Introduction to Clay Based Building Materials
DATE: 7/18/2009
TIME: 1:00-3:00 PM
SPEAKER: Anna Wolfson, Wolfson Earthen Finishes
LOCATION: Chicago Center for Green Technology, 445 N. Sacramento Blvd.

These beautiful images are from various walls and benches created by Wolfson Earthen artisans and installed at Allyu Spa, Chicago.

The Allyu Spa is located in the old Montgomery Ward Building and opens onto the Chicago River Walk.  Allyu Spa is dedicated to providing clients a healthy and healing environment. The meditation room is made up of four massive adobe benches in the shape of the Chicana, a sacred symbol to the owner of this space, with a rich Peruvian cultural significance.  Inlays of straw were worked into the benches in the repeated form of the Chicana.  Each treatment room has our signature Burlapp© application, lovingly hand frayed.  The main rooms, hallways, and entrances are covered in our natually pigmented mica plasters.

Explore the Allyu Spa photo gallery by selecting any of the following images to see them enlarged.  The photographs were taken by the fabulous local photography master, John Faier; please find more of his works at www.johnfaier.com.

Learn how to build a cob bread or pizza oven

using clay, sand and straw.

Saturday - August 22, 2009 (Rain Date, August 23),

1-4:30 pm

Location: Nisse Farm, Manteno, Illinois

This is a hands and feet-on workshop so be ready to get down and dirty. The foundation will be in place and ready to begin work on the oven structure.

Topics covered:

• Foundation
• Sand Form
• Clay Plasters
• Thermal Cob Layer
• Insulative Cob Layer
• Roof Types

Cost is $45 for the afternoon and includes a brief tour and talk about constructing  Nisse Farm’s Straw Bale building in the picture to the right.

If you are planning to attend please register online, send us an email, or
call Julie at 708-828-4325.
–Thank You —

We favor clay based materials because unprocessed clay breathes.  Raw clay contributes to a healthy indoor atmosphere.  Raw clay has outstanding vapor-diffusion capacities, absorbs odors, does not collect static and dander, has an extremely low embodied energy, and is locally available in abundance.

Warm in winter and cool in summer, clay based plasters also provide acoustic insulation, sculptural dynamism, and the potential of mixed-media walls.

Textures and depths created with clay plasters offer an unsually warm elegance that transform spaces into unique places.  We are enamored with clay’s unsurpassed simple sophistication.

Her reverence for nature combined with her need for artistic expression led her to explore innovative ways of integrating organic elements to create a harmonious environment.  Anna collaborates with unprocessed natural materials in the creation of vibrant artwork and architectural elements.  She utilizes natural fibers, clays, aggregates, pigments and dyes to create warmth, beauty and a healthy atmosphere.

As one of a few Natural builders in the Chicago area, Wolfson teaches seminars on Natural Building, holds monthly Natural Building Meetups, hosts workshops, and contributes her skills as a contractor and artist on residential and commercial projects.

Wolfson also builds wood-fired earthen bread ovens, all natural garden architecture, and straw bale/ adobe playhouses, gazebos, and auxiliary buildings for private and public use.

]]> http://wolfsonearth.com/2009/01/anna-wolfson/feed/ http://wolfsonearth.com/2009/01/dream-a-workshop/ http://wolfsonearth.com/2009/01/dream-a-workshop/#comments Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:46:48 +0000 anna http://wolfsonearth.com/?p=480

What do you want to learn?  Where?  When?  Alongside whom?  Your family, co-workers, friends, students, neighbors?  Let’s talk.  We would love to further your experiences in Natural Art and Construction.

Would you like to get your girlfriends together and sit in a vat of clay?  Would you like to build a house?  Just a bird house?  Hows about a back yard meditation or yoga sanctuary?  Gazebo with seats heated from the cob oven sculpted into graceful forms… no dream is too outlandish, small, or large for us to entertain.  Please, get your drawing book out, pour a glass of wine or tea, and get thinking!  Then call!

If your are planning a Natural Building project of your own, and would like W.E. Artisans to lead a workshop for any portion of it, we would love to help.  Straw baling, cob mixing, finishing interior or exterior coats on your walls, are all examples of workshops we can lead.  We can lead the design charette with your family, organization, or friends at the onset of your project as well.

Please Contact Us with your idea and your visions of a workshop, and the dialogue shall begin.

If you’re interested in attending a public workshop of ours to gain more experience in Natural Building, please sign up for our RSS Feed on the Contact Us page.

Earth Bag building is an amazingly sturdy system with which we can create beautiful garden architecture like walls, gazebos, benches, flower beds, and small studios.

Members of The Moon Tree Lodge built this straw bale hermitage with the help of many hands… It is located in northwestern Indiana on the idyllic and truly beautiful property of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ Ministry Center.

Spearheaded by Sister Mary Baird’s vision of an earthen hermitage where one can retreat into true silence and connect fully with nature, the proud members of the Moon Tree Lodge framed, strawbaled, and cobbed this rustic haven of solace.  To learn more about the Moon Tree Lodge group, please explore their website www.moontreecommunity.org.

The thatch roof was installed by William Cahill, one of America’s most skilled accomplished Irish thatchers. To see more of his work, please visit his website.

Wolfson Earthen artisans shaped and finished the interior walls and installed the earthen floor.

The Earthen Floor is gently warmed with radiant heat.

Our absolutely unique wall fabric which we carefully and lovingly hand piece and apply across the entire 90 foot length of wall without a seam speaks to our individuated creativity and attention to detail.  This heavily textured wall covering has proven to be a versatile backdrop for design items.

These unique items are part of Michael Del Piero’s carefully curated collection,

available in her boutique.

To explore more of Michael Del Piero’s work, please visit her website.