'Glimpses of the Joshua Tree Dream' book visits artist homes

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A book cover photo shows a stone and glass house surrounded by a rocky desert landscape at dusk.

The shipping-container home of Ally and Spike Wray-Kirk in Pioneertown may look camera-ready for a shelter magazine spread, but you will find it recently published in a project that’s decidedly un-Architectural Digest in feel. “Glimpses of the Joshua Tree Dream” is the brainchild of Lisa Schyck, who says her goal was to capture the private worlds of the high desert creative community. With photography by Bill Leigh Brewer and essays by Katie Nartonis, the self-published book released this month appropriately mixes grit and polish as it bounces from Joshua Tree to Yucca Valley to Morongo Valley and points beyond.

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Bobby Furst, Joshua Tree

Assemblage artist Bobby Furst used proceeds from his massive sculpture at the Sunset Strip restaurant Boa to buy his Joshua Tree property 20 years ago.

Peace signs and other art by Bobby Furst in a desert garden

Furst’s property, which he dubbed Furstwurld, has grown to include a series of buildings including one with a stage, lighting, sound system and seating, plus a roll-up door that opens to the outside.

Inside an industrial building with a high curved ceiling sit a stage and sound equipment, all set for a concert.

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Jesika Von Rabbit, Yucca Valley

Rock musician Jesika Von Rabbit‘s backup dancers Erin Gurule and Lani Elizabeth Johnson pose for a portrait at Rabbit’s home.

Two masked women in surreal red bunny costumes sit on patio furniture, surrounded by Joshua trees and desert scrub.

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Alice Jones and Lee Scott, Yucca Valley

Composer and musician Lee Scott, who was a music editor on films including Baz Lurhmann’s “Moulin Rouge!” and Terrence Malick’s “The Thin Red Line,” shares a Yucca Valley home with his wife, teacher Alice Jones.