This posting is really larger than it seems because it includes numerous artists and projects which I feel need to be shown together. As much as my cynicism deludes me, I believe we live in a co-operative world. I encourage you to explore and contribute to their endeavors and amazing spirit.
I was jolted by a Feb. 8, 2007 article I read in the NY Times Homes section about clay (mud) floors. Having lived outside Santa Fe and remodeled a centuries old adobe hacienda bordering the San Juan Pueblo, my wife Nancy and I had lived with pristine mud floors sealed with ox blood. The article mentioned the work of Bill and Athena Swentzell Steen, their foundation The Canelo Project and a new, forthcoming book on the subject.
We met Bill and Athena at one of the first US Green Building Council get togethers in Tucson, AZ in 2000 . Although I was aware of their seminal work, The Straw Bale House (with David Bainbridge and David Eisenberg) of straw bale construction, I was anxious to meet them and learn from their seminar on natural, clay plasters over straw bale walls. I highlight their work on my website. They brought experience and a joy of creation that I was lacking in my work at that time. It was imperative that Nancy and I drive down to their homestead on the border of southern Arizona and Mexico to see what mischief they were up to. Their home is open to all that wish to learn this essential art of natural elements/integral living. Not only do they give workshops on straw bale construction and fine finish plaster but a majority of their passion and effort is dedicated to the people of northern Mexico.
They engage with local Mexican communities, bringing their talents to co-create housing out of near zero-cost materials. For example, because a majority of the world does not have the privilege to acquire (buy) wood construction materials, they assessed that there was an abundance of simple, wooden shipping pallets in the community. So, that became the stuctural fiber of the buildings on which to attach the local clay adobe shell. This would not be allowed in the US but paved the way for local citizens to afford to live in and contribute to their community because habitat was addressed locally. What a simple concept! Please visit their website and contribute to this life changing effort.
Athena's sister, Roxanne Swentzell, is one of the foremost New Mexican (Santa Clara) artists. Her clay sculptures are in major museums, the Smithsonian and the White House. For me, her work expresses spirit, history, mystery and whimsy. Finally... she has her own gallery in Pojoaque, NM; an amazing adobe tower in which the Canelo Project was involved.
In my own work, I continue to look for solutions to dilemnas: how to directly address crutial needs with immediate/formative solutions. Why have we strayed so far from utilizing local resources for local needs? Where is the relationship between artistic expression and habitat? Please contribute your comments. RP
