Quality of Life Grantee Spotlight: Yucca Valley Material Lab

After 20 years teaching in higher education, Heidi Schwegler and her husband, Derek Monypeny, bought a former “junkyard” in the Mojave Desert and turned it into Yucca Valley Material Lab (YVML), an inclusive and affordable model for artmaking grounded in hands-on material exploration.

“We wanted to explore an alternative approach to art education and create a platform for cultural experiences,” says Schwegler. “As a material- and process-based artist, I believe art should be accessible to everyone. In our digital age, dominated by technology and AI, using your hands and body to make art keeps us human.”

Since becoming a nonprofit in 2022, YVML has evolved and expanded to offer artists and musicians of all abilities space, time and equipment for material experimentation through its public workshops in glass, metal, fiber, wood, neon and experimental sound. The organization’s mission centers on the belief that creativity flourishes when individuals of all abilities are free to explore without constraints or preconceived notions.

“Yucca Valley Material Lab has grown like a living organism,” says Schwegler. “It is the only artist studio of its kind in the rural Morongo Basin and the only community-based arts organization with a specific focus on artists living with disabilities in the area.”  

YVML also offers paid residency opportunities, which include lodging and 24-hour studio access, exhibitions in the onsite art gallery, sessions in the onsite recording studio with technical assistance and personalized instruction on a chosen material or process. In 2024, a generous donor gifted YVML a 2.5-acre parcel with a commercially zoned property and an existing three-bedroom ranch to expand the residency program.

“We’ve launched a $1 million capital campaign to develop this property into an accessible makerspace and restore the landscape with native, fire-resistant plants. We are renovating the house to be ADA compliant, making it suitable for future artists with disabilities,” says Schwegler.

In 2024, YVML received a $40,000 Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Quality of Life grant to modify the residence and purchase wheelchair-friendly equipment for the artist studio. The house renovations will include updating the bathroom, widening doors, renovating the kitchen and creating outdoor wheelchair routes with handrails.

“The experience working with the Reeve Foundation is proving to be exponentially more impactful than I ever could have imagined. In addition to the grant’s direct impact, it is helping us make decisions at a critical time,” says Schwegler. “It has proven to be so much more beneficial than we thought when we applied. It’s really transformative for us.”

The grant has provided a catalyst for YVML to apply for additional funding to convert one of the bedrooms into an ADA-friendly ‘innovative library,’ housing collections such as tactile materials, books in braille, digital archives and more. It has also inspired Schwegler to apply for grants to build a fully accessible outdoor classroom.

“The Reeve Foundation grant has inspired me to think about every aspect of our new space,” says Schwegler. “I learn every day and adapt the program as I go to move toward a fully accessible lab. We will work with architects to design the region’s first anti-ableist artist residency and studio space.”

When Schwegler recently watched Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, it further underscored her strong connection to her mission and Christopher and Dana’s goals.

“They were both artists, and he longed to go back to his creative practice after his injury,” says Schwegler. “Art is democratic and non-hierarchical; everyone can be an artist. It allows people to express their unique perspectives, using their bodies, materials and creativity.”

Schwegler continues, “Creating art provides meaning, fosters discovery through material exploration and builds a sense of community. This grant is such an honor, and I am so proud to say we are supported by the Reeve Foundation.”