The third annual Desert X Art Club Student Exhibit, a collaboration between Desert X and an after-school program serving three Coachella Valley school districts, will launch next week with a mixed media showcase by K-12 students in Palm Desert.
The exhibition will open with a public reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on May 8 and remain open daily from noon to 5 p.m. May 9-21 at Melissa Morgan Fine Art, 73660 El Paseo, according to organizers.
The free exhibit will feature artwork created by students in the 2024-2025 Expanded Learning Opportunities Program.
Participating schools include Amistad High School, Carrillo Ranch Elementary, Cathedral City High School, Cielo Vista Charter, Coachella Valley High School, Desert Hot Springs High School, Desert Mirage High School, Desert Ridge Academy, Gerald Ford Elementary, Indio Middle School, James Workman Middle School, John Glenn Middle School, La Quinta High School, Palm Springs High School and Palm Desert High School.
Desert X is a biennial, site-specific contemporary art exhibition held across California’s Coachella Valley. Launched in 2017, it features large-scale installations by international artists, designed to engage directly with the desert landscape.
Organizers said students took creative inspiration by going on field trips to Desert X, field trips to local art studios, engagement with local artists and behind-the-scenes visits to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Palm Springs Art Museum.
The artwork presented will feature paintings, drawings, sculpture, site-specific installation, video and photography.
The fifth edition of Desert X will run through May 11, organizers said.
On May 10, a special screening of a original short documentary made by high school students from the Palm Springs, Desert Sands and Coachella Valley Unified School Districts will be shown at the Palm Springs Art Museum Annenberg Theatre at 12:30 p.m.
“Education has been at the heart of Desert X since out very first exhibition in 2017,” Jenny Gil, executive director of Desert X, said in a statement. “Through programs like the Desert X Art Club, we’ve been able to empower young people across Coachella Valley to see themselves as artists, storytellers and change makers.”