Gifts from the Desert is a body of work that draws on the ancient religious and symbolic significance of the desert as a place where revelation is intensified by scarcity and endurance gives rise to transformation. The desert is a sparse, hot, dry, and unforgiving place, but it is also a place of spiritual solitude, raw beauty, and profound silence. Its gifts are the open horizon that sharpens perception, the heat that hardens and clarifies, the lack of shelter that demands self-reliance, and the barrenness that makes every sign of life precious. Growing up in a household marked by instability and unpredictability required many of the same survival skills. For me, art was more than refuge, it was a map of a rich inner world of imagination and a means of making art that is expansive, deeply spiritual, aspirational, and moving. That’s a gift to give.