This poster session focuses on a workshop and labyrinth supported by the TLS Special Project Fund. It describes and illustrates the making of the Adobe Labyrinth & Threshold at the historic Waterworks in Silver City for the Opening Ceremony of the 2013 CLAY Festival. The presenter will answer questions.
Abstract
The purpose of this poster session is twofold: to focus on a project supported by the TLS Special Project Fund, and to describe, illustrate, and answer questions about the making of the Adobe Labyrinth & Threshold.
A workshop was held to teach participants the history, design and uses of labyrinths and thresholds. Participants built a Labyrinth & Threshold in the yard of the historic Waterworks Building in Silver City for the Opening Ceremony of the 2013 CLAY Festival. The Labyrinth & Threshold were designed as a celebration of earth, water, and clay.
The classical Labyrinth was made of adobe bricks, and the Threshold was a low brick bridge over a River made of interlocking sections of glazed ceramic that splashed into the labyrinth in the form of water droplets, reinforcing the link between Labyrinth and Threshold.
Having learned how to draw a classic labyrinth on paper, participants laid out a skeleton labyrinth made of rope on previously prepared dirt. This enabled them to make adjustments with a light material, thus protecting their backs. Participants formed a fire bucket chain to pass and lay the TLS funded and locally made adobe bricks, and then placed the ceramic River on sand. Finally, water droplets and small clay flutes were placed on the bricks.
The Opening Ceremony of the CLAY Festival introduced labyrinths and thresholds to many people. Each person was given a cup of water to pour into the River as a libation as, led by a flute player, they crossed the Threshold into the Labyrinth.