Film screening, art show featuring Senon Williams this Sunday (3/21) at the Firehouse

On Sunday afternoon, a pop-up exhibition featuring the work of artist Senon Williams will be held at the Firehouse in Joshua Tree. The art show will be a celebration of Williams’ multidisciplinary work, encompassing music, visual art, poetry, and a screening of the short film Tilt Horizon. Locals Sua Yoo and band Droni Mitchell will also be featured, presenting a poetry reading and live musical performance, respectively. The event is a collaboration between the Firehouse and Invisible Republic, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving art literacy and education.

A Los Angeles native, Williams grew up exploring the wide range of art found in the city’s galleries and museums. Today, he is a musician and visual artist whose work includes paintings, sculptures, books, zines, and collaborative films. He also plays in the band Acetone, and has frequented the Morongo Basin as a member of rock band Dengue Fever, which has played several shows at Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneertown. 

The event tomorrow will mark the second screening of Tilt Horizon, a short film by Williams and filmmaker Tabbert Fiiller. The short film is shot as a music video for Lamps, a series of paintings by Williams that depict themes of ritual through nature.

I said, “What if we made a music video for a painting instead of a band or a song?” It just sparked this idea. At the time, I was working on these paintings that are called Lamps because they glow. We decided to use these volcanic paintings as the inspiration for this film…I wanted to bring in rituals, daily rituals, pilgrimage, and the idea of death and birth into the imagery of the film.”

A selection of Williams’ visual art will be on display during the pop-up art show, including paintings and sculptures. The event will also feature a reading from his book, Scrapyard, over an improvised soundscape of synthesizer and bass guitar. Published in 2025 by Hat & Beard Press, the book is a replica of a scrapbook created by Williams to showcase his artistic process. Scrapyard includes ten vignettes written by nonprofit Plain Sight Archive that detail the history and cultural significance of scrapbooking.

“I started creating a scrapbook in my studio…When I create paintings and sculptures, there is always some detritus or shrapnel: things left over from creating artwork. Little scraps of paper with poems written on them, torn-up things, and paint splotches and drawings. I started gluing them into this scrapbook and I slowly made this scrapbook over about three years.”

Williams credits events that celebrate the multifaceted nature of art as key to strengthening community.

“I think everyone, when they sit down to dinner, or when they commune with friends, or when they walk down the street, they are looking at their community, not with hate, but with love. I feel that art is a very important part of community, and art defines culture. Creating spaces to share something creative is important, but it’s always been important, and it’s been a constant.”

The Tilt Horizon Film Screening, Art, and Poetry Show will be held tomorrow (March 22) from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Firehouse, located at 65430 Winters Road in Joshua Tree.

A $15 donation is suggested.