On a sunny spring afternoon in the high desert, Adam Miller and Devon Oder prepared to welcome guests — friends, neighbors, artists and family members — to a reception for artist B. Wurtz at their one-bedroom cabin in Yucca Valley. Like many Los Angeles parents of young children who needed a break during the COVID-19 pandemic, the married artists and gallerists escaped to Yucca Valley with their two sons and three rescue dogs amid stay-at-home orders.
Oder, a Los Angeles native who first camped in Joshua Tree when she was a student at UC Santa Cruz, says they had long dreamed of buying a home in the desert. “Spending more time here during the pandemic reinvigorated our dream,” she says. When a local real estate agent specializing in off-market listings showed them a tiny cabin on 21⁄2 acres above downtown Yucca Valley, their dream of purchasing a home and living part-time in the desert became a reality.
“Once we opened a second gallery in Palm Springs, we wanted to be immersed in the community here,” says Miller. “We dreamed of buying land and building our own home, but once we found this cabin, we knew we wanted to start living here right away and make memories with our children.” Today, the 1958 cabin is more than just a second home for the Pit art gallery owners who met while getting their MFAs at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena and later worked as studio assistants for Los Angeles artist Sterling Ruby .
It’s also a place where they can connect .
