L.A.'s own Black Flamingo visited us at Eliphante this month. Here's some of what band member Kimi Recor had to say on her blog:
"[W]e went to the most magical place in the world. Eliphante.

Eliphante is an artistic village built by primarily by Michael Kahn & Leda Livant Kahn over a span of 30 years. It’s filled with magic, art installations, and its basically where we all want to move and stay forever." +>-

Even more exciting is that her blog is often picked up by AOL's StyleList, a web presence that covers celebrity style.

Verbo•bala explores border identity through nuanced storytelling and digital media, creating performance pieces composed of bilingual poetry, live video projection and sound design.

Visit Emtronica.com or Verbobala.com for more awesomeness!

This amazing site-specific art form is the 20-plus year work of Michael Kahn and Leda Livant along with scores of friends who, over the years, gathered and recycled just about anything at all to construct the forms, structures, grottos, caves, galleries, living pods and gardens that comprise the Southwest's most stunning site-specific art installation.

The non-profit's caretakers, Tracy and Ryan, are working with Yavapai County to acquire permits to allow the public access; meanwhile, they work on funding to secure the land and preserve the site. Originally "leased" to Michael and Leda, the 3-plus acres on Oak Creek became home and sanctuary to the artists, who lovingly worked the landscape in a manner reminiscent of Simon Rodia's Watts Towers in Los Angeles.

Driving into the site and onto the grounds of Eliphante is surreal - the Oak Creek must first be forded, and then you walk onto softly-rolling hillocks of moss - or is that some desert grass? No, it's the much more prosaic "astro turf" that blankets the entire site, forming a pseudo-lush Alice's Wonderland playground.

The various buildings on the site are called HippoDome, Eliphante and Pipe Dreams, all surrounded by freeform sculptural works, ponds, out buildings, sinuous walls, benches, swings, lights, and pathways. A charming story-tellers nook, a mini amphitheater of stones and tiered astro-turf plinths, is announced by a playful shovel-cum-signpost.

Experiencing the partly-underground spaces is otherworldly - chilly, quiet and infused with a celestial light from the stained glass, soft burlap folds and refractive mylar overhead. Walls are obsessively-detailed friezes of mosaic, marbles, glass, stones, wood blocks, mirrors and branches. Passages wind back on themselves. Doors are hidden, surprises abundant.

The eclectic history and cultural significance of Eliphante have elevated Cornville to the unlikely status of art Mecca.

~ Jacques Laliberté

Source: http://poprocketpress.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=28&ArticleID=259

Eliphante Limited's 2011 Annual Report is now available for download in PDF, with a file size of ~ 19MB.

This year's annual report segments are:
On-going Goals and Objectives,
President's Overview,
General Report,
Supporters of Eliphante,
Volunteer Recognition,
Docent Programs,
Campaign Committee Callout,
Special Events Committee Accomplishments,
Fiscal Report,
& Ways of Giving to Eliphante, Ltd.

Help Eliphante this November! Make a daily visit to the Refresh Eliphante site or text 109937 to 73774 and you'll cast a vote for Eliphante to be awarded a grant! Top 10 +1 at the end of the month gets funded!

You can even vote twice a day by both voting online & texting!

Download our card sheet by clicking the image above, then share and remind your friends!

Some friends recently visited Eliphante and shared their experience and some photos on their blog!

Check it out:
http://www.littlevanthatcould.com/2011/04/eliphante/

Check out the photos that were caught by local Verde Valley News photographer: 
Verde Independent - Photo Gallery: Eliphante Geniuses Day 2011

Thank you to all who made it out, and we hope those who didn't get the chance, we missed you and hope to see you at our next fest!  Here's a video moment of the party, thanks to Debbie Attias.

Eliphante needs more of this. When Isabella going to play here again?

http://archinect.com/news/article/1447183/eliphante



Eliphante featured on Archinect.com! Perhaps it will inspire other architects to build more organically.  It's filed as Landscape, Culture and Sustainability. And you can't forget to throw in the ol' stand-by tag: hippy! <3