In 2018, on a one-day trip to the high desert from Portland, Ore., artist Heidi Schwegler had a vision: She imagined a place where people could come together to learn new skills and connect via the process of hands-on making, while being inspired by the desert.
Within those 24 hours, she decided to purchase a property. The nonprofit Yucca Valley Material Lab (YVML) was born.
Today, the two-acre property is a hive of artistic activity. Schwegler and visiting artists regularly offer workshops in techniques such as casting in bronze, aluminum and glass; welding; laser-cutting; glass coldworking; and 3-D scanning and printing. On the day I visited, 12 students encircled Schwegler as she held them rapt with a demonstration of plaster mold-making to prepare for glass-casting. After the demonstration, the students eagerly returned to the work tables in the Quonset hut that serves as the YVML’s centerpiece to refine their pieces.
Schwegler enthusiastically walked me around the facilities, pointing out the foundry, sandblasting table, vintage RVs that serve as artist housing, and the Lazy Eye micro-gallery, which is housed in an old water tower that showcases experimental, multimedia and performance work.
The YVML is also home to Yucca Alta, a recording studio and record label run by Derek Monypeny, Schwegler’s husband, musician and librarian. Yucca Alta focuses on musicians and artists of color and gives them space to write and record, while also hosting free community events and concerts.
“We see ourselves as a place and a platform to engage with community on a different level,” Schwegler said.
Through their workshop and residency programs, the YVML has become an important cultural resource for desert residents, attracting artists and musicians from all over the world. Past performers have included Les Filles de Illighadad from Niger, and experimental percussionist and music research strategist Marshall Trammell.
Schwegler describes herself as a “material junkie” who is passionate about ideas drawn from found objects. In her own studio, she points out a crumpled pillow and a braided rug, both cast in glass. While she’s interested in life’s darker and messier side, the desert also serves as inspiration,
“The beauty, subtlety and savageness of it completely aligns with my work,” she said.
Before founding and directing the YVML, Schwegler worked at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland for 20 years. Before the college closed in 2019, she served as the chair of the applied craft and design graduate program, helping students build sustainable art practices. By 2018, she felt burnt out and noticed the landscape of higher education was shifting.
“I saw the private art college move from provocation to service industry, and tuition was exponentially higher,” she said. So she made a dramatic change and started the YVML.
“We need a new model for teaching people to make things with their hands, come together in the same room, and discover the power of making and the power of failure,” Schwegler said. To bring that model to life, she poured her energy into the site, vision and programming for the YVML. She describes the property as a former “hoarder situation” that she worked to re-wild with native plants and enhance with collaborative work-trade projects with students. Like the skills the YVML teaches, the projects students contributed are both artistic and practical, including insulating the Quonset hut so it’s comfortable for classes year-round, renovating the campers that serve as artist housing, and building a deck and an inviting outdoor seating area.
Schwegler is also focused on enhancing the YVML as a local resource for hands-on art education—to nurture creativity, and to serve as a bridge between the high and low deserts.
“Not only are skills-based workshops fun, but they can potentially give access to jobs,” she said.
“We need more creative people out in the world, and to do creative work together with people in our community.”
Yucca Valley Material founder Heidi Schwegler
Skills like welding, glass-finishing and mold-making are valuable to multiple industries throughout Southern California. Schwegler is actively building partnerships with Copper Mountain College and the Morongo Unified School District, and looking for more partners from the Coachella Valley.
“We’re so spread out and isolated here, and we don’t have a lot of arts education in our schools,” she said, “We need more creative people out in the world, and to do creative work together with people in our community.”
The coming year promises to be a busy one for the YVML.
“We’re bursting at the seams,” Schwegler said with a laugh. “I often feel like I’m a one-room schoolhouse, which is a sign of our relevancy, but we’re also at a tipping point.”
In addition to a full spring schedule of classes, the organization is launching a capital campaign to support an expanded residency space. With the help of a generous donor, they recently bought a nearby three-acre commercial property. Inspired by a recent artist-in-residence, Andy Slater, a blind musician and disability advocate, the YVML has a goal to create one of the first fully ADA-accessible maker-spaces in Southern California.
“We can’t do this alone,” Schwegler said. “It takes community to build community—and right now, this is more important than ever.”
The Yucca Valley Material Lab is located at 57275 Canterbury St., in Yucca Valley. To learn more about the YVML’s classes and programming, visit www.yuccavalleymaterial.org.