by Samantha Scott
Daily Lobo
Well-executed public art enhances the beauty and reputation of an urban landscape. New Mexico and Albuquerque are particularly well-known for their public art projects, from large sculptures to painted walls. Murals comprise an important part of art created for the masses. Murals have a vivid and intense history. According to the City of Albuquerque Web site, "For centuries, murals have been an important public art forum to Native American and Hispanic cultures." In a city with a cultural heritage as rich as Albuquerque's, murals are everywhere, from the campus of UNM to Downtown building facades to historic neighborhoods. In addition to traditional influences, many new and innovative ideas are being expressed through this time-honored medium. No matter where you look you will find work that is beautiful, bright and sometimes challenging. In late July, renowned Mexican artist Raymundo Sesma worked alongside students of Working Classroom, an Albuquerque nonprofit organization, to create a striking black, white and yellow mural on three small buildings located in the parking lot of the Downtown Flying Star CafÇ. "Sponsoring the project of Raymundo Sesma was a big challenge, but thanks to Working Classroom, Albuquerque has contemporary art in the streets at the level of Mexico City, Rome, Milan, Basel or any major city in Europe or the U.S," said Francisco Guevara, visual arts director of Working Classroom. "We are taking firm steps to make of this city a destination for contemporary art." The buildings, co-owned by Infill Solutions Inc. and PNM, are being donated for use in the project, according to New Mexico Business Weekly. The buildings are to be transformed with murals and renovated into an art space. The main storage building, designed by John Gaw Meem, will be fitted with glass doors, allowing artwork to be on display 24 hours a day. Infill Solutions plans to convert the space into a gallery, which will be made available to the Albuquerque arts community for free, according to New Mexico Business Weekly.Murals painted by Kenneth Miller Adams in the older part of Zimmerman Library as part of a Work Projects Administration project in the 1930s, provide a glimpse into Albuquerque's past and tie in with Meem's use of the pueblo revival style, which was used in 25 buildings on the UNM campus. Meem used modern techniques to evoke the past and wrote that he was trying to "evoke a mood without attempting to produce an archaeological imitation." Miller's library murals use visual narrative to link the multicultural legacy of New Mexico's past to the accomplishments of the present and future.A grassroots online community called the Albuquerque Murals Project is documenting visual and geographic information about Albuquerque's vibrant mural scene. To check out the Albuquerque Murals Project, visit
AlbuquerqueMurals.com.
