The Canelo Project is a small non-profit organization Bill and Athena Steen founded in 1989 and whose work centers on the theme – Connecting People, Culture and Nature.
The tiny town of Canelo, in southeastern Arizona, is home to The Canelo Project and the center of many of our activities . They rebuilt the old adobe ranch house and complex of buildings to function as a place where people of different backgrounds and cultures could come together to share in an ongoing exploration of living, building, the arts, music and regional foods.
The Steen’s have developed it as a center for learning, research, demonstration and cross-cultural gatherings. Their ongoing annual activities revolve around workshops, tours, intern programs and writing. The focal point of their work is handcrafting simple, small-scale and comfortable shelter that is built primarily with local and natural materials. In that pursuit, we have evolved a unique straw bale and clay wall system that is finished with beautiful clay and lime plasters – instead of paint – sculptural wall carvings, earthen floors and clay ovens.
The Canelo Project has inspired many to get their hands in the earth and to use that same earth upon which we stand to create the dwellings in which we live and gather. Learning to build your own dwelling from natural materials and designing the interior with the vision of your own creativity brings humanity and what makes each of us unique back into the places we live. In a world developing so rapidly and unsustainably these building practices and the sanctuary of the Canelo Project provide a place of respite for the global citizen looking for a new way to build our future world.