Opening: Carole Crews: Earth, Mica and Paper

Alongside Joanna Keane Lopez’s solo exhibition Tierra, Lumbre y Leña in the main gallery, The Valley is thrilled to present a selection of works by Taos legend and one of Joanna’s mentors, Carole Crews.

Carole Crews (b. 1950, Taos, NM) is a multi-disciplinary artist who primarily works with earth, mica, and handmade paper. She was born and raised in Taos, New Mexico in a creative family. She attended the University of Texas at Austin, earning a BFA in studio art in 1972. Shortly after graduating, she returned to New Mexico and immersed herself in learning to work with earthen building, mud plaster, and alíz (a clay slip paint). Beginning in 1992, Crews built an off-grid adobe dome 16 feet in diameter and roughly 550 square fee, complete with passive solar heating, mica accents, and unique glass window designs. It is renowned both architecturally and acoustically. Crews is a prolific educator, and has taught earth building techniques to a generation of Natural Builders through workshops, colloquia and her book, Clay Culture: Plasters, Paints and Preservation.

Her exhibition at The Valley, Earth, Mica and Paper includes a series bas-relief sculptures and works on handmade paper made in the early 1990s.