Mojave Desert
— the desert that ends where the Joshua trees stop.
Not only on a wall.
“The Mojave reaches into Arizona only along the state's northwestern shoulder, where the Black Mountains drop toward the Colorado River and Joshua trees mark the boundary. The land rises and falls. Old Route 66 runs across it from Kingman to Oatman, past mining towns the desert has nearly taken back. Summers are punishing; spring evenings are the quiet hour.
Mojave Desert, 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 Mojave Desert covers about 124,000 square kilometres across southeastern California, southern Nevada, southwest Utah, and the northwest shoulder of Arizona. The Arizona portion is the smallest, holding the Black Mountains, the Cerbat Range, and the river canyon below Hoover Dam. Kingman, at the junction of Interstate 40 and old Route 66, is the largest town. The Joshua tree, the desert's indicator species, marks the Mojave's boundary; where it stops, the Sonoran begins. Elevation runs from the Colorado River near 200 metres to the Hualapai Range past 2,500.
The Arizona Mojave runs hot and dry. Summer highs at Kingman average above 38°C in July, while winter nights along the river canyon drop near freezing. Rain is sparse and bimodal: a few centimetres in winter from Pacific fronts, a few more in late summer from monsoon thunderstorms tracking up from the Gulf of California. Spring, usually March through April, is when the Joshua trees flower and the brittlebush turns the slopes yellow. The light at dawn and the hour before sunset is the season's true measure.
Route 66 between Kingman and Oatman is the most-driven slice of the Arizona Mojave, a 45-kilometre two-lane that climbs through Sitgreaves Pass and drops to the old mining town of Oatman, where wild burros descended from prospector pack animals still wander the main street. Lake Mead National Recreation Area extends across the state line and includes the Arizona-side approaches to Hoover Dam. There are no fees on Route 66; the National Recreation Area charges a vehicle fee at posted entrances. Summer driving requires water and a full tank.