I had the opportunity to go to California for 4 days on a school trip. We flew into LAX and went and stayed with Scott Nelson who is a good friend of ACBA. Scott owns his own company, Naturalwalls. Scott deals with all natural plasters and clays.
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| Just look at that view! This is in Pasadena where we stayed with Scott Nelson and his family. |
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| From there we went to The gamble house for a quick visit. Th house was built in 1908. this house was built by Charles and Henry Greene in Pasadena. It shows a rest deal of craftsmanship in all of the trades! |
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| We then stopped at Pasadena City Hall. I loved how intricate and decorative this building is. It was very unique and beautiful! |
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| On our way to the conference, we stopped at the Getty Villa. This museum was absolutely amazing! There was so much detail on the building itself and also in the artifacts what were found. It was interesting seeing how they incorporated the artifacts into the villa. |
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| My favorite part of the Getty Villa was the porch ceiling. I loved the contrast of the gold and light blue. There were many different patterns of the gold flowers. The ceiling seemed to flow very well. It brought the porch together and made it complete. |
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| And finally! We got to the conference! I didn't get nearly enough pictures at the conference but it was mostly meeting people, eating, drinking and lectures on various topics relating to straw bale building. I learned so much about natural buildings and especially straw bale building! I met many people from so many different backgrounds. Some were builders, some were architects, some were just interested in building their own homes, some were looking for a new career and Jackie and I were the only students. Throughout the two days, I went to many lectures Professor Webb gave some great lectures on plaster and building materials. Among those i went to some relating to natural building materials, how to fix straw bale built problems , how to improve foundations, and many many more. I see straw bale building in my future. Economically, it makes so much sense. There are so many great benefits from it that I don't see why more people don't use this technique. |
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| On our way back to pasadena, We stopped here! What a beautiful sight! |
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| We stopped to see Steve Shriver a good friend of Patrick Webb and ACBA. Steve showed us all of his latest projects and told us about his history and how he became an artists. I loved meeting Steve and seeing all of his work! Looking at it truly makes a thought come into mind. All of his paintings have a message and just by looking at a single painting it brings out so much emotion. |
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| Here, Steve is showing the ideal proportions of a face. The human face is divided into 4 equal horizontal parts and 5 vertical parts. |
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After meeting with Steve, we visited with another friend, Teale Hatheway. Teals paints abstract architectural portraits. Teale worked on a very large project this spring. She designed and painted 53 Tee pees for Coachella.
Although this looks like a painting, it is a real picture. This is showing her 53 Tee Pees with the mountain range in the background. I loved meeting Teale! She has such a free spirit and her paintings reflect that! She has no limits but also she knows how to keep it in control and appealing to the eye.
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| We ended the trip with a perfect Venice Beach sunset. watching the surfers and the sun go down at the same time was magical! It truly makes you feel apart of something greater than life! I had a great time in California and i learned to much! I met many people who hopefully will be in my future! I have to much to learn and so many people that are willing to teach me. |
