Vasquez Rocks Rammed Earth Workshop

Part materials workshop – Part art project – Part community time capsule

Join us for a FREE WORKSHOP on August 18-19 from 9AM-5PM. This unique opportunity is a rare moment to get your hands dirty and participate in the creation of an original work of art. The program is designed for ANYONE (artist, architect, designer, community member) interested in learning the ancient sustainable craft of rammed earth.

The workshop series invites the public to make a giant rammed earth time capsule and work on the construction of a new public art sculpture for the new Interpretive Center at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park (10700 West Escondido Canyon Road, Agua Dulce, CA 91390). The series is free to the public; no experience is necessary. To register please contact Jenna Didier at jenna@emanate.org or 323-913-0915.

The series is led by Didier Hess (Jenna Didier and Oliver Hess), creators of the sculpture, and rammed earth expert Andreas Hessing of Scrubjay Studios. who will offer hands-on teaching of this ancient sustainable building technology in which earth is combined with a small amount of concrete. Participants will learn what applications are appropriate for rammed earth, how to test soil to see if it is feasible for use in construction, how to amend soil, build forms and tamp soil into load-bearing walls and benches in the production of a permanent public artwork.

Weekend Workshops: August 18-19, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. both days at Vasquez Rocks Interpretive Center construction site, Agua Dulce, CA: full-scale construction of rammed earth project, participants can bring objects of their own to place in the rammed earth / time capsule.

Bag lunch Noontime lectures by experts, August 18-19, 12:00 p.m., on local pre-history, ancient rock art and geology. The public is welcome to attend these, bring a bag lunch, see the progress of the sculpture as it is being constructed on-site and bring an artifact to drop into the rammed earth time-capsule!

BRING: sunhats, water, sunblock, notebook, close-toed shoes and artifacts to add to the rammed earth time capsule

The sculpture, designed by artist team Didier Hess (Jenna Didier and Oliver Hess) and commissioned by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission’s Civic Art Program, reflects, on a small scale, the geological forces that shaped the monumental formations of Vasquez Rocks. Encased within the earthen sculpture will be a bronze sculpture that will gradually be revealed over time as the softer rammed earth erodes away.

“We hope through our work to not only shift the scale of the geological forces to a more comprehensible size for visitors,” say Didier and Hess, ”but also to show that just beneath, or even on the surface of our surroundings, there are traces of people who were here before us.”

Under the Civic Art Program, one percent of construction costs of all Los Angeles County capital projects over $500,000 are set aside for the incorporation of civic art. Since its inception in 2004, The Los Angeles County Arts Commission Civic Art Program has implemented scores of projects for a variety of County facilities and manages the growing number of artworks that are included in the County’s collection. Rebecca Ansert, Founder of Green Public Art Consultancy, is the project manager for the Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park Interpretive Center artwork. For more information about the Civic Art Program: http://www.lacountyarts.org/civicart.htm.