Habitable Spaces

Poncili Puppets and Jawbone puppet Theater present:

Alison Ward — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:40:34 +0000

DINOSAUR SAINTS & HUMBLE ROBOTS: a magic puppet bus tour

Habitable spaces recently had the pleasure of hosting two amazing puppet troupes from Puerto Rico and Brooklyn, NY. While they were here they worked on their traveling show, and gave us a fabulous performance one sunny afternoon.

The gang takes a bow after the show.

Here is more information about their work:
Jawbone Puppet Theater is a father and son act from Brooklyn, NY, by way of Taiwan. Poncili Company is a collective of four young experimental puppeteers from Puerto Rico. We have joined forces to embark on a project which is part puppet tour, part cultural exchange, and part life/art/theater/education experiment, and we would love to do some shows and workshops in your neighborhood.DINOSAUR SAINTS & HUMBLE ROBOTS: a magic puppet bus tour.

Kate Sopko and Angela Beallor

Alison Ward — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 22:44:26 +0000

This month we welcome artists Kate Sopko and Angela Beallor to Habitable Spaces. They have created Dragon Fort using a wooden spool top, bricks, wire, red flint rocks, huisache, mesquite, various thorny vines. Dragon Fort is created in a landscape that bites back, so it’s got some teeth. The piece is based on a playsite Angela carved out of a large thorn bush as a child. We make no guarantees of one’s physical safety in the structure, but feel certain there is an uncommon psychic protection that comes from standing within something fearful. Fallen trees have been shaped around the perimeter and a dome-shaped structure has been created out of branches and thorny vines in the center. We were sad to see Kate return to her native Clevland, Ohio, but Angela is staying on until the end of the month to complete another structure out of sewn tents, camouflage, and wood that will become a habitable space.

Thanks

Alison Ward — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 19:52:43 +0000

Thank you to everyone who came out to enjoy the wonderful Fall weather with us at our Harvest Party and Thanksgiving. It was wonderful to see so many dogs, kids and kind folks enjoying themselves at Habitable Spaces. . ≈

Jesper Aabille at Habitable Spaces!

Alison Ward — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 13:56:22 +0000

This month we welcome resident artist Jesper Aabille to Habitable Spaces. He will be doing several performances in Austin and San Antonio, as well as building us a marvelous sculptural space that incorporates a smoker and a mesquite chopping area. Aabille works in a variety of artistic strategies: urban interventions, sculptures, drawings, and text-oriented pieces. The common thread is the focus on social life, whether it is creating solutions to mundane problems by making bridges to avoid stepping in a water pit or cooking a fried egg on self-destructive wooden kitchen sculptures. The borderline between reality and fiction often take on the form of the absurd to the point where this line becomes unstable. A central concern of Aabille is a specific and insistent interpretation of the world, which, because of it’s limited and defined scope, will never be adequate in a complex modern reality. Thereby failure is an imminent symptom of the work right from the beginning, but it only shows its grim face when Aabille has exhausted other opportunities.

Sad farewells, and a new chicken fence!

Alison Ward — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 20:40:52 +0000

We said goodbye to Julien and Laura, our wonderful French couple who stayed with us for two weeks. During their time with us they built an amazing fence around the chicken coop. Welcome to the Chicken Ranch!!

New Cabin

Alison Ward — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 02:44:51 +0000

Our volunteer Justin Garrett designed a cabin for our Wwoofers. (http://www.wwoofusa.org/)
Today we raised the walls for the structure. We are putting the lofted bed in and roof on it tomorrow

Say hello to the new chicks!

Alison Ward — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 23:36:50 +0000

We just got six baby laying hens and two baby guinea hens. The guineas will help us in the garden – evidently they will pick bugs right off the plants without touching the plant, they also eat ticks and fleas. We have one little white guinea (called a keep when they are babies), and one with traditional brown patterns. Our little chickens are 6 different kinds: Araucana, Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Barred Rock, Partridge Plymouth Rock, and a Buff Rock.

Six chicks and two keeps.

Laura Napier

Alison Ward — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 16:13:23 +0000

We would like to thank the lovely Laura Napier, a New York City based artist who spent two weeks with us recently. During her time here she helped us build an outdoor shower with grow walls that have grass and ferns springing from them. We also had the pleasure of enjoying Laura’s culinary skills on a daily basis as she tried out new recipes that she brought back with her from a recent artist residency in India. To check out some of the projects that Laura worked on during her stay, click here. To look at more of Laura’s work on her website at http://lauranapier.com/

Feature in San Antonio Current

Alison Ward — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:29:19 +0000

We were really pleased to be interviewed by Scott Andrews from SA Current and his article has now appeared online (print also). Check it out:

SA Current – Habitable Spaces’ new artist residency program goes deep woods outside Kingsbury

Also, we have posted some new photographs of our pickle crop to flickr which you can see here.

Last, please welcome Habitable Spaces newest recruit!

Hello Lilly!

Kickstarter Success – Thank You All!

Alison Ward — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:58:53 +0000

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who made our kickstarter campaign a success!
Your generous contributions will help us build a sustainable future and learning platform for generations to come.

More pictures on flickr!