Joe Bob Merritt

Joe Bob Merritt is a Visionary Artkitect, and Community Conspirator. He is currently focused on two lines of work, a cultural development concept called “The Architecture of Remembrance” and a visionary art workshop series called “Mixtek/Mystics” that he co-teaches with his partner, Amanda Sage.

Born in 1969, raised on the coastal plains and border lands of South Texas, he earned the degree of Bachelor of Environmental Design at Texas A&M University and the degree of Master of Architecture at The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-ARC). Shortly after completing his academic studies, he moved to Gunnison, Colorado and pursued work as a carpenter, and architectural designer. In 1998, he founded Sol Space & Light Inc., a design, planning, and construction office specializing in unique custom homes and mixed-use developments. He has designed over 100 built projects, including award winning custom homes, a master planned youth camp, and an astronomical observatory.

Joe Bob is a professional Re-Creation-All-ist and a practitioner of  Spirit-U-All-Material-All-ism, an Artkitect, and community conspirator functioning within an on-going life-design project called South Main Gunnison – a live/work habitat developed by Merritt on a revitalized industrial ground in Gunnison, CO. South Main Gunnison is a thriving ecosystem of businesses woven together through a network of direct and indirect collaborative, creative, and mutually beneficial relationships. Our vision is to be one of the most inspirational mixed use creative zones on the western slope of Colorado. The South Main Gunnison, Industrial Park For Good serves as a functional example of a Holonic Enterprise. It is a living template for small scale, live/work, mixed use, Real Estate and Oikonomic Development based on the idea of co-operative companionship and radical materialism.

Joe Bob is particularly interested in the intersection of the visual arts, mindfulness, and creativity. He believes that art making provides one with innumerable opportunities to develop sensory clarity, strengthen concentration skills, and cultivate powers of equanimity. He believes that the  efforts that we make in the cultivation of these skills contribute to the possibility of having direct experiences of freedom from mechanical conditioning and habitual re-actions, thus increasing the probability of intelligent, response-able, and creative activity in the midst of everyday life situations.