Recent Residencies
at The Land With No Name Sanctuary
Claire Fall Blanchette
Ruins
"Through both process and shape, Ruins demonstrates the interactions between human and non-human entities. The sculpture echoes the remains of human-built structures; yet the bricks themselves are created through a highly complex natural process. Each block consists of tightly woven mycelial hyphae which grow by branching out in an endless pursuit of expansion..Now installed permanently at The Land With No Name, Ruins will invite both new growth and decay as the material begins to decompose. The evolving sculpture illuminates how natural organisms will evade restraint for as long as we continue to attempt to restrain them.
Raquel Denis & Chelsey Trejo
Both born and raised in the Sonoran Desert, Raquel and Chelsey completed a 10-day co-residency at the Land. Raquel explored her expansive sense of music through sound, space, voice, a wide range of instruments, and field recordings from the land itself.
Chelsey found her way to our collection of recycled and reclaimed metal, wood, stone, and found objects (open to all resident artists). She collected items for mixed media installations that speak strongly of family roots, including some old wood originally donated to the land from Carrillo Magnet School, one of the oldest Elementary schools in Tucson. It turned out that Chelsey’s grandfather went to Carillo, located in Barrio Viejo, a neighborhood where her family lived, and where she lives presently. This wood was used in the fabrication of her family tree tapestry. Chelsey also worked on botanical illustrations in the Studio House.
Nacho Flores
During Nacho’s residency, Nacho and Co-Director Ted Springer fabricated a large-scale wooden Navajo upright weaving loom for Nacho to weave in the Navajo tradition of his heritage. The loom was completed, and Nacho spent the rest of his residency preparing his wool and beginning a new weaving. The loom now lives at home with Nacho, where he can continue to weave on it. Having grown up on the Tohono O’odham Nation, he wanted to expand his traditional art skills to include rug weaving, as he has recently been re-acquainted with his Navajo grandmother and plans to continue visiting and learning from her in Northern Arizona with his portable loom.
Lano Romero Dash & Jack Dash
Local artist and musician Lano brought her keyboard, composed music, and wrote new songs in the Studio House. She also worked on painting and building mobile sculptures on the back porch.
Naturalist and plant specialist Jack lit the wood stove and got to work on his writing.
Jack has written portions of two books at LWNN. One is the Southwest Native Plant Primer - a guide to gardening with native plants in the Southwestern US. This book highlights the importance of linking our homes and gardens to the wider ecologies they are a part of. This book will be published by Timber Press and will be available in July 2025.
The other is Atascosa Borderlands, a book exploring the cultural and natural ecology of a 42-mile stretch of the Arizona-Sonora borderlands. This book is part of a wider, multimedia project in collaboration with photographer Luke Takata that includes botanical survey, oral history and recorded interviews, digital archiving, and documentary photography to highlight the inextricable links between human and natural history.
Jerry Castillo
Jerry returned to the LWNN after 18 years! Back in 2007, Jerry installed his plaster and steel three-piece sculpture, Better Border Buddies on the land. The three plaster forms laster longer than any of us ever imagined, but with one finally fallen and the other two pitted from the elements, we thought it was time to revisit. Jerry also created two new found-object sculptures, a bronze version of the Better Border Buddies, and gifted a small foundry to the Studio House workshop. Thanks Jerry, it was great to have you back!
