Debbie Newton moved to Indian Wells Valley as a youngster in 1958. She went to work for the China Lake Naval Base in 1980 in the Contracts Department, where she worked in various positions until she retired in 2010. In the late 80s, she started taking art classes offered on base, then expanded to lessons offered locally, in Bishop and other areas. She continues to attend in-person workshops and participates in many live and online classes to improve her artwork.She has attended workshops in France, Santa Fe, San Diego, North Carolina, Maine, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. She started her artistic journey with oil painting and has continued that journey by adding watercolor, acrylic, and pastel along the way. After her retirement, she focused on her art, painting daily. She fell in love with pastels when she took a workshop through the Desert Artists’ League in Ridgecrest. Although she still works in oil, acrylic, and watercolor, she prefers to paint in pastel. Her subject matter includes traditional landscapes, seascapes, florals, and still life, but her favorite subjects are animals—mainly birds. She works mostly from her studio because, as she likes to say, the desert is either too hot, too cold, or too windy for painting outside. She works from photos from her travels, including trips to Africa, England, Southern France, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, and most of the continental United States. She is a member of the Desert Artists’ League, where she holds the position of treasurer, and the Kern River Valley Art Association.

Mark received a B.A. in History at Humboldt State University and an M.F.A. in Cinema at the University of Southern CA. A filmmaker and still photographer, he came to the Indian Wells Valley in 1976 for a career of more than 40 years at China Lake in the Film and Video Branch. Many of his photographs are in the permanent collection of the Maturango Museum. The Museum has published his audiovisual production, “Between Two Worlds: Rock Art of the Cosos” and “Indian Wells Valley: Somewhere on the Edge of Nowhere”. Mark has created numerous video productions for other organizations, including the Ridgecrest Chamber of Commerce. The Museum has published two books, “Ridgecrest Retrospective” and “High Desert Double Exposure with Mark as photographer.

The Sacred Wild brings together two distinct yet
connected artistic practices that explore the intersection of
nature, reverence, and pattern.
Through linocut printmaking, Julie Cornett reimagines
desert landscapes, plants, and native birds and reptiles as
regal, almost mythic presences. Desert flora shimmer with
quiet vitality, while crowned and haloed creatures are
elevated beyond the ordinary, inviting viewers to consider
the Mojave not as barren or harsh, but as a place of quiet

majesty and spiritual presence.
In dialogue, Janneil Eggleston’s intricate string-based geometric works translate sacred geometry into
luminous, intricately strung compositions. Carefully constructed with balance and precision, these radiant
patterns evoke harmony, interconnectedness, and the underlying structures that shape both the natural
and unseen worlds.
Together, these works frame the desert as both wild and sacred—a space where reverence emerges
from the natural world itself.