Welcome to the July 25, 2010 Workshop participants!

[back from left]
Marina Sapunova from Russia, Bruce Ford [scholarship], Christopher Smart [seminar week], Elijah Rushefsky [2 weeks], and Matthew Poot [scholarship].

[front from left]
Linda McArdell [2 weeks], Roberta Sassone from Italy, Eva Bauerle from Germany, Marina Cogliani from Italy, Guido Emanuele Fucci from Italy, Youngho Cho from Korea, William Mazerat from France, Pier Domenico Pierandrei from Italy [2 weeks],and Rebecca Robinson from England.

Congratulations to the June 20. 2010 graduating workshop participants!!

[back from left]:
Todd Reibold, Michael Borowski (face obscured- sorry!), Zachary Feirer, Aaron Sherwyn and Fabio Brochetta.
[front from left]
Chiara Cascella, Alexandra Dahlman, Audry Williams, Rebecca Valencia, Scottie Belissemo and Kylee Cumby.

This continues our report from 7/23/2010.

The wooden wall forms have been removed and we can see the two levels of concrete wall. One of the first projects of this present workshop was to fill in the trench in front of the wall.

In the background we can see a packing machine that is used to compact the fill dirt.

As we mentioned in the beginning of this series of reports, the new concrete wall will shore up this area and an additional water tank will be placed here.

This continues our report from 7/21/2010 about the construction of a large wall on the east side of the metal shop, where a new water tank will be placed.

The first level of the concrete wall has been poured and here we can see the form for the second level of the wall.

David Tollas gathered the crew to go through last minute instructions.

Again, the concrete was mixed at the Arcosanti batch plant and moved to the parking lot above the worksite, from where it was moved down the slope in wheel barrows ….

…. and shoveled or poured from the wheelbarrows into the form …

…. and finished.

We continue this report on 7/26/10

This continues our report from 7/19/2010 about the construction of a large wall on the east side of the metal shop. This massive wall will shore up the site for a new water tank.

The photos in this report are from the beginning of June and part of the construction crew here are workshop participants from the May workshop.

The concrete retaining wall has cured and the crew prepared the form for the first stage of the wall that will be placed on top of the retaining wall.
Again, the workshop participants were guided through all of the stages of preparing and securing concrete formwork and steel reinforcement.

An artificial deck was put in place, level with the top of the wooden wall form.

The concrete was mixed at the Arcosanti batch plant and moved with our ancient trusty concrete truck to the parking lot above the worksite.

From there the concrete was moved …

… by a relay of wheelbarrows down the steep slope …

…. and poured into the deep form.

Perhaps the photos convey a little of the excitement of a large crew working hand in hand on all of the different aspects of a concrete pour of this size, moving the wheelbarrows, keeping the ramp and deck clean, keeping the tools clean, taking care of spillage right away, everyone at their task made this a smooth operation.

The depth of the form made it very important to slowly vibrate the concrete into even distribution.
We continue this report on 7/23/10.

So much is happening here all the time that we have to catch up on a few things.
While we reported on many events, a construction project in the back of the Lab building has not received any mention. We will remedy this with the next four reports.

The construction project is taking place on the east side of the metal shop, which is located behind the Lab building.
Chief of Utilities at Arcosanti, Scott Riley, planned for this site to be prepared for a second and larger water tank.
We have to go all the way back to the beginning of April, and the crew in these photos are participants of the March workshop.
A big trench was dug right behind the existing water tower, and the crew built a form for a very wide retaining wall, butting up to the metal shop visible on the right of the photo. In the background of the photo we can see the top of the Vaults.

The workshop participants learned to prepare the wooden forms and the steel reinforcement bars.

Concrete was moved in wheelbarrows, guided by extra hands down a steep slope …

…. and guided into the retaining wall form.

Wooden blocks were placed into the roughly finished surface of the retaining wall …

… to be removed once the concrete set. The resulting indentations provide a foothold for the concrete wall to be poured on top of this retaining wall.

This report continues on 7/21/10.

The second annual "Burning Tongue Dinner" took place on June 16. 2010.
[for the first annual event see the report from 8/28/2009]

[from left] Hosted by Youngsoo Kim, people again put together their most fiery delicacies for a teary event, here Nadia and Nathan explain their concoctions.

Brendan Seigl before and after.

[from upper left] Preparations for Italian Night started last Friday with Tomiaki Tamura going through all of the steps, with table arrangements and teams lined out on a whiteboard.
Tables and chairs had to be taken out of storage and placed, programs were folded, table cloths had to be tied down, and as in most years past, it started sprinkling right then ….

[from upper left] ….. Tomiaki met with the serving teams, Joseph prepared beautiful flower arrangements, the serving team ready for action.

[from left] This years chef Nathan Hodgson prepared a delicious meal, and here is Paolo Soleri before the crowd arrived.

Part of this event is the serving of pasta from wheel barrows. The crew is waiting for Mary Hoadley to announce the entrance of the pasta …

… and Paolo Soleri, at 91 years, served pasta to the guests.

Italian Night 2010 dinner in the Vaults.

This years entertainment was provided by virtuoso accordionist and composer Nick Ariondo, with guest artists multi-faceted musicians Larry Hughes on clarinet and soprano sax and Jean Sudbury on violin and mandolin.
It was a high energy, excellent performance, received by the crowd with much enthusiasm.

As a winner of Italy's Ancona/Catelfidardo Prize in 1987 for his chamber music and two Grammy awards with the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, Nick Ariondo is "a brilliant success," according to Zubin Mehta, and "a one-man force to be reckoned with" says Dianne Bates.
Nick Ariondo has received 20 consecutive annual ASCAP awards for his compositions & arrangements as he continues to surprise audiences with his incomparable artistry.

A lovely addition to Saturday evenings Italian Night was the art opening
"Works on Paper: Arcosanti"
of alumna Raya Bodnarchuk.

Raya attended Siltpile at Cosanti in the summer of 1970.

Raya Bodnarchuk works and lives in Glen Echo, Maryland. She makes sculpture and two dimensional works that are clear and timeless.
Raya has a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and an MFA from the Rinehart School of Sculpture, Maryland Institute College of Art. She is a professor of fine arts at the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington , D.C.

For many years, Raya was an artist in residence at Glen Echo Park, Md. Her studio work in the park’s early life contributed to it’s development as an arts park for the National Park Service.
She is best known for her bronze, aluminum and wood figures and animals, and paper cut outs and prints. She uses enduring forms, shapes and subjects that have a classic permanence and connectedness to the world.
Her public works can be seen in the Baltimore Washington corridor and in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Institutes of Health, The Washington Post, Corcoran Gallery of Art, and private collections.

The Cosanti Foundation presents its annual Italian Night concert and dinner at Arcosanti on Saturday, July 10th, 2010.
This Arcosanti tradition celebrates the heritage of the founder, Paolo Soleri, who was born in Torino, Italy.
The celebration features a special meal served outdoors under the Arcosanti Vaults in the setting of Italian cypress and olive trees.
Paolo Soleri, who turned 91 this year, usually serves the pasta from special wheelbarrows, honoring the history of construction at Arcosanti.

Arcosanti is proud to welcome back virtuoso musician Nick Ariondo, who exploits the accordion's dynamic range to orchestral proportions for a musical evening of spellbound talent and international delights from Italy and beyond.
Ariondo enthralled the Italian Night audience in 2005 and returns this year to perform works by Piazzolla, Rossini, and Puccini, including Ariondo's Arcosanti-inspired compositions depicting the vast landscape and luminous sky, titled "Stella Notte" and "Lucenta Sera."

Dinner Menu
antipasto / appetizers
penne al pomodoro fresco / penne pasta with fresh tomato sauce
pollo arrosto / roasted chicken
funghi portobello ripieni / stuffed portobello mushrooms (vegetarian entrée)
fagiolini /green beans
inslata con condimento “alla Paolo” / salad with Paolo’s dressing
granita al limone con biscotto / lemon ice with cookie

Arrive at 5:00 p.m. for a complimentary tour of Arcosanti, followed by dinner at 6:00 p.m. with the performance at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $40 for the performance and dinner or $20 for the performance only ($10) students. Dinner reservations required. Call 928-632-7135 or see www.arcosanti.org for tickets and information.

Welcome back to Phoenix Country Day School. Their students have visited Arcosanti several times
[see our reports 10/26 and 10/28/2008, 10/14 and 10/16/2009].
A group of students from the schools summer program "Project Excellence", and their teachers, arrived on 7/5/10 for a 2-day visit.
A full agenda began with a tour of the site.

Highlights of the visit were the silt casting workshop, drum circles and story telling, and of course, shadow dancing on the mesa.
Students and their teachers from the Phoenix Country Day School had two days packed with fun, outdoor adventures and craft-workshops.
Thank you PCDS students and teachers for visiting Arcosanti. We hope to see you all again soon!

For any information on student group and other group visits to Arcosanti, please contact our Guest Services.

Welcome to the June 20, 2010 workshop participants!!

[back from left]:
Katja Schulz [two weeks], Todd Reibold, Kris Willoghby [two weeks], Andrew Murphy [three weeks] Zachary Feirer, Michael Borowski, Aaron Sherwyn, Fabio Brochetta,
[front from left]:
Kylee Cumby, Alexandra Dahlman, Scottie Belissemo, Chiara Cascella, Rebecca Valencia, Audry Williams