Carrizozo, New Mexico 

This special topics workshop takes place at Pino Ranch, a historic Hispano homestead spanning over 4,000 acres in the Tularosa Basin and dating back to the late 1890s. Participants will engage directly with earthen building and finishing techniques while learning about the cultural, artistic, musical, architectural, and land-based histories of both the ranch and the surrounding town of Carrizozo, situating hands-on practice within a broader regional and community context.

Instructors: Joanna Keane Lopez and ranch owner, Paul Pino 

Date: Saturday and Sunday, April 25 & 26, 2026

Time: 10:00 AM–5:00 PM

Hands-on activities will include:

• Interior and exterior earthen plastering 

• Lime wash

• Adobe brick making (using borrowed molds and materials)

• Construction of a small adobe wall featuring a simple window opening

• Deinstallation of existing chicken wire

Alongside material practice, the workshop centers around the layered vernacular architecture of Pino Ranch. The site includes a historic jacal, the original ranch headquarters built in 1906, as well as an adobe house constructed in the 1950s. This jacal is a dwelling made of upright logs or wooden poles, infilled and finished with mud plaster. This building form will be a central focus of the workshop as participants work directly with mud plaster on a jacal structure, learning techniques rooted in Indigenous and Hispano building traditions of the region.

Participants will take part in a group field trip guided by Paul Pino, a lifelong resident of Carrizozo. The tour will emphasize local cultural history and adobe buildings throughout the town, expanding the context of the hands-on work. The tour will also include a one-hour visit with artist, Paula Wilson, who will lead a tour of her art studio (which is made of adobe) and offer an introduction to Carrizozo’s arts community.

On Saturday evening, participants are invited to gather for live folk music with Paul Pino and Joanna Keane Lopez, and perhaps some local riffraff at the nearby No Scum Allowed Saloon in the ghost town of White Oaks, voted one of the top 20 cowboy bars in the United States.

Delicious snacks and refreshments will be provided both days to students.

Camping is free on site at Pino Ranch or accommodations can be found in town.

Participation is limited to 12 participants.