River of Moonlight

River of Moonlight 2003

The moon on the corner of the building radiates its soft yet powerful light; this light becomes a flowing river filled with symbols of watery life. River of Moonlight is about a fluid, feminine creative energy. Its greens and blues play off of the Bringer of Light, which embodies a fiery, masculine creative spirit.

The symbols that surround the river of moonlight depict a frog symbolizing fertility, surrounded by a border of pollywogs. The black and white pattern of the frog melds together ancient Celtic and Mimbres designs. The spiral above the river symbolizes the constellation of the Pleiades; it is an important constellation that is involved with agricultural cycles for many cultures in the Americas. The small square tiles that outline this image invoke the mosaic traditions of ancient Rome. Moving further down the wall one can see a turtle. The shell pattern on the turtle’s back contains images of different animals and insects, symbolically representing the earth as “Turtle Island.”

Lead Apprentices

Tess Houle, Angelica Lucero, Jesse Williamson

Lead Artists

Cassandra Reid, Lia Lynn Rosen

Funded by

Youth Conservation Corps, City of Albuquerque