Java.Dec.2.2015

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Digital Preserve Artist Steve Yazzie 34 JAVA MAGAZINE By Jenna Duncan
For artists there is often an intersection between the passion that drives the work and the business side of things. Some are never able to fully find a balance between these two winding roads. Others mix business with innovation around every corner. For Valley artist Steven Yazzie, merging his practice with his business life seemed to happen quite serendipitously. I spoke with him last month as he returned to Phoenix from Las Vegas, where he and his Digital Preserve collaborators had been working on a commercial shoot for Big Beard Films. They documented the grand-scale installation piece “Double Negative” by Michael Heizer in Nevada’s Moapa Valley desert. He described the group’s return from the site: “There are a whole group of us here [in the airport] trying to find outlets to plug in our various devices.” The footage Digital Preserve just shot will be part of a documentary series for PBS called “Land Art of the West.” Digital Preserve is a commercial film production project that Yazzie started with his wife, Eileen. She helps with the business part-time—mostly nights and weekends, while working full-time at the City as an administrator in streets and transportation. She has a master’s degree in urban planning and a minor in business management. Prior to getting her master’s, Eileen did public relations consulting. She brings those skills to Digital Preserve, writing plans, putting together budgets and helping with logistics. Steve Yazzie didn’t go to college for drawing and painting—school came later. When he was 40, he decided to finish his bachelor’s degree in art at Arizona State University. Through the program, he gained exposure to digital arts and the world of film. He credits professor Muriel Magenta for introducing him to filmmaking through her documentary film class. Being part of the conceptual art collective Postcommodity helped facilitate Yazzie’s return to college. It was a collaborative environment, where one person would have an idea and the group would work out the details and logistics together. Unlike a young artist with little direction, Yazzie knew what he wanted and was practical about the additional skills he would need to collect in school. When he got to ASU, it was as if the stars and moon aligned. He landed two big exhibitions, and he used his time there to make work for his shows. School really pushed him to interact and collaborate. Recently, Digital Preserve traveled to the Arizona–Mexico border to document “The Repellant Fence,” an installation by Yazzie’s former art collaborators at Postcommodity. While documenting the work, Digital Preserve’s crew bumped into another crew, and that’s what led to the “Double Negative” job. Yazzie says that the work of Digital Preserve doesn’t always fit neatly into the commercial JAVA 35 MAGAZINE
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