The little house is a replica of the artist’s parents’ hand-made home, which was built during China’s cultural revolution. The construction is based on the traditional northern Chinese adobe dwelling. The interior of the house is pasted with American newspaper articles about China. The construction adheres to the rural Chinese dwelling’s building techniques and its’ conventional usage of newspaper as wallpaper. The structure will erode in weather and go back to earth in about 20-30 years, the typical life span of a building of its type in China.

The Little House is the first project of the House Phase Installation Series.

For more information, please see my article in Ceramics Art and Perception.

Adobe bricks being made by pressing the mixture of clay, sand, and straw into a four brick mold of metal lined wood frame. (left)

Completion of the "Mountain Wall. (right)

photo by Ed Dadey

Salvaged lath from old barns is used to sheath the little house to provide a base for applying the grass thatching roofing.

photo by Ed Dadey

Native grasses are cut and bundled into approximately 2' square "Shingles" for thatching the roof. They are layered using a wet clay and lime mortar over the lath. This long strip is about to be raised for the ridge of the little house.

photo by Ed Dadey

The little house in moon light.

photo by Ed Dadey