Blending art, memory, and traditional Adobe craft
November 19, 2025
Places of solace can be elusive or a chore to get to, but some Taos Lobos are making such a space easier to find.
UNM-Taos Alternative Construction class, in collaboration with grant funding from Red Willow Hospice, is creating a permanent sculptural installation at Taos Land Trust’s Río Fernando Park, adjacent to Fred Baca Park.
The UNM-Taos Construction Technology department frequently creates learning experiences through collaboration in community projects. This project came about after a UNM-Taos construction student attending an Adobe Floors class hosted at Veterans Off-Grid shared their enthusiasm with a family member who works at Red Willow Hospice. The seed was planted for the next collaboration. UNM-Taos’ ongoing partnership with Taos Land Trust made for a prime location for this public installation.
The project concept draws inspiration from “wind telephones,” which originated in Japan. While the designs can vary from extremely ornate to a simple telephone mounted on a tree in the woods, the purpose is to create a space featuring a disconnected telephone with which people can communicate with their departed loved ones and ancestors, sending their thoughts on the wind.
Our Southwest version of this concept begins with a Fibonacci or golden ratio spiral to draw participants in. The spiral shape is also an ascending Adobe brick wall culminating at a central twisting cedar post, creating an antenna to the heavens. A vintage telephone will be mounted on the post. An additional community collaborator recently came aboard; local wood artist Michael Salazar carved the top of the cedar post into an angel.
The project contains alternative and natural building methods, including a rubble-trench foundation, dry-stacked stone stem wall, and Adobe bricks and mortar, which were also made by the class. There is potential for exterior natural plaster demonstrations.
“We’re feeling quite proud of the results thus far,” said Construction Technology Instructor Justin Dudley. “ůůֱ²¥ are very enthused about the project concept and progress, with many students interested in working on it outside of class time.”
With winter weather just around the corner, however, it looks like laying more adobe bricks will have to wait. Having to stop construction means leaving the wall lower than the planned finished height. ůůֱ²¥ will tidy up the site for now. Work on the physical project will pause until spring, though some finish details may be honed and prepped before then. “We anticipate total completion by the end of the spring semester,” Dudley said.
Mark Goldman, UNM-Taos Construction Technology instructor/lecturer, added, “This is a true community space built by community members, in a local community Land Trust, with local natural materials.”
