MetroABQ Blog

The Friends of Mountain Road Woodcut Prints

You know how you plan to do just one thing, but then other cool things get in the way? Downtown Albuquerque can be like that; it's easy to find yourself exploring places that weren't part of the plan. On my way into Downtown to pass by an almost 100-year-old adobe home designed by Anna Gotshall, a local 1920's architect, I became distracted.

Driving up & down Mountain Road recently, you can't help but notice the white printed banners hanging from stylized posts along both sides of the street. One of the banners mentioned the FriendsOfMountainRoad.com site, which explained that the banners were part of a woodcut print exhibition. Parking around the Harwood Arts Center is a good place to start a woodcut art tour. From there, the seven-block Mountain Road art installation extends a few blocks east of the Harwood, & then west as far as 12th St. The 13 images, created by local artists, feature detailed woodcut prints turned into banners, that are repeated along the length of the exhibition. Organized by artist Julianna Kirwin, she is helping to bring a sense of momentum to the Mountain Road corridor.

The pieces catch your eyes as you walk by, examples below. I love woodcuts because there's a lot going on--from a block of wood, the artist carves out the negative (white) space, then pulling it through an ink press allows the dark areas to become apparent & helps form the image on a piece of paper (or banner, in this case). It's intimately hand-created from beginning to end...Walking the entire route on both sides of Mountain Road, the images provide a sense of the corridor from way back when; newer additions like coffee shops & residential infill add to the continuing vibrancy of the area.

The image two above is "Eduvijen Baca Romero," by Micaela Seidel; directly above is "Singing Cowboy" by Cheryl Thorpe.

Below is "Trolley Car" by Leo Romero & "Petrol Station" by Vicki Bolen.

Then "The Ride," "Martin Vigil -- A Boy and His Chicken," & "History of the Neighborhood" I & II.

Next is "Emma," "Drawing of Luis Moya," Candelaria Garcia," "Acequia Madre" & "1108 Granite"