June 2022 Newsletter

June 15, 2022

Artisan Spotlight: Angela Piro, Dome House Exhibition Opening, and Father's Day Gift Ideas

Crafting world-famous bronze and ceramic windbells and artisan decor in support of The Cosanti Foundation and other worthy causes since 1955.

June 16, 2022 Volume 27

Angela Piro

Ceramicist and Artisan at Cosanti Originals

Originally from Massachusetts, Angela Piro is a mixed media artist that likes working with thick paint and dried paint, currently living and working at Arcosanti’s Cosanti Originals ceramic department. Angela has been a resident of Arcosanti in the camp portion of the property for two years. During that time, she has volunteered in numerous departments, taught ceramics workshops, and sold her art to help support herself. She also runs the resident art show in the gallery and helped organize a resident art market at Arcosanti. It will return and be at Cosanti in the future.

Ceramics at Arcosanti is a very immersive way to do ceramics. The artisans work with the weather, rain or shine, inside the apse. Angela works with all the elements in their practice - earth to cast the bells in and form the clay, water to mix into the clay, air to dry the clay, and fire to fire the clay. Her work is heavily influenced by her time there.

“It is a humbling process that makes me feel connected to the earth by being aware of it at all times. One of my favorite memories of ceramics is having worked down by the river. We did our usual silt casting process, but we did it in the wild using all foraged materials from Arcosanti. We found silt and made molds with rocks. We found wild clay and mixed it with water from the river to make slip. And we poured the slip into the rock molds to make fully organic bells.

She loves working at Arcosanti because it is a community of people who care about art, the environment, and arcology. She feels like she’s a part of something more prominent and that her work has a purpose.

You can find Angela’s art here: angelartbb.com

Photo credit: Marianne Brown (2), Angela Piro (3)

The Architecture of Possibility I: Dome House

Burton Barr Central Library

“The Architecture of Possibility I: Dome House” exhibit opened last week on June 9th outside the Arizona Room at Burton Barr Central Library in Phoenix. The exhibition is curated by The Cosanti Foundation’s Assistant Curator, Noémie Despland-Lichtert. It explores the history and current state of the Dome House (commissioned by Leonora Woods in 1949) in Cave Creek, AZ, in relation to the origins and evolution of The Cosanti Foundation’s theory of arcology.

The exhibition introduces viewers to the notion of early sustainability and energy conservation, desert masonry, and the architectural and artistic uses of found objects. The exhibition describes the Dome House design, questions the geothermal properties of the construction method, brings in perspectives of its current and past inhabitants, and presents archival materials from the Cosanti Foundation Archives at Arcosanti and the Mark Mills Papers at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The exhibition is open from June 9th to September 5th, 2022.

Burton Barr Central Library

1221 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85004

Click here for more information.

Father’s Day Is Right Around the Corner

Father's Day is this Sunday, and if you're still looking for the perfect gift, Cosanti Originals has you covered. Our selection of unique and handcrafted items is sure to impress even the most difficult-to-shop-for dad. From bronze windbells to ceramic pieces, we have something for everyone. So don't wait - browse our items today and find the perfect gift for the special man in your life.