Graduate students in UNM Landscape Architecture Studio 3 presented “SITE AND NON-SITE: Visioning the Pat Hurley Neighborhood: A Gallery Installation + Interpretation of a Landscape,” at a gallery at 711 3rd St. SW. The course is taught by Adjunct Professor and Landscape Architect John Barney.
Photo: Nan Masland looked at Atrisco Plaza’s parking lot. Her piece, a table set with car parts, asphalt and oil, expresses the loss of agricultural land that the lot once was.
The intent of the installation was to convey an area or aspect of Pat Hurley neighborhood and the processes that shaped it over time, said student Kristina Guist. “The installations deal with larger issues of landscape architecture and contemporary art so that they become a mirror of the site as well as larger issues that we face as landscape architects and inhabitants of the landscape,” she said.
Barney said that the area was selected because of its interesting geography and history. “Pat Hurley, for whom the park is named, is the son of the famous Western artist Wilson Hurley,” he said. The students researched the area and discovered the remnants of agricultural patterns along the ditches and evidence that Atrisco Plaza was an actual plaza at one time.
Guist’s project depicts the lone cottonwood tree standing in Atrisco Plaza, the last remnant of the plaza’s days on the bosque and flood plain. “The tree is a vibrant point of the community,” she said.
Ning Cui’s hanging ropes adorned with cotton represent the bosque’s cottonwood trees while mirrored tiles represent and reflect river water. “Gravel depicts the transition between open and residential space,” Cui said.
Nan Masland looked at Atrisco Plaza’s parking lot. Her piece, a table set with car parts, asphalt and oil, expresses the loss of agricultural land that the lot once was. “We can’t eat car parts or drink motor oil. And we can’t have all our food trucked in from out of state,” she said.
Ruth Currey chose a degraded bridge adjacent to Old Town. “People live on site that others don’t see, and there is also water use not visible to passersby,” she said. Her display included images of people, as well as the sight, sound and smell of water.
Katya Yushmanova looked at the abandoned canal in the bosque. “It was poorly engineered. It still floods and has created an unintentional habitat, or wildlife corridor,” she said. Her design features an earthen wall embedded with seeds. An artificial irrigation system allows her creation to erode over time.
Anthony Fettes’ project explored the bosque at Central and Atrisco. Cottonwood trees are represented by logs, while the Russian Olive, Siberian Elm and other non-native species are represented by plastic tubes filled with water. “The natives drop their leaves while the exotics, with their longer growing season, take the water,” he explained.
Elaine Stevens looked at upper and lower Pat Hurley Park. Her project represented the escarpment and the windblown, sandy loam. She envisioned a terraced walkway with basalt and limestone tiles that allow water to soak in. “If the water is slowed, it can be brought down in canales, possibly lined in glass that come along the path, allowing walkers to celebrate the sight and sound of water,” she said.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu