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...

October (dios de los muertos) in March...

     First, I am sorry I haven't posted for the better part of 3 weeks.  I been busy READING for a change.  First I bought the new extended version of Rob Brezsny's book Pronoia.  Then last Saturday I was at the Barnes and Noble fundraiser for MECCA and the only copy of Michael DeMeng's new book was just begging me to buy it.  (Personally I think Michael put a spell on it but that's a whole other story).

And, on top of reading I have been working on a new piece.
     After going to Oaxaca for Dios de Los Muertos last year with Michael and a group of amazing people from all over the country my art (and my beliefs about death) will never be the same.
     In the Mexican culture (at least in Oaxaca) there are two days every year that our dearly beloved dead ones come back to party with the living.  On November 1st the babies and young children come back.  On November 2nd the adults return.  Having lived in San Fransisco for many years with it's large and politically active Hispanic community, I was already familiar with the Day of the Dead and longed to go to Mexico to experience a real Dios de Los Muertos.   Thus I already had a pretty good collection of Day of the Dead skeletons.

          I got this beautiful lady from a fellow who is from Oaxaca but now has a shop in Albany on Solano Blvd.  I pretty much knew when I bought her that for the first time I had no excuse not to go.  So I went.  (If you been reading my blog all along you already know all this....sorry for the repeat but bare with me...)

     That said, I am writing you today to give you a glimpse of what I been working on in the last few months.   It started with a single striking image I saw in Oaxaca.  A half alive and half dead Frida.

     This is not a very good reproduction of the image that has changed me in ways I may never be able to fully articulate.  Of course I love Frida (like everybody else).  She's practically a saint in Mexico. But what struck me was the portrayal of her as half dead and half alive.  Here in the rational northern portion of the Americas there just isn't a place for a reality like this.  In Mexico, magical realism and all it's various cousins are not only alive but thriving.  Frida can be physically dead but her soul lives on forever in the hearts of the Mexican people who love her.   I experienced this again and again while I was down there.
     Having had my own near death experience I knew I had to make a piece of myself, half dead or dying and the other half coming to life.  (Pretty much what has been going on since the brain injury).  I also wanted it to be 3 dimensional. 
     My friend Rogene who I met just a week before I went to Mexico (she was going too) has been working with paper clay making her paintings more 3 dimensional.  The moment I saw her work I knew that was the medium I wanted to try for my piece.
    I also wanted some of the other art in my Day of the Dead collection to influence this piece.  

     I love the floral painting on this vase I bought years ago at the Castro St. Fair.  I also love the flower bursting forth from the eye.

       The picture of this skull was shot through a window so it's not great.  I wanted it so bad but it was carved out of wood and hand painted and way out of my price range.  Alas I came home with a not so great picture of it.  I love all the monarch butterflies.  Is it all the bright colors used by the Mexican artisans that keeps their skulls looking so friendly?   That and all those big shiny white teeth?  It's as if dead people in Mexico are always laughing.
    For my piece I was pretty sure I wanted to use a huge cigar box I scored in Amsterdam.  Opened, it has a book like quality to it.  And that would mean one half would be for the skull and the other half for something else.  But what would be on the other side?   And are all those weird white flowers really necessary?

     It was probably the cover of Rob's book that had me thinking about anatomically correct hearts.  Or perhaps it was the aftermath of the Valentine's show and working with the Americanized version of hearts for what seemed like an eternity.
     Either way last Thursday, sick and tired of the rain, I drove 100 miles as drops the size of golf balls bounced off my windshield to get to my favorite bookstore, Powell's in Portland.  Once there I went to the anatomy section and took several pictures of anatomically correct hearts.  Here's what I got...

The piece is coming along slowly but surely and once I get it done you'll be the first to know...
 Thanks for reading my friends and your comments are always welcome.... and yes I am going back to Oaxaca again this year for Dios de Los Muertos.  And I may just stay a little longer to learn some Spanish.   Who knows..  Here's a few more hearts for you to ponder..

Roadtrip Day 3..Lone Pine to Death Valley and Rhyolite Nevada

     I left Lone Pine by 10am and took my first picture of the day before I left town.  Turns out there was a very cool, but closed, store right next to the hotel I stayed in...

 and it was even for sale (which should be no surprise since I think half of the places I have seen so far had 'For Sale' signs on them.  Another reminder of just how bad the economy is....)

      After mulling over the artistic beauties (skulls, metalwork, old gates, etc) I continued south on HWY 395 taking the turn off for HWY 190 to Death Valley.  Before I got to the park I stopped at a sulphite mine.  Being an old rock hound from the 80's the scattered junk looked pretty amazing from the truck.

 

And besides I just love it when nature has made art out of throw-aways.  Here's a long shot of the mine.....

    I walked around for a good hour and found several old bricks (great in the yard), a few old blue glass fuses (still wondering why they were out there) and some weird glass like green rock (which I later found out was obsidian.. Here's one more shot of found art...

   

    After I left the sulphite mine I continued up HWY 190 into Death Valley.  I was excited for two reasons.  First there is an amazing ghost town on the border of Nevada and California called Rhyolite.  I had seen pictures and really wanted to go there.  Second, I believed my timing was right on to see a lot of the desert wild flowers in bloom, which they were.

   I took so many pictures of Rhyolite that I am only going to load up about 8.  If you ever get to this area in my opinion it's even better than Bodie if only because it is not as well known.  Okay here's some pictures.  There were several old structures still standing, the most amazing was the old bank.  It was a few stories high, constructed of handmade brick and the closest thing to the ruins I found in Oaxaca.   Another amazing structure was the general store right across the street.  Course it's all dirt roads now....

 

     And then there was the old shack.   I love the textural designs of the old boxsprings against the pale blue wood.  And the rusty old metal tube that once had a wood stove hooked up to it...

     There was one train car that had been left up there. 

The metal on it had a beautiful natural patina...

  

     
    And then someone had made an interesting outdoor museum.....

I presume it had to do with death and bicycles but I didn't get the actual story behind it....

    There is a whole long line of these ghostly persons in the next shot.  The mountains and the strange clouds made for great contrast...

   I also found a tall sculpture of a abstract of a woman..

    Rhyolite is my favorite stop so far.  That and my awesome finds at the sulphite mine removed the disappointment of not getting to see either Bodie or my beloved Buckeye Hotsprings yesterday. 
    Death Valley was really crowded.  Tourists everywhere despite the overcast sky.   It seems to me everyone was out looking for wild flowers (a lot like myself).   At the general store I saw two dykes (shock of all shocks) and at the park ranger station I saw another couple.  The last two looked like they had just finished a shoot of Showtime's L-word. 
    Tomorrow I will post some pictures of death valley, the flowers and the 'artist pallet' drive.... I am headed to Arizona now in hopes that I make Arcosanti by my birthday which is tomorrow.  thanks for reading my friends... it keeps me connected out here on what would otherwise be a lonely road. 
   yona c. riel

Leaving Las Vegas - day four

     The only reason I stayed in Vegas was because Pahrump (which is 'Nevada' for  PO-dunk) had no rooms left.  I arrived late, 8pm and apparently 800 extra men were there learning how to fire weapons.  So Vegas it was...

    I stayed in a huge casino all bright lights, cigarettes and slot machines; both totally the opposite of what I wanted and the opposite of Rhyolite.  In an attempt to make themselves more family friendly there was art everywhere.   Mona Lisa stared back at you as you plugged the machine with quarters.   

     There was a enormous, opulent fish tank...

    I couldn't get a really good shot inside the tank but the next one has a Harley sitting in front which helps with understanding the scale of the thing....

    When I arrived in Vegas it was 9pm and I was hungry so after getting situated in my room I went down to the Sundance Bar and Cafe....

    I was seated next to a (presumably) fake forest.  It was so funny to me I just had to take a picture of it....

     After my quesadilla and beer I headed up to my room and had a great night's sleep.  The next morning I went down to Starbucks (one of the few places in the casino with free wifi) and wrote my blog entry.   (be forwarned everything at Starbucks in Vegas is double the price, unless you are gambling, in which case they offer free coffee).
    After writing the blog I got on the HWY 93 to Hoover Dam.  It was crawling with tourists.  The traffic was so slow I grew frustrated.  Due to the construction I knew the slow traffic would persist for at least long enough to get a drive-by shooting of the dam.   Guerilla tourism I called it...

    Not my cup of tea.  But it had to be done as it was the fastest way to Kingman Arizona.  I made a brief stop there to take a picture of a sign along HWY 66 but I really wanted to get to Jerome, Arizona or at least Prescott so I didn't do a lot of stopping.

     I continued down HWY 93 until I got to HWY 71 which said it would take me to Prescott.

   A storm was coming in and the lighting was very strange so I jumped out of the truck alongside the freeway, took a little hike over a few fences and found this rock outcropping made more magical by the strange contrasting blue-gray sky....

    Once I turned off the main highway there was an abandoned house.  This one was pretty creepy complete with one page of girl on girl porn presumably left for the next squatter ....

    Was somebody buried in that tomb looking thing?  Great place to shoot a horror film.  And it was even for sale....

      I drove on and intersected with HWY 89 and found the most amazing little artists town called Yarnell.  The very first business as you come in to town had this sign.

    I went back to see if they were open but the closed sign was up and the dogs were barking so I meandered slowly threw the town.

    I say meandered because the town was full of strange things to look at even though it was getting late.  (Now that I am home and rewriting this I wish that I had stayed there but I feared no internet.)  This is a town I want to visit again, since it had a lot the artistic looking businesses, yet few tourists...

    Finally about 7 at night I got to Prescott and found a place with free internet.  I had forgotten that Prescott was at such a high elevation.  The whole way up I was remembering the bicycle trip I did on this road when I was 15 years old and the 40 mile downhill stretch of rolling hills and hairpin turns.  I still love going 50 mph down a hill on my bicycle but now I where a helmet.  Again I had a good nights sleep after my long day of driving.  My excitement about Day 5 was two fold.  First the next day (April 13th) was my birthday.  Secondly I would get to be in both Jerome (one of the towns we stayed in on my bike trip) and Arcosanti  (which was my goal for this road trip.)