4 Books Found

Based on your description:

"A group of misfits lives in an encampment similar to Drop City in the American desert. I think they make art and maybe scavenge for scrap metal. I checked the book out of the public library in a year close to 2000. It is possible that the book had a purple or tie dyed cover and a smiley face on the cover- though this may not be true. At the end, a small detail (not a major plot twist) is that the quiet friend has been collecting rocks to build them a house. It was likely adult, slightly possible it was YA, and certainly fiction. The part I remember most vividly is the band os misfits living in the desert and possibly collecting scrap metal or something similar."