Arcosant #2 - Day seven

     Just as I was stepping out of the cafe at Arcosanti yesterday a nice 40ish woman named Cabiria complimented me on my boots.  She was dressed in ragged jeans and tied a piece of cloth around her waist like a skirt.  On top she had on a well worn tank top.   I had just written to you on the blog that I had not made any connections here so when she commented about my boots I took the opportunity to talk with her for a bit.  Turns out that Cabiria was a San Fransisco transplant and had lived at Arcosanti for 4 years.  Also she worked in the bronze casting foundry (which explained her well worn look).  She, having seniority, had a great apartment that she pays $120 a month for.  I told her I was disappointed with my tour from yesterday so she offered to give me a one on one tour at the foundry.  Here's a picture...

     After she showed me how they compress the sand into the molds she offered to let me make designs on the bells.  Her favorite part of the job was that she could make any design she wanted.  I drew a few lines after watching her for a bit and realized that it took some experience to get it right.

    The most experienced people worked on the bigger bells, the least experienced people on the smaller bells.  This guy (didn't catch his name) had arrived here last June and was still considered relatively new.  That beautiful square box with the amazing hardware is what the molten bronze will be poured into.
     Cabiria had said at one point she was cynical after the four years and while we were working I asked her why.  "After being at Burning Man for many years", she said, 'I know if you really want to get things done and you have the people to do it, you can make it happen.  Paolo is such a prolific artist, we have an entire trailer full of his drawings, bronze sculptures and architectural models, that I don't think he cares whether it gets done or not".
    I said, "Yeah at 91 yrs old one probably accepts their limitations more so than us younger ones".
    Cabiria said she liked living in community and that Arcosanti is a good place to go when you need a change in your life, although she also mentioned there were some people there with a 'small-town attitude' and it occasionally felt like she was in junior high school.
    Meanwhile they were preparing for 'the pour'.  Here's a picture of the two that suited up to handle the crucible as is came out of the kiln.

    Bronze casting has some similarities with glass blowing in that they melt the bronze in a crucible.  Once it gets to the right temperature two people pick it up and sit it on the deck.

     Once everyone is ready for the pour the two who are suited up pick up the crucible and walk it over to the molds.  Here they are pouring into the first mold which has four bells in it....

    Below is a close up of the pour ... the molten bronze looks a like the golden paint color called Quinacridone Gold...

      Cabiria and the other guy are patting the sand down because the bronze is bubbling up which indicates repairs will have to made on the bells later.
     Cabiria said it took her a while to figure out how to position herself so that she could lift the molten crucible.  As you can see it is quite heavy and it takes some skill to pour it just right.  Once the bronze is poured they wait until the molds cool and then remove the bells....

     Pictured below is a few of the the poured bronze bells cooling in the sand molds...

  

        And here's a picture of the bells when they come out of the molds...

         After the burrs have been polished off the bells they patina them with muratic acid...

    I got to take one kind of artzy shot in a storage area for the bells.  The red of the structure made a great contrast for the greenish-blue patina of the bells...

    Fortunate for me Cabiria invited me back to stay at her place and do a night time fire with a few beers and stories thrown in.   I am looking forward to that and it gives me a great excuse to go visit again.

    I left Arcosanti about 11 am and headed towards Joshua Tree (the town not the park).  On the way I did happen to find 'The Rice Shoe Tree Monument' out in the middle of nowhere on Highway 62.

     For some unknown reason when college kids came back from Lake Havasu during spring break they started hanging shoes on what was once an old Tamaskus Tree.  In 2003 someone arsoned the tree so the shoes now hang along a wire fence.  Also, all along the railway tracks people stop to make monuments for themselves using the multicolored basalt rocks.  The ones that stand out the most used the black rocks then the white as a contrast.  For several miles there was 'rock graffiti' like what you see below along side the railroad tracks...

   As a parting shot, here's my favorite image of the day... I love both the subject matter and the composition of the shot... It's the infamous Sunset Motel weathered to an almost unrecognizable mass of metal.  The giant cactus and the endless span of blue sky (a rare sight in Oregon these days) frames the scene.

   I made it to Joshua Tree that night about 8pm, dirt tired from the long days drive.  As always your comments are welcome either here on the blog or on Facebook.  Today I am headed into Joshua Tree National Forest and tomorrow I will post whatever it is that I find there.  As always thanks for reading... Yona C. Riel

Arcosanti! an urban labratory....Day six

     They call it an urban laboratory because Paolo Soleri, the Italian born architect that visioned this place into being believes the entire structure of the way we live, cities and suburbs, dependence on cars, is killing both us and the earth.  Sounds familiar now but this guy studied with Frank LLoyd Wright and birthed the term arcology.  And this was back in the 1940's.  By the 1960's his hand cast bronze bells had become famous enough to generate enough money to start building his vision,  a self-sufficient community for 5000 people where living, employment and community all intermingle with each other.  I don't know what the largest number of people who have lived here is but there are only about 60 full-time residents now.  Being that Paolo just turned 91 my guess is he won't actually see his vision completely manifest before he dies.  But a good start has been made.

     This is what the apartments look like.  Multilevel, mixed use structures are intermixed with the bronze casting operation and the music amphitheater.

    Everything is south facing so that when the sun is low (and to the south) in the winter the heat and light are captured.  In the summer there are large curved structures that help to keep living areas cool.  There is also a swimming pool.
     Every summer lots of young people from all over come to volunteer and work so as to learn about arcology and Arcosanti.  Each year they continue to build the urban experiment out here in the desert.  Is Paolo Soleri a genius way before his time?  Or is he a nutcase with a failed experiment on his hands?  My guess he is probably a bit of both and has somehow at the age of 91 accepted Arcosanti for what it is.
    From what I understand he lives in Scottsdale Arizona full time and comes out every Thursday to give lectures to interested persons.  Also in the outdoor theater pictured above they have concerts when the weather gets better.

   
        They cast clay bells in this area.  I believe this is an earlier structure done with the red sand brought in from Sedona.

        The rooms are a lot noisier than I thought they would be.  Apparently all this concrete magnifies sound.  So I am not sure that I will stay another night because the two people next door were drinking a lot and I could hear every word they said.. even after I went over and told them.  Worst part is I forgot my earplugs.  I am sure if one is a permanent part of the community it might be a little different, but for the people, like myself,  who come and go it's a bit of a problem.
     The room was small and efficient.  Concrete ceiling and floors.   I shared a bathroom with one other person next door (of whom I never saw).   Here's a little self-portrait I did in the mirror...

    And here is the view from my when I turn around and look out the door...

     There is also lots of random art.  First a shot of the bells, which accounts for 90% of their income...
     Beautifully patina-ed in muriatic acid or liver of sulphur the price tags ranged from $60 to $1000.  However they also silt cast bells using clay and these are in the 60 - 100 dollar price range.

    If you take a walk on the visitor's trail you can see this sculpture in between the arches.  I am not sure but my guess is it was a earlier piece of Paolo Soleri's.

         Lastly this is a sculpture along the dirt road that greets you when you get close to the main structures.  Oddly, for community, I didn't talk too much to anyone except a few of the workers.  No fast friends here, maybe because I have spent a lot of time on the computer.
     But there are all ages here ranging from 4yr olds to 70 yr olds.  Primarily I see 30-40 yr olds, alternative types, and I hear accents from all over the world as I sit typing in the cafe (the only place on the property where there is wifi).   If you ever get a chance to visit here I highly recommend it.  There is one room with two twin beds that has a kitchen in it and at this point it costs $65 a night.  It may also be a little quieter because it is on the end of the little row of rentals.  They serve a healthy and delicious all you can eat dinner every night and it only costs $9.  Last night it was string beans with a pesto sauce, roasted turkey and a salad made with mostly leafy veggies.
    Okay, after I get more caffeine I am off to more ghost towns and hope to land in Joshua tree tonight.  As always I love to hear your comments...

day five... Jerome, AZ

     Many years ago when I was 15 yrs old I took my first 500 mile bike ride.  It was with American Youth Hostels and we rode from the rim of the Grand Canyon to Wickenburg AZ via HWY 89a.  It took us a week and the second to the last night we stayed in what was then a ghost town, complete with a haunted 'hotel'.  That is the first I'd ever heard of Jerome and I have had the fondest of memories ever since.  So now, 40 years later I had to go back.

   These days Jerome is a thriving tourist town, complete with overpriced shops and lots of things to spend your money on.  I went into several shops one of which was the Jerome Artist Coop. I talked at length with a 60ish woman who was a fiber artist.  There were several interesting pieces to photograph but I limited myself to just a few.  First is a painter...I really liked his work but I sent the card to someone without remembering to write down his name. 

     The next few pieces are assemblages, Jerome style...at least I got the name of the artist in the shot....

    I found the subject matter of the next painting, the Sunset Motel, on the road back to California... I wonder now just how many Sunset Motels there are in the US? 

    Here's the picture I took a few days later of a very old 'Sunset Motel' sign in a tiny town that I swear didn't have a name.. (more on that story later)...

    I am pretty sure this was the bldg we stayed in.  At the time it was vacant, no beds, no hotel, just a place to sleep.  We, all 15 of us, including myself (the youngest) and a 71 yr old guy (the oldest) put our sleeping bags out on the old wooden floor and we all slept together in the same big and supposedly haunted room. 

     My how things have changed.  It is now the Jerome Hotel and a spendy (over $100/night) place to stay.  After I figured out I could not afford to stay the night in Jerome I left a few hours later.  But on the way out I captured a few images that were of the old Jerome, the one I wanted to see.  I love whatever this stuff is lining the sidewalk.  Something about big rusty parts gets me every time..

       And here is a front yard on the way out of town with lots of very weird yard art... That's an old piano holding up a taller aspen branch playing a blue plastic guitar.  His girlfriend (or band mate) is a little more developed being plaster applied to a wire mesh figure and pretty close to looking like a woman (although weathered and somewhat deteriorated).

     Right up my alley.  And despite the tourist flavor of the strange contraption below I still thought it was pretty cool. 

    I left town via HWY89A and thought I would stop in Clarksdale and/or Cottonwood, but when I got there nothing perked my interest enough to stop.  Also after talking to a 60ish woman in the artist coop (who happened to be a fiber artist and who also told me about this great technique she was doing) I decided against going to Sedona because it would be even more touristy than Jerome.  So I turned off HWY 89a onto an even more remote road and that meant I had several opportunities to take photos as I drove down the mountain.  I still love driving steep mountain roads with hairpin turns every few miles just like the ones I used to seek out on my motorcycle.

    It also meant I got to Arcosanti in time for the 3pm tour.  I am going to post more about Arcosanti tomorrow but I will say what a fricken awesome place.  Here's a few teaser photos...

      Good nite you all and thanks for reading.  I LOVE to hear your comments as it keeps me connected to you and lets me know your reading.  If your really into it you can google Arcosanti and get an idea of what I am so excited about.