her GQ memoir about her bartending years became the Disney movie "Coyote Ugly." The Daily Variety reports Paramount Pictures has acquired screen rights to the Gilbert's memoir "Eat, Pray, Love" and will develop it as a star vehicle for Julia Roberts.

Tickets are $35. For more information call, (760) 834-0590.

Osher Spring Class Schedule Available Soon

The new spring schedule for the UCR Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) is available Monday, March 2.

The Osher program provides a stimulating noncredit learning experience that enriches the intellectual, social, and cultural lives of people over the age of 50. Members of the program learn in a peer environment and there are no tests, grades and no entrance exams or minimum educational background requirements to participate.

Independent sessions are held in the Coachella Valley at UCR Palm Desert and in Rancho Mirage at the Annenberg Center at Eisenhower Medical Center and in Riverside at the UCR Extension center. An average of 80 courses are offered each academic year in a variety of intellectually stimulating topics including art, archaeology, science, information technology, music, history, literature, religion, and international and current affairs. Membership is $125 per session and students can choose up to five of the classes offered that session. Spring classes begin in the Coachella Valley on March 30.

The Osher program gets its name from the Bernard Osher Foundation, which was established in 1977 to benefit a wide range of education and cultural activities. In the last five years, the Foundation has provided funding to create OLLIs at 121 universities in 49 states in the U.S. UCR was one of the original 10 universities to have an Osher program and the first classes were offered in 2003.

For more information about the Osher program, visit www.extension.ucr.edu or call (760) 834-0997.

Save The Date

Arts & Letters Lecture Series

This series provides the Coachella Valley and its visitors with a unique opportunity to examine the work and creative vision of celebrated literary figures. All lectures will be held at UCR Palm Desert Center unless otherwise noted.

Thursday, March 12 at 6 p.m.
Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat, Pray, Love." Note: This event will take place at the Palm Springs High School Auditorium, 2401 East Baristo Road, Palm Springs, CA.
Cost: $35.

For information call (760) 834-0590.

Imagining the Future Lecture Series

This series showcases the rich expertise of UCR faculty on a wide variety of important, contemporary scientific topics. The lectures are free, open to the public and will be held at the UCR Palm Desert in the Education Building Auditorium (Room B200).

Wednesday, March 4 at 4:30 p.m.
"Water Quality and Food Safety," presented by
Sharon Walker Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, UCR.

Wednesday, April 8 at 4:30 p.m.
"The Impact of Ocean Vessels and Goods Movement on Air Pollution Levels in Southern California," presented by
J. Wayne Miller Ph.D., Manager, Emissions and Fuels Research Laboratory, UCR

To print the event flyer, click here. For information and to RSVP call (760) 834-0956.

UCR Palm Desert MFA Literary & Performing Artists Studio

These events feature conversations with today's best and brightest writers, filmmakers and actors on their craft, their lives and the business of making a career out of art. All the events will be held at UCR Palm Desert.

Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 6 p.m.
This month features fiction and nonfiction readings from the works of UCR Palm Desert's MFA faculty, including Tod Goldberg, Dick Hebdige, Rob Roberge and MG Lord.

Saturday, April 4, 2009 at 6 p.m.
Author Amiee Bender reading and discussing her three books, "The Girl in the Flammable Skirt," "An Invisible Sign of My Own" and "Willful Creatures." Bender's short fiction has been published in Tin House, Granta, the Paris Review, Harper's, and more.

Saturday, April 23, 2009 at 6 p.m.
Author Lynne Sharon Schwartz, author of 21 books, will be discussing her new memoir, "Not Now, Voyager." Her stories and essays have been reprinted in many anthologies, including "The Best American Short Stories," "The O. Henry Prize Stories" and "The Best American Essays."

Additional artists to be announced. For event information call (760) 834-0926.

Public Art Film Series

The public is invited to enjoy a series of free, art-themed films and documentaries. The series is presented by the City of Palm Desert Public Art Department and UCR Palm Desert Center. All films are free and will be held at UCR Palm Desert.

Wednesday, March 18, 2008 at 6 p.m.
This month features "Chihuly Over Venice," which chronicles famed glass artist, Dale Chihuly.

Films are free, but reservations are required. To reserve a seat, please call (760) 834-0956. For more information, call (760) 568-5240 or visit www.palmdesertart.org.