Just incase you have not been able to find the perfect Christmas present, there is a gorgeous collection of COSANTI ORIGINAL items waiting for you at the Arcosanti and the Cosanti gallery.

Every piece of the COSANTI ORIGINALS collection of bronze and ceramic bells and sculptures is designed by Paolo Soleri and embellished by skilled artisans in sympathy with his compositional standards.

Also available is a beautiful, hand carved, selection of tiles.

The spirit of the Cause Bell is depicted in the special links designed by Soleri. Each link represents an issue of either national or global concern. Individuals and organizaions can share the spirit of these ideas and give a helping hand by RINGING A BELL FOR A CAUSE.

For every bell purchased from the Cause Bell collection, the customer may choose to donate $16 of the retail price to one of the several benefiting organizations including the Cosanti Foundation.

This report continues from 10/14/09.
All the fun and exciting activities began right after the students and teachers unpacked and settled into their dorms. There was no time for dawdling! The afternoon was packed with outdoor activities from gardening and hiking to Geocaching. Here we see the children on the Archaeology Hike. The students enjoyed looking for petroglyphs on the rocks and trying to figure out what they mean. The hike also allowed students to learn about the Native American culture while exploring archeological sites and the unique vegetation, hydrology and high desert geology surrounding Arcosanti.

On the night of the same day, a group of astronomists called Stargazing For Everyone, LLC, came to Arcosanti and set up four large space telescopes for an Astronomy Workshop. The students viewed the night sky through their telescopes and binoculars and learned how to find and identify different planets, galaxies, bright stars and constellations, as well as the legends behind them and other interesting sky facts and fiction.

The students also enjoyed a silt-casting workshop organized with the help of Arcosanti's residents. For the silt sculptures, the students were divided into teams to decide by consensus about what to carve. Some of the sculptures created in the end included an owl and a wedding cake.

All the students and teachers gathered around the Colly Soleri Music Amphitheater for a Panel Discussion with Paolo Soleri. The students were eager to learn and raised many questions about Paolo's childhood, ideas and buildings. After the meeting with Paolo, the students climbed up on top of the Vaults and wrote in their journals about what they learned at Arcosanti and from Paolo.

Students and their teachers from the Phoenix Country Day School had three days packed with fun, outdoor adventures and craft-workshops. Thank you PCDS student and teachers for visiting Arcosanti. We hope to see you all again next year!

A group of 50 students and their teachers arrived for a 3-day visit.
The students are fifth graders from Phoenix Country Day School and this is the third year that this school has brought their fifth grade students for a few days of true adventure to the Arcosanti site.

The action-packed schedule started with an introduction to Arcosanti by guest services manager Carri Krueger.

Activities will include an Archeology Hike, Geocoaching [learning GPS], Farm & Garden Tour, Astronomy, a Silt Workshop for Tiles & Totem carving, a Panel Discussion with Paolo Soleri, a Talent Show, Shadow Dancing and a Camp Fire Session.
Other activities are Volleyball, Recreation Room, Ping Pong, Journal Writing and Art Projects. We will continue this report on Friday, 10/16/09.

Finish work for the new Visitor's Center Entrance of Arcosanti continues.
Today's report shows the construction of handrails along the recently poured staircase (see reports from months of May and April, 2009).
Brent Scott, one of Arcosanti's metal-work crew-leaders , and Ron Chandler, Landscaping department coordinator, started the project by erecting the vertical posts for the handrail.
In the right-side photo, with a grinder in hand, Brent is cutting the post in order to adjust its height.

Here, you see Brent welding the pieces of round tube that form the handrail.

The work on Arcosanti's new Visitor's Entrance is nearly complete. We will continue with a report on the final touches of landscaping along the pathways.

The GREAT SPRING SALE of Paolo Soleri bells is happening all of this week, until March 29. 2009.
Take advantage of great prices on the famous SOLERI bells.

A selected special assembly is also on sale, this week only.
Also on sale is the famous Colly Soleri Music Center bell.

And selected "Cause" bells have been marked down for this annual sales event.
Take a drive out to visit us in this beautiful spring weather. Come and take an interesting tour through the Arcosanti site, have some yummy cookies in our bakery, or have a delicious buffet lunch from 12 noon to 1pm in our lively cafe.
Or join us on Wednesday afternoon at 3 pm for the weekly one-hour meeting, "School of Thought", with Paolo Soleri.