Arcosanti: An Urban Laboratory?

"In nature, as an organism evolves it increases in complexity and it also becomes a more compact or miniaturized system. Similarly a city should function as a living system. Arcology, architecture and ecology as one integral process, is capable of demonstrating positive response to the many problems of urban civilization, population, pollution, energy and natural resource depletion, food scarcity and quality of life. Arcology recognizes the necessity of the radical reorganization of the sprawling urban landscape into dense, integrated, three-dimensional cities in order to support the complex activities that sustain human culture. The city is the necessary instrument for the evolution of humankind." —Paolo Soleri

Mom and I arrived at Arcosanti and immediately said to each other "What the hell is going on here?" The place looked desolate and run down and the feeling was made even more clear by the fact that there was only one other car in the parking lot.... here we go on another one of our crazy adventures, this one inspired by me. I first learned of Paolo Soleri's "urban laboratory" from my foundations professor during my freshman year of college. He was a man who spoke in riddles constantly and somehow managed to link the seemingly most obscure topics to the study of art. That "somehow" continues to confound me to this day, though looking back on it, some of the topics weren't that far fetched, such is the case with Arcosanti.

We stumbled into the cafe 30 minutes before dinner was over and got the last of pretty much everything. A man at the table next to us struck up a conversation with me; he introduced himself as Bob and called himself an inventor. Bob was visibly enthusiastic about all things solar energy and was brought to Arcosanti to help them figure out how to incorporate solar into the site. We soon figured out we had no idea what to do next; no one had officially checked us in or given us any directions. Bob caught on to this, as he had with other new visitors, and offered to show us to the guest rooms and take us on a tour of the site. We walked back to the car with Bob and drove down an unmarked road that wound around to the bottom of the hillside. The single row of rooms looked like individual storage sheds. The front of each room was a wall of windows looking across the shallow valley to the next mesa. The next morning we took the "official" tour of Arcosanti. We and everyone else who had the priviledge of taking "the Bob tour" all agreed his was better. His enthusiasm for the project and Paolo Soleri was more apparent that our resident guide. He took us to the "off limits" places and stuck us in front of his computer while he went on and on about all the inventions he had patented.

Arcosanti is Soleri's "city of the future," an environment where people's home, workplace and food source coexist in a single self-sustainting complex. It is an living experiment, or as the name suggests a "laborartory," a place where the architect's theories are actually being tested. So far, only a fraction of the master plan has been built, but the work is ongoing with the help of residents and teaching workshops.

 Roof of our guest room

Ceramics

Vaults

Amphitheater

Roof of the Foundry

Guest rooms (directly below the crane)

What Depression Looks Like

I came across this a few months ago and was reminded of it recently. It struck a hard chord, as I have encountered a few battered but beautiful people dealing with this mental disorder, and have begun to recognize some of these feelings as my own.



Thoughts of Depression

12x12 for $144 IV

My piece for  this year's 12x12 fundraiser at the Harwood Art Center

Abstract Topography, gouache, graphite, wood sealant, 2013

The original shape came from a sketchbook drawing of the bottom part of a squash; the rest just came to me as I thought about how to morph the shape into something more.

6x6s made by kids from Escuela del Sol Montessori School

Caravan of the Sky

I am continually on the hunt for a camper van like the one my parents had ('78 VW, avacado green) so that some day I can venture out on a similar road trip to the one they took in the early '80s, a three month long round trip excursion from Albuquerque to Alaska. In the meantime, this might do just fine.

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3022316/the-camper-that-becomes-a-penthouse

Train Travel

It was raining steadily when we left Pagosa Springs at 6:45 in the morning, en route to Durango to board the Durango Silverton train. We had been having some doubts upon waking up to the sound of water pounding on the tin roof. Of course, in the Chambers-Wherritt style, none of us were bothered by the weather, and there was really no question about going. As the train pulled out of the station and rolled through town, I couldn't help but notice the how many people stopped to wave to us and the other passengers. It seems as though everyone is fascinated by the sight of a train, as if it was some long-lost piece of history, which in a way it is.

The train follows the Animas River the entire way to Silverton, meandering through a contrasting landscape of wide valleys and deep canyons. The river was rushing with water as a result of the recent rains. There is something magical about traveling by train through the mountains to an old mining town,  taking the route many miners became intimately familiar with during the 19th century. In many places along the canyon-sides there were remnants of old power lines, sometimes barely distinguishable from the fallen tree trunks.

Proceed and Be Bold

A few years ago, Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. came to my college for an artist talk. I bought variations of the two prints above, the "Good Coffee" for myself and the "Fishing" for my brother. I remember falling in love with his work, not just because it was letterpress, but also the powerful, witty, political messages and icons he used to reflect on the theme of racism.

Circus Acts on a SeeSaw