Albuquerque

Flowers & Abstract By Nancy E. Polo

Print based on an original watercolor painting by Nancy Polo. How do you map a place you have only heard of, but have never seen? Each year I lose my way as an artist. Painting Albuquerque as a new year exercise seemed an appropriate way to start the year after being away from painting for far too long. I'd like to visit Albuquerque. The first time I heard the word was when Bugs Bunny popped out of his rabbit hole on his way to somewhere else. It always seemed unfair that some place should be famous to me because a cartoon got there by accident. Even as a child, I sensed this injustice. If you look at a map of Albuquerque, it's in the middle of two cross hairs (State Routes 40 and 25) across a land mass that is 121,697 square miles, if you agree with the map. It is said that Old Albuquerque dates to 1706 when Sir Francisco Cuervo y Valdés showed up. I prefer to think that the Zia deserve credit. The Zia Sun Sign is a symbol originated with the Indians of Zia, an ancient Pueblo (Indian village) 35 miles northwest of Albuquerque. The symbol has sacred meaning to the Zia. Four is a sacred number which symbolizes the Circle of Life: four winds, four seasons, four directions, and four sacred obligations. There appear to be four different ways to go from the center of Albuquerque. In this painting, there is a shell that grows and vibrates like a beating heart in the center of what Albuquerque looks like in my imagination. I hope it's as pretty as I imagine when I go there some day.