Desert mule deer at the saguaro
— — the watch the desert keeps at dusk.
Not only on a wall.
“A desert mule deer at the foot of a saguaro, the long ears forward, the body very still. The subspecies is Odocoileus hemionus crooki, the desert mule deer, native to the Sonoran and Chihuahuan country. Saguaros grow only here, in southern Arizona and a sliver of Sonora, never taller than the rain allows. Deer come through the bajadas at first light and again near sundown, when the heat lets go. The light is the colour of dry grass. Nothing in this scene is in a hurry. from the studio
Desert mule deer at the saguaro, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Sonoran Desert spans roughly 100,000 square miles across southern Arizona, southeastern California, and the Mexican state of Sonora. It is the only place on earth where the saguaro cactus, Carnegiea gigantea, grows wild. The desert mule deer, Odocoileus hemionus crooki, ranges through these same bajadas and foothills, browsing palo verde, ironwood, and jojoba between the saguaros. Saguaro National Park outside Tucson protects two of the densest saguaro stands, the Tucson Mountain District to the west and the Rincon Mountain District to the east.
Desert mule deer move at the edges of the day. Mid-morning to late afternoon, summer temperatures along the Tucson bajadas climb past 100°F, and the deer bed down in palo verde shade. The animals are most active in the cool hour after sunrise and again in the long blue half-hour after sundown. A mature buck stands about 42 inches at the shoulder; an adult saguaro stands ten to forty feet tall, depending on age and rainfall, and can live up to 150 to 200 years.
The Sonoran is a quiet desert. No wind in the saguaros, no leaves to rustle — sound carries a long way through the thin bajada air. Mule deer rely on their ears more than their nose, the long oversized cups swivelling toward any soft snap. Tucson's light pollution stops at the edge of the park, and the deer keep their evening watch in near-dark. Saguaros bloom white in May; tinajas hold the last water through June; the monsoon arrives in early July with the first real thunderheads.