Carole Crews - Maven of Plaster

In a feat of personal achievement that has, thus far, not been made by anyone else we have met in this state... today... we recognize Taos' Carole Crews as one of our BEST OF NEW MEXICO architectural, and even cultural, assets.

Here's why:

In mid-August, I was in Taos for fieldwork on an extensive project documenting a bunch of old buildings in Taos County's historic villages. It was nearing the end of the first fieldwork session, and after 8 days of 9-11 hour days of constant driving, photographing, and taking notes on over 150 buildings... I was burned out.

My friend, writer and educator Maggie Macnab of Santa Fe, had turned me on to this plaster artist named Carole Crews, who's work she said I would love. She told me about Carole's workshop that weekend, and I'd emailed ahead and asked permission to come see what Carole was up to, in case I might want to blog about it. She'd graciously agreed, and it was time.

I drug myself out of bed on Sunday morning and grumpily threw on some completely inappropriate (but clean, which was more than the rest of my bag would offer) clothes, and headed out for the long drive (ok 25 minutes felt like a long way that morning) to Carole's place in Tres Piedras to meet her and a gaggle of students who'd come from near and far to learn earth stucco techniques from what I would find out would be the master of the medium in the southwest.

I was interested in the attendees - all women - who ranged in age from teens to retirees, and their interesting stories. There were modern hippies living in communities, National Park Service employees, artists and everything in between. ALL were interesting, and had a very simple, natural beauty that shone through the glistening sweat that cooled them as they worked in the strong Taos sun.

The workshop wasn't like any I'd participated in before. It seemed more like equal parts art workshop, sister circle, and even idea-sounding board than "just" a plaster workshop. It was, for lack of a better way of putting... a small, temporary community of artistic seekers on a mission to learn earth stucco techniques. That really struck me.

They'd come to create, and create they had. From earth stuccos to lime plasters, from architectural necessities to ornamental decorations, to their own plaster wall hangings... it was like creativity and connection to earth was all that mattered here. It seemed like time ceased to matter for the most part. Excellent food and water were in abundance. I sat back and watched, most of the time, only daring to put my fingers in the earth plaster mud once. It was all I had.

And it was enough.

Even being there for just a half day was incredible - the women lime-plastered a fire-heated hot tub, repaired countless beautiful architectural adornments, replastered parts of entire walls, even building in entirely new plaster shelves... and all while they took breaks to read books, chat with their peers, paint on their wall hangings, and just embrace the beauty around them. I reflected on all the workshops that I'd previously attended in that vein, and was relieved that all the the "push, hurry, go!" of those wasn't present here.

When prodded, Carole talked about her new book, Clay Culture, and all she'd learned along the way. One brave gal even asked Carole what she would have changed about the design of the house they were working on if she'd known then what she knew now... and Carole, unflinching, answered, "I would have put deeper eaves on it to protect the walls. And that dome... was impossible to get the right mix for... (and admitted putting on a non-earth roof, after years of trying not to.)" I totally appreciated Carole's humility and her sweet spirit... trying to help those she was teaching to do it better the first time.

After a few hours, I had to go. I didn't want to. But I left, filled with inspiration, and a bit more knowledge than I'd gleaned from the old golondrinas who'd taught me how to enjarre a couple years before. Now I knew WHY things needed to be done too. It was a great gift.

I cannot say enough about what a great day that workshop was for me. I highly encourage anyone who wants to learn more about natural plasters to take one of Carole's classes. They are in no way limited to women. It just happens to work out that way sometimes. Okay, maybe a lot of the time. But that's how things have always been in New Mexico - the women have traditionally been the ones to plaster and preserve the buildings. Carole's just making space for that to happen. And it is awesome.

I really cannot say much more here that the photos I took that day don't capture. Click on the photo below to go to our photo album at the Archinia website to check out the rest of the story!

 Carole's Book is available at Amazon. Click on this link and you'll go directly to it.