Fine Alpinist Ranch
Make art. Build community.
It's all we got.
A DIY studio in the desert
Fine Alpinist Ranch started as a 2020 pandemic lockdown project. "Could we write and record an album here, all on our own?" With no engineer, no producer, one good mic and a handful of shitty ones, we FaceTimed audio engineer friends, looked at a lot of YouTube tutorials, and tada! Material Flats by Bethany Thomas and Tawny Newsome was born.Now, we're continuing to evolve with an inaugural pair of independent short films. Both will be filmed on the property with the same DIY spirit (and this time, better gear).
The films
Both films are written by and star Tawny Newsome. They feature all Black casts and ask questions about access, responsibility, and who gets to take up space in the outdoors.
Quodlibet
A woman brings a drum kit on a camping trip. When a fellow camper confronts her, tension melts into an unlikely collaboration, transforming the wilderness into a stage.
Wildfire
A solo hiker reports a wildfire from deep in the backcountry. But as new fires appear, the line between witness and suspect begins to blur. Wildfire is a twitchy little dramedy about managing grief through hyper vigilance.
Support the work
This work is made independently, sustained by a small and meaningful community. Support helps us not only complete these projects, but continue building Fine Alpinist Ranch as a space for artists to gather, make noise, and build meaningful work together under a desert sky.