The Art Newspaper
Upstart art fair brings collectors to an Old West movie set in the California desert
The High Desert Art Fair recently held its third edition, bringing collectors, dealers and miniature donkeys to Pioneertown, California.
Angella d'Avignon March 13, 2025
Artist Debbie McAfee giving an artist talk at Craig Krull Gallery/Hannah Sloan Curatorial & Advisory’s room at the Pioneertown Motel during the High Desert Art Fair.
The High Desert Art Fair in Pioneertown, California, held its third edition last weekend (8-9 March), with 12 participating galleries filling up the rooms at the Pioneertown Motel with works from across the region. The fair also featured a programme of artist talks and a concert series featuring local musicians. Art enthusiasts, kids, dogs and a few miniature donkeys kicked up dirt in the old ghost town movie set-turned-high desert hotspot.
Established in 1946 as a live-in, Old West-style movie set, Pioneertown has endured films, fires and decades of tourists, and still features a handful of surviving structures designed to resemble a frontier town in the late 19th century. This includes the famous roadside restaurant and music venue, Pappy & Harriet's, the recently renovated Red Dog Saloon and the Pioneertown Motel itself.
Freshly renovated in 2022 by Mike and Matt French of the design and development studio Life & Times, 12 of the motel’s 19 rooms operated as gallery stands for local desert galleries like Compound and Yucca Valley Material Lab, Los Angeles-based galleries like Gattopardo, Craig Krull Gallery, Hannah Sloan Curatorial & Advisory and Gross! Gallery. The fair even drew a Southern gallery, Red Arrow, from Nashville.
