“PROJECT + PEOPLE” Exhibit by Sue Ann Pemberton

Sue Ann Pemberton, senior lecturer in the UTSA College of Architecture, will present an exhibit of photographs documenting the Norogachi Field School, a design/build summer studio located in a remote village in the Sierra Tarahumara of Northern Mexico. The exhibit, curated by Edward Hayes Jr., will begin with a reception Friday, March 20, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., at the UTSA Downtown Art Gallery, located in the Durango Building. The exhibit will continue until April 20, with viewing hours Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pemberton planted the seeds in 2004 that would become the Field School while working on another project in Northern Mexico. Rather than being simply a social service project, the Field School is a truly cross-cultural experience. Working and living side by side with Tarahumara residents, UTSA students experience a wide variety of local building methods. They dig, make traditional adobe with their feet and compacted adobe one block at a time, and learn to lay block. Students also learn how to select green lumber from the local sawmill for vigas and collect pine needles from the forest for the adobe. Additionally, cultural exchange happens as students learn to make sandals from tires and teach local residents how to sink tuna cans in the dirt to teach new friends to play the game of washers. Pemberton’s exhibit showcases the people of the region, as well as the architecture and the unique experience of cultures meeting and learning about one another. Call (210) 458-4983 for more information.