Grandmatopia : Building a Creative Sanctuary
History, Vision and Outreach
In 1993 my grandmother Shirley, with four other grandmothers, built an earthen homestead community and desert wildlife preserve in Dragoon Arizona.
Their principal vision was to cultivate a wilderness preserve where people could live in relationship with the land, and in doing so, nurture their own creative spirit. Built on mutual aid and land stewardship practices, 'Grandmatopia' would become a sanctuary for many people over the years.
Since Shirley's passing, a beautiful community lives on here upholding her vision for this place : as sacred land, to live with and rekindle the natural union of the human spirit and the wild.
In order to build upon this model of wisdom, our community goal is to share this space and begin hosting artists and seekers of this calling to come be inspired, to create art and ultimately to help preserve this wild-land sanctuary.
As such, our community has identified several infrastructure needs that would enable us to accomplish this goal and to functionally open our doors to arts residency, land stewardship practitioners and more!
With incoming funding we plan to build two structures, both using 'hyper-adobe' and 'earthen-plaster' construction methods :
1. The first will be a multi-medium workshop, wherein the resident artist will have access to a wide array of tools, materials and space to create. This space will also be a hub for any future earthworks projects and serve as a neighborhood support shop for the larger community in our remote rural area to help in any local project needs.
2. The second will be a guest house/office with homestead living amenities where our guests can stay during their residency. Attached to this structure we plan to create a community gathering area with an exterior kitchen for hosting workshops and group events.
The entirety of the funds gathered here will go directly towards building these vital community spaces, in turn enabling us to keep our Grandmothers' vision alive and to continue defending the local wild-lands for years to come.
I would like to thank each of you in advance for any and all generosity of donations, no matter how small or large. We will be keeping this fundraiser on-going til the project is done, with the financial records of all our expenses transparent to contributing donors.
Love Grandmatopia