Construction continues on the visitors entrance.
This is the view north from the glassed-in bridge leading from the Crafts III tower to the visitors gallery.
The multi-level path towards the visitors parking area is clearly visible.

This is the same view from a slightly different angle, with an overlay of the anticipated handicap access ramp.

Planning and construction team members survey the terrain and discuss how best to deal with some of the larger rocks.
This work is part of a Rural Tourism Development Grant awarded to Arcosanti in October of 2007.
Report continues on 7/2/08.

To continue our report from 6/25/08, the construction team is ready for the concrete pour.
This will be an extention of a concrete ramp leading to the loading and handicap access platform behind the Crafts III visitors center.

Once again, David Tollas babies the good old concrete truck into action.
This truck has been part of the construction effort since the mid 1970's.

Workshop participants and volunteers work with the construction crew on this pour.
The ramp will give delivery trucks and physically challenged visitors better traction down this steep hill.

Part of the construction team effort has been the extention of a concrete ramp leading to the loading and handicap access platform behind the Crafts III visitors center.
Construction crew and workshop participants prepare the ground for form work.

The ground is rock-hard and this job is not as easy as it looks.

The forms for one section are in place. We will continue this report on 6/27/08 with images of the concrete pour.

Welcome to the June 15. workshop participants:

[top from left]
Tyler Scott,
Mark Moynihan [intern],
Todd Findley,
Brendan Siegl,
Mateo Mir Bashiri [intern]
and Thomas TJ Bogan.

[middle from left]
Jonathan Schafer,
Magda Lojewska,
Claire Woolley [seminar week]
and Toa Rivera [intern].
[front from left]
Lindsay Marsh [two weeks] ,
Aimee Madsen [seminar week] and Rebecca Brown.

In the midst of preparations last Friday for the JuneTeenth event, we also had the graduation of the May 11. 2008 workshop participants. Congratulations to:
[from left] Alex West, Starlyn Cag and Alex Dixon.
Mike Schroeder also graduated.

JUNETEENTH Festival started with days of preparation. We reported on 6/16 about installation of the gigantic parachute over the Colly Soleri amphitheater.
[photos from left]
At Cordes Junction, the crew [planning coordinator Jenn Epstein with workshop participants Alex Alex West, Alex Dixon and Starlyn Cag], taped a nicely executed sign to the guardrail in front of the Shell Station. [photo: Jenn Epstein]
A smaller parachute was put up over the keystone to shelter some of the vendors.
Vendor Husain Abdul-Alim of Spiritwood works on one of his sculptures. Husain has been part of this festival every year with his beautiful hand carved wooden masks and a great selection of hand made jewelry, hats, eclectic clothing, incense and more. There were a variety of vendors with hats and T-shirts, crystals and jewelry, sculpture, mobiles and clothing. The Arcosanti garden crew offered braided garlic, mulberry jelly and delicious olives.
Friday's schedule started with a delicious soul-food dinner [fried catfish, rice and beans, fried cornbread, collared greens] prepared by Henry of Henry Turner Jr. and Flavor reggae band.
Milt Cannon opened the event in the Vaults with a mellow performance by CANNONFIRE. This was followed with a reggae dance party to the music of HENRY TURNER JR. and FLAVOR, with Ronny Huston and Kenny D. HENRY TURNER JR. and FLAVOR also gave the closing performance on Saturday and Sunday. [photo: Tomiaki Tamura]

On Saturday, the CANNONFIRE Ensemble started the day, followed by a dynamic performance by THE CUNNINGHAMS. The musicians of Cannonfire Ensemble are
Cal McCarthy, guitar,
Randi Carter, drums,
Al Sarco, piano,
Ed Carter, bass,
and Milt Cannon, saxophone. There were also guest performances by Rick Jones, trumpet and Ben Apple, trombone and Selwyn Reams, bass.
Fireball LADY J HUSTON performed for the first time at this festival both Saturday and Sunday, and literally blew our socks off.

[photos from left]
Lady J Huston during Sundays performance in the nicely shaded amphitheater.
[photo: Tomiaki Tamura]
GENEVIEVE gave a graceful and moving rendering of familiar and new songs on both Saturday and Sunday.
"King of Phoenix Blues" BIG PETE PEARSON, graced the event with his amazing voice, solo and for a few songs with Lady J Huston.
This event has been a musical highlight for many years and this year again, event organizer Milt Cannon put together a line-up of very talented musicians. Milt Cannon leads the Prescott Jazz Society PJAZZ and has conceived and organized JUNETEENTH at Arcosanti for the past 10 years.

This week-end was filled with wonderful music during the JUNETEENTH 2008 Jazz Splash Festival. Images of the performances will be posted on 6/18/08.
Today's report gives a few glimpses of some of the preparation for the event.
We reported on 1/18 through 1/25/08 about the removal of the old tent that covered the Colly Soleri Amphitheater.
Planning department and Graphics are working on a new design for coverage of the stage and seating area.
[photo] David Tollas and Jeff Buderer are on top of scaffolding, errected on the stage of the theater, to secure the mid-point of a parachute.

An interim solution for shelter from the intense sun during this 3-day event, was worked out by Director Tomiaki Tamura.
Maintenance crew custom cut and trimmed pieces from good parts of the old tent and installed them over the stage area. Construction crew, and many volunteers from other departments, installed a very large parachute to cover the seating area.

The parachute was folded in half, each cord lined up and linked with its opposite and strong rope tied to the individual cords.
With the crew distributed along the third floor of the west side of the East Crescent and along the roof of the east side, the ropes were slowly tied in tandem to have clean and even distribution over the stepped seating area.
A smaller parachute was installed over the keystone area to give shade to some of the vendors [photos on 6/18].

The Arcosanti crew is in the midst of preparation for JUNETEENTH 2008, an annual festival of African-American Art and Music, including Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Reggae.
The festival commemorates the date that most slaves first heard about President Lincoln's 1863 declaration of freedom. It symbolizes the joy of a call to freedom, and the responsibility to assist in developing a more inclusive and equitable society.
The arts in general, and in this case specifically, African-American arts, are one of the most compelling sources for passing this message on.

This event has been celebrated at Arcosanti since 2000. The images show some of the activities during JuneTeenth in years past, and the following are some of the acts that have graced the Colly Soleri Music Center during this event:
The Milt Cannon PJazz Quartet, Les Czimber Trio, Lonne Givens Blues Band, Gato Loco w/Quetzal Guerrerro , Joe Bonner Trio, Wytko Saxophone Quartet, Dave Cook Quintet, Chris Finet Quintet/NAU ...

... Joshua Breakstone Trio w/Malik Alkabir, The Cunningham’s, Dr.Jill Allen Quartet, Kathy Morris, Matt Butterman, Mary Redhouse, Dick Berk, Mr. Freddy B, Big Pete Pearson, Walter Belcher, the APA Dance Company, and Henry Turner Jr. & Flavor.

This is a lovely event with delicious food, arts and crafts, good vibes and wonderful music, in an amphitheater shaded this year by a gigantic parachute.

The schedule this year starts this evening at 7pm with a Festival Kickoff Freedom Dance Party featuring Henry Turner Jr. & Flavor and Cannonfire.
Saturdays activities start at 11am with the opening of the event by Elder Douglas Hobson and the St. Luke Ebony Christian Choir, followed by performances by the Cannonfire Ensemble, Genevieve, The Cunninghams and Henry Turner and Flavor.
Sundays activities start at 11am with Milt Cannon and a tribute to Big Pete Pearson "King of Phoenix Blues". This is followed by performances of PJAZZ Quartett with Rick Jones, The Cunninghams, Lady J Huston and a Cannonfire Dance Band Finale.
Tickets are $10 per day, $5 for students.
VIP tickets are $25 per day or 2-day tickets for $40. VIP includes the Friday Freedom Dance, access to the backstage lounge, the Sunday VIP only performance with Genevieve and limited poolside service.
The festival is organized by Milt Cannon of the Prescott Jazz Society.

This continues the report from 6/9/08 with the next pour of the walk-way on the north side of the visitors parking lot.
[from left] A back-hoe was rented for various chores across the site, here to load sand and gravel into the batch plant.
Dave Tollas and workshop participant Alex Dixon break bags of concrete into the mixer.
The crew takes a sample of the concrete mix from the truck into a wheel barrow.
Alex, Dave and construction crew Nelson DellaRosa perform a slump test to establish the concrete consistency.

Steel reinforcement bars were layed out and suspended within the wooden form for the walk-way.

The work to enhance the Visitors' Parking and Access area was greatly helped by a grant from the Arizona Office of Tourism (AOT). Cosanti Foundation was awarded a Rural Tourism Development Grant of $50,000.

The crew for this pour was Landscaping coordinator Ron Chandler, construction crew Nick Bortel, alumnus and volunteer Andrew Woodard, Dave Tollas, workshop participant Alex Dixon, crew Jeff Buderer, workshop participant Alex West and volunteer Charlie Wicker.
More on the upgrade of the entrance to the visitors center will be posted next week.

We are behind in the reports of construction efforts, most importantly the ongoing work on the upgrade of Visitors access to the Arcosanti site.
In October of 2007, the Arizona Office of Tourism (AOT) awarded a Rural Tourism Development Grant to Arcosanti. The grant, worth $50,000, is to be used to enhance the Visitors' Parking and Access area of the site.
We reported on 12/12, 12/17, 12/19, 12/21 and 12/26/2007 about the first stage of work, installation of new concrete walk-ways and an upgrade of the visitors parking-lot.
[from left] During the first phase about half of the concrete walk-way on the east side of the parking lot was poured and finished by local contractor Lane Malouff and his crew.

Now, in several stages, the Arcosanti construction crew with workshop participants and volunteers, is pouring concrete and finishing the rest of this walk-way. [from left] Workshop participants Yong Su Park and Gregg Elliott open bags of concrete.
Construction crew William Holman and workshop participant Daniel Copperman add the concrete into the batch plant.
This batchplant and the old concrete truck have been in use since the mid 1970's. And they are still operational, thanks mostly to the loving care of construction chief Dave Tollas.
Team members for this pour are [from left] Workshop participant Yong Su Park, Landscaping coordinator Ron Chandler, Dave Tollas, construction crew Nick Bortel and William Holman, workshopper Daniel Copperman and construction intern Anuj Dayal.

Ron Chandler, William Holman and Anuj Dayal screed the surface of the walk-way.
A report on the next pour on this walk-way will be posted on 6/11/08.
Reports on the installation of solar panels, and lighting along the visitors path, also part of the effort made possible by this grant, were posted from 2/18 through 3/19/08.

The Arcosanti Organics crew has been busy at work this week with the annual Garlic Harvest. Agriculture staff / volunteers, as well as the Construction crew and one of the kids on summer vacation have all been part of picking. In late Autumn, the Paulownia Garden was planted with about a quarter acre of garlic cloves.

As well, another few rows of the flavour-rich vegetable were planted in the Chicken Garden. The farmers are at work delicately pulling the garlic from the ground. It is important not to damage either the head or the stalk, since the garlic will be braided together at a later date.

Having a 'cash crop' like this is quite important to the Arcosanti Organics crew. This garlic is sold at the Farmers' Markets here at Arcosanti, but also in Prescott and surrounding communities - and, come fall, the vegetable will be entered in the County Fair competition.

Yesterday the Ceramics Apse was adorned by a few fresh faces. A bell-carving workshop, held by Arcosanti Ceramicists Rebecca Manning and Colleen Reckow, brought out seven curious residents - with a waiting list to accommodate more.








Learning a few characters from 'The Soleri Alphabet' and using the three-pronged knife and fettler, the workshop participants tried their hands at carving bells. Anuj Dayal and Jenn Epstein intently carve their clay, while the finished bells await their firing.

Revisiting a recent topic, we return to the Ceramics Apse.
Finished in 1973, this apse (quarter-of-a-sphere shaped structure) has been home to Arcosanti's ceramic artists ever since.
Due to its passive solar architecture features, this workspace is outdoors. Therefore, the artists can perch across the deck, carving amidst the plaster molds and vats of slip (milkshake-consistency clay water mix) that are their supplies.

Colleen Reckow, Ceramics Artist, is at work carving a silt-cast ceramic bell.
Using a three-pronged knife, she makes primary incisions that guide her subsequent cuts.
Arcosanti ceramicists learn what is colloquially referred to as "The Soleri Image Alphabet" to steer their designs. Essentially, this is a series of carving shapes that, over the years, has enabled the varying artists to create a consistent style among the bells.

The time invested in the carving of each bell varies not only by artist but also by size of bell. There are between thirty and forty shapes of ceramic bells, each style forged by Paolo Soleri, hence the Soleri Bell.
As Colleen finishes her silt bell carving, she explains that this bell must reach leather-hardness, and then it can be fired in the kiln. And so, our report continues ...