Natural Plaster and Alíz Workshop with Carole Crews

October 24th - 27th 2025

This October celebrated natural builder and artist Carole Crews will be teaching a 4 day workshop on the art of natural mud and lime plaster, wild pigments, clay paints, and alíz - a traditional clay slip paint used on the interior of adobe walls. We are honored to have the opportunity to learn this ancient and essential skill from Carole and look forward to welcoming her to SCA this Fall where we will work together to apply these techniques to the interior of our new library. 

“As a child growing up in Ranchos de Taos in the 50’s, Carole Crews lived in an old adobe house and became familiar with earthen building at a young age. After earning an art degree from UT Austin in 1972, she returned to New Mexico and began building and experimenting with earthen materials used as art supplies to make murals and movable panels. Later, she and Lori Lawyer collaborated to develop new aliz formulas and started the business, “Gourmet Adobe”, through which Carole made her living for many years. After building an off-grid adobe dome, she taught these techniques to a generation of Natural Builders through workshops, colloquia and her book, Clay Culture: Plasters, Paints and Preservation.”

At the School of Constructive Arts we combine hands-on education with detailed instruction to empower people to build resilient homes and communities that are healthy for people and the environment. Our goal is to offer robust classroom education in parallel to hands-on experience in a range of construction methodologies. In addition to the expertise shared by Carole, we may informally cover compressed earth block construction and other regenerative design topics. Take your education off-line and off-grid.  Learn the ancient art and cutting edge science of building with the earth. 

What's Included?

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be provided for the duration of the workshop. There are other food options available at the Terlingua Ranch Lodge and in the Terlingua Ghost Town. We will fire up our earthen oven for a wood-fired pizza dinner celebration on the last day of the workshop, Tuesday October 27th. A detailed daily schedule will be posted soon.

Our mission is to provide high-quality education at an affordable price. The workshop price covers our direct costs. If you are able, please consider an additional donation to support our future programs and allow us to provide scholarships for individuals who would otherwise not be able to attend.

Who should attend?

Anyone interested in learning the ancient art of plastering and painting with all natural materials, and building in a healthier, more humane, and more efficient way. All skill levels are welcome. We recommended participants be 18+ or 12+ if accompanied by an adult. The course is well suited to seasoned builders, beginners, students, professionals, homeowners, and aspiring homeowners alike.

Limit of 15 participants.

Location and Transportation

School of Constructive Arts Main Campus
1316 Snake Road
Alpine, TX 79830

The School of Constructive Arts is based in the Big Bend Region of West Texas, in an International Biosphere Reserve, between Big Bend National and State Parks, and within the largest dark sky reserve in the world. This remote location requires some planning to get to. Our campus is just off the Terlingua Ranch Road, 60 miles south of Alpine. The closest airports are in Midland/Odessa (3.5 hours by car) and El Paso (4.5 hours). There is an Amtrak station in Alpine, TX. It is not necessary to have a vehicle through the duration of the workshop, but we cannot guarantee carpooling can be coordinated. If you are willing to ride share from the airport or a major city, please let us know. We will do our best to arrange pick-ups in Alpine and Marfa for arrival and departure. 

Accommodations

We have reserved a number of cabins for workshop participants at the Terlingua Ranch Lodge (13 miles from SCA). Rooms each have two queen-size beds and a private bath. Please specify if you would like to book a room to yourself or share a room with another attendee.  Campsites with hookups are also available. There is a restaurant (Bad Rabbit Cafe), laundry, showers, and a swimming pool (seasonal) at the Terlingua Ranch Lodge. Cabins are limited and first come first serve, so availability is not guaranteed.

You are also welcome to camp at our campus. We provide camping in shared large canvas bell tents with wood stoves, cots, and camping pads (please bring your own sleeping bag / blanket). We have a private composting outhouse and a shower facility on our campus. Camping arrangements include the use of our shared outdoor shower facility, which have hot water and ample privacy. We can also accomodate those who would like to camp independently with their own tent and camping gear, or in a car or camper van. Generators and RV’s over 20’ are not permitted on our campus. Please contact us with any questions about our facilities.

If you would like to arrange lodging beyond the program dates or have other specific requests please reach out to us. Because we cannot anticipate the number of participants who will require accommodations, rooms are available on a first come first serve basis. We recommend reserving your place as soon as possible. 

About Us

The School of Constructive Arts is a field-school teaching design, building, and ecology through direct participation and experimentation. Our approach combines ancestral knowledge of natural materials and energy with advancing technology and contemporary building techniques to advance sustainable models of living for our time. Through our ‘build through teaching, and teach through building’ approach we are establishing our campus in the Big Bend. The workshops, residences, and land here allow us to support hands-on educational programs, individual research, experimentation, and innovation.

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