Tahquitz Canyon, Palm Springs /  by Liesl Pfeffer

Tahquitz Canyon
Palm Springs, CA
November 2015

There is a two mile loop trail just outside Palm Springs up through Tahquitz Canyon to the falls. I was mesmerized by all the rocks on the ground, wondering if I would find the perfect chunk of quartz, and wondering also if I would have the nerve to sneak it into my pocket and take it home with me. Nice hike, no quartz (probably for the best). 

Colorado Desert sunset, California /  by Liesl Pfeffer

Sunset, Colorado Desert, California
November 2015

Me in the backseat of the car, a passenger whilst we were driving through the desert highway at dusk: "we should stop soon"... "we should stop and see the sunset"... "it looks like its really beautiful and I want to take photos" ..."I'm just going to put my window down and take some photos" ..."oh boy its beautiful we should pull over if you see a turn off" ...."i really think we should stop". Poor Dan. Like driving all day wasn't enough, he had this whiny photographer in the backseat and Joy in the front seat desperately needing us to get to the first town so she could have a rest room stop. Eventually I got my way and we stopped and I got a couple of photos that do the pink desert light pretty much no justice at all, like most photos of sunsets. 

Salton Sea, California /  by Liesl Pfeffer

Salton Sea, California
November 2015

A big salty lake in the Colorado Desert in California, we skirted its shoreline for half an hour while we zoomed deeper into the desert towards Salvation Mountain. We stopped for a moment to take photos of the strange hazy light that was floating over the water. Later in the day, and after the sun had set, we passed by again. this time stopping at the tiny seaside community of Bombay Beach (population 295) for a drink at the Ski Inn, recommended to me by a friend in LA. We put songs on the jukebox, looked over a well-loved geology book about the Salton Sea shared with us by the friendly bartender Steve and stuck a signed $1 bill to the ceiling. 

Cabazon Dinosaurs, California /  by Liesl Pfeffer

Cabazon Dinosaurs, Cabazon, CA
November 2015

We pulled off Interstate 10 to visit Cabazon Dinosaurs on our way from Los Angeles to Palm Springs. Cabazon Dinosaurs is an unusual theme park / attraction featuring some truly enormous sculpture dinosaurs, seemingly in the middle of nowhere (as the mountains in all directions in these photos will attest). This is one of those places that makes me wonder at, and be grateful for, the strange things that human beings decide to do. According to Wikipedia, sculptor and portrait artist Claude K. Bell built the first sculptures to attract customers to his Wheel Inn Restaurant, which opened in 1958. The first dinosaur, named Dinny, was made out of spare material salvaged from the construction of Interstate 10 at a cost of $300,000. Um, wow. 

South Beacon Firetower hike, Beacon /  by Liesl Pfeffer

00180020.jpg
00180022.jpg
00180018.jpg

Breakneck Ridge, Beacon, NY
October 2015

We hiked up Mount Beacon to the firetower, a steep and very rocky trail with incredible views of Beacon, the Hudson River and the surrounding valley. The trail is a series of switchbacks alongside an old incline railway track, which goes past the remains of the brick building that housed the machinery for the railway, and up to the firetower. I complained quite a lot (that's how I hike) (it was really rocky) (it made my feet hurt!) (it took hours) but the view from the top was rewarding and so was the chocolate Adam brought for me to eat when we rested half way up and the beer we had when we got back down. Ummm, I'm a baby.

City Island, Bronx /  by Liesl Pfeffer

City Island, Bronx, NY
November 2015

Afraid that soon it would be too cold for day tripping, in early November we went on a little adventure up to City Island in the Bronx. It's been on my list of things to do in New York for oh... four years. City Island is a small island (one mile wide and one and a half miles long) with a ship building past and a sleepy old town feeling (you really don't feel like you're in NYC anymore. But you are!) It takes about an hour and a half to get there from Brooklyn (two trains and a bus) so I guess that why it took us a while to get around to visiting. 

On our walk down the main street of the island, we found two church thrift stores. I bought an amazing boat themed sweater for $2 and Adam bought a new-looking pair of Doc Martens for $5. We trawled through a couple of nautical-junk filled antique stores (Nicolas bought small glasses for 50c apiece) and then ended up at the main attraction, Johnny's on the water, at the southern end of the island. We went for the seafood but we stayed for the pina coladas. This place is a feast for the eyes as well as the tummy, with old school signage, baskets of fried seafood and a seagull-filled patio area, and cafeteria tables where leather clad bikers sit alongside old ladies drinking daiquiris. It is as excellent as it sounds. 

Better Homes and Gardens /  by Liesl Pfeffer

Better Homes and Gardens is a three person show of new work by visual artists Teresa Christiansen (USA), Emily Hartley-Skudder (New Zealand) and Liesl Pfeffer (Australia). Each artist has a practice which considers reality and artifice, creating representations of natural or manufactured environments through different media, and all using photography as an integral aspect of that process. These artists create work that is playful and enchanting, inviting sustained engagement through subtle indicators of uncanny tensions in the surface of their work.

Opening Saturday, July 11th from 4-7pm
Exhibition continues until July 25, 2015

chashama 461 Gallery
461 W 126th St.
Harlem, NY

More information and opening hours on the chashama website.

RSVP on Facebook

 

Image: Wassaic, New York, USA copyright © 2015 Liesl Pfeffer