Bend in the Wash:
The Rancho Linda Vista Artist Community
[Published in January 2021]
$90.00
Tucson author Paul Gold has published his long-awaited book on the Rancho Linda Vista Arts Community, which in 2018 celebrated its 50th anniversary. Bend in the Wash builds on 15 years of interviews and research into the lives of the community, as well as spotlights a handful of its distinguished resident artists.
As Tucson Weekly arts columnist Margaret Regan notes in her book review, “The ranch has often been profiled in magazines and newspapers, but Gold’s welcome tome is apparently the first book on RLV. It's a beautiful volume, chockablock with color photos of artworks and black-and-whites from the early days...”
Named a Panelist Pick (Gregory McNamee) for Pima County Public Library Southwest Books of the Year 2022
BOOK DETAILS
ISBN: 978-0-578-74575-6
Publisher: Tubecat LLC
Publication date: January 2021
Binding: Hardcover
Printer: Arizona Lithographers
Pages: 256 pages
Printing: Limited run of 250 copies
Dimensions: 8.5 x 11 inches
Price: $90+tax, shipping, and handling
Reviews
“The year was 1968, when people all over the world were experimenting in all sorts of things, including living arrangements. On the northeast side of the Santa Catalina Mountains, about 30 miles from Tucson, 10 families put up $1,000 apiece to buy an old ranch—“not necessarily to drop out of the establishment,” Paul Gold writes, “but perhaps to drop into their own version of a kind of counterculture.” As they added buildings to the ranch complex, the families made art. Andrew Rush, the oldest surviving communard, notes that the residents of Rancho Linda Vista “inspired each other over the years,” and many became well known: not just Rush himself, but also painter Bruce McGrew, photographer Boyd Nicholl, mixed-media artist Margo Burwell, sculptor Steve Romaniello, and many others. Their legacy still shapes Tucson’s art scene today, and in this lavishly illustrated and produced book, Paul Gold does them appropriate honor.”
—Gregory McNamee, Southwest Books of the Year 2022
“Gold’s welcome tome is apparently the first book on [Rancho Linda Vista]. It's a beautiful volume, chockablock with color photos of artworks and black-and-whites from the early days, featuring ranch kids and their then-youthful parents….Gold is an unapologetic fan of RLV and its artists. He spent 15 years on the project, conducting in-person interviews, with artists as well as spouses, grown children and friends [and] researching the archives…”
— Tucson Weekly February 11, 2021 (Margaret Regan)
Read full review: "A New Book Tells the History of Artist Colony Rancho Linda Vista"
“Numerous newspaper and magazine articles have been written about Rancho Linda Vista, but it was only recently that the story has been told in full....Culled from 15 years of research and personal interviews, this book profiles the founders and artists who lived on the ranch during its early years. It also covers the property’s history, from its days as a working cattle ranch, to the time when an Andy Warhol film shot on the property ended with an FBI raid, to its current residents.””
— Phoenix Home and Garden April-May 2021 (Rebecca Rhoads)
Read full review: “Community Art Project”
“The product of 15 years of research and interviews, “Bend in the Wash” is an in-depth, intimate portrait of the community. Gold gives historic and artistic overviews, but presents RLV through the intertwined work and lives of six participants….Rich with voices and personal reminiscences, “Bend in the Wash” paints a picture of an often-messy, but ultimately successful experiment in artistic community: no property was owned individually — participants purchased shares in the ranch, and occupied the various buildings; all decisions were made by consensus. There was plenty of sex, drugs, and booze; marriages fell apart; the kids had free rein to raise themselves. And art was created.
Gold has packed the work with illustrations — period portraits and stunning photographs of artists’ work. “Bend in the Wash” is beautiful — art in its own right.”
—Arizona Daily Star September 4, 2021 (Christine Wald-Hopkins)
Read full review: "Southern Arizona authors tackle mystery, history, the arts and culture"
More reviews/articles/interviews:
Pima County Public Library Southwest Book of the Year - Panelist Picks (Gregory McNamee)
Zócalo Magazine, May 12, 2021: “A Few Words on Bruce McGrew”
Errata for this edition: click here