Crust Lust
Jim Toia, an artist who collaborates with nature, is enamored with the top layer of soil composing the desert crust of the SouthWestern desert, an amalgam of organisms weaving together to form a microcosm

crucial to the stability of the desert environment and its inhabitants.

Recent over-visitation and encroachment is undermining the desert’s structural integrity by destroying this delicate material. The desert crust, or cryptobiotic soil, is a layer of organic life forms including moss, lichen, bacteria, algae & fungi that combine to cover large tracts of the desert along with other organic compounds creating a thin crust that deters erosion, provides cover and encourages other life forms to take foothold.

While visiting Joshua Tree, Toia was enchanted by this symbiotic and complex arrangement and set to work capturing highly magnified images of the crust. The works in the Boxo studio comprise prints made from these images as well as prototypes Toia and his collaborator, architect Joe Biondo, have designed. These hexagonal panels, incorporating the same imagery, have been designed as an educational platform for desert visitors centers. Centers will have the opportunity to combine the panels to form environments as staging areas that are accompanied by educational signage to inform visitors of the pristine ecology of the area and instruct them regarding how to avoid damaging this delicate and vital desert life form.

Please join us for:
Artist Tea at Cap Rock in Joshua Tree National Park on Sunday, March 15, 2020, 9-11 am
Open House at BoxoPROJECTS on Saturday, March 21, 2020, 2-5 pm
62732 Sullivan Road, Joshua Tree, CA 92252  boxoprojects.com  joshuatreenial.com