"He Walked Away from His Former Life" (Gabriel Thorburn)
Staff Reports
Desert Dispatch
BAKER • Mojave National Preserve in Southern California invites desert travelers to experience the photography of Gabriel Thorburn and the poetry of Russell Thorburn, now on exhibition in the Desert Light Gallery at the Kelso Depot Visitor Center.
The exhibit, Many Names Have Never Been Spoken Here, will be showing now through April 6, 2013.
The Kelso Depot Visitor Center is on Kelbaker Road, 34 miles south of Interstate 15 at the town of Baker. It is open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; telephone (760) 252-6108.
As Mojave National Preserve Artists-in Residence, Russell Thorburn and his son, Gabriel Thorburn, spent two weeks exploring the Mojave. During their residency, they discovered the desert as a place of solitude and self-reflection.
As a poet concerned with lost paths, Russell Thorburn explored desert trails, seeking the significance of travelers who came before, and the forgotten lives of former desert residents. Gabriel Thorburn's photography illustrates the places that inspired the poetry.
Prints from the exhibition will be available for purchase at the Park Store at Kelso Depot Visitor Center for the duration of the exhibit. Russell Thorburn is the author of four books of poetry and lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Gabriel Thorburn is a filmmaker and fine art photographer in Los Angeles.
At 1.6 million acres, Mojave National Preserve is the third largest unit of the National Park System in the contiguous United States. While you won't be able to experience it all in a single visit, taking the time to plan ahead will ensure a safe and rewarding adventure.
The renovated Kelso Depot is now the primary Visitor Center for Mojave National Preserve. Former dormitory rooms contain exhibits describing the cultural and natural history of the surrounding desert.
The baggage room, ticket office, and two dormitory rooms have been historically furnished to illustrate life in the depot in the first half of the twentieth century. A 12-minute orientation film is shown in the theater.
Basement gallery space features rotating fine art collections by local artists, focusing on the cultural history and natural splendors of Mojave national Preserve.
For more information about the current exhibit, Kelso Depot of Mojave National Preserve, visit www.nps.gov/moja/.
