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Neighborhood Murals are a Labor of Love
Painting the world, one wall at a time
By Sequoia Rudolph
Residents of one Nob Hill-area neighborhood are doing their part to add an artistic flair to Constitution Avenue.
“The traffic on this street can be ferocious,” Cathy Drake said. “Hopefully, people will slow down and take in the beauty along their way.”
Drake, the current president of the McDuffie-Twin Parks neighborhood association, had a vision to create whimsical and colorful murals to replace the splotches of brown and grey paint the city used to cover up graffiti tags on a long cinder block wall that separates the neighborhood from Constitution. She had been involved with student murals completed at both Zia Elementary and Jefferson Middle School, so she had the experience to get the ball rolling.
The process began with canvassing the area to garner participation from residents. The McDuffie-Twin Parks Neighborhood Association board endorsed the plan two years ago.
The next step was to solicit proposals from artists, following the theme of images of Albuquerque or New Mexico. The board approves all artistic submissions; however, the resident wall owner has the final call.
Three initial murals got the project off the ground: The Neighbors by Andy Young, The Rider by Kelsey Rust and The Sandias by Isaac Butleigh and Kiran Bhaail.
In addition to lots of roadrunners and native plants, the Sandia Mountains, represented by two gigantic watermelon slices, made the cut.
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