Joshua Tree National Park Association is pleased to announce Other Worlds II, a new art exhibition by renowned local artist Diane Best. For many years, Diane has painted remote, uninhabited and overlooked corners of the desert, interested in recording a single incredible moment of converging light and landscape. She felt it important to showcase the desert wilderness as it existed to encourage preservation.
Other Worlds II is a sequel to Other Worlds (2025), coming again from a time of chaos, change and (hopefully) revolution of thought. Diane has been creating worlds not entirely based in reality, but most are inspired by actual locations in JTNP. Instead of background paintings for animation (the artist’s prior career), these are background paintings for one’s life, inviting one in.
The exhibition will run from January 17 until March 31, 2026 at the JTNPA West Art Gallery located at 55922 Twentynine Palms Highway in Yucca Valley. There will be an opening reception on Saturday, January 17, 2026 from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM. The gallery is open Thursday through Monday, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
About the Artist
Born in Boston, Diane studied at Stanford University and the San Francisco Art Institute before moving to Los Angeles in 1983 where she worked as a commercial artist for the entertainment industry. Moving to Joshua Tree in 1995, she continued working freelance for Nickelodeon and other animation studios, but over time shifted the focus of her talent to capturing the intense drama of the desert landscape surrounding her utilizing painting, photography & film.
In recent years she has also discovered the ice deserts of the Arctic and Antarctic, making many trips to those areas collecting images. Moving to New Mexico in 2018, she returned to Joshua Tree 3 years later and is currently living & working there. Her work has been shown throughout the country, including shows at the Southwest Museum and the Carnegie Museum who have one of her paintings in their permanent collection.
Her film work has been shown at several film fests, including the Timelapse Film Festival and the Exploratorium in San Francisco. She taught drawing workshops for the Desert Institute for many years, was chosen as a National Park artist to represent Joshua Tree, and has been profiled in publications such as: Palm Springs Live, Lifescapes: West Coast Art & Design, Art Patron Magazine, Galerie Magazine, and a KCET documentary for Artbound. Artist website: www.dbestart.com/
