APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM

History & Process

In 2016 Harwood launched the Youth Mural Project at Hayes Middle School, near Mesa Verde Park. Harwood staff served on the school’s Community School Council where we began relationships with community members and learned more about Mesa Verde. We made a 6 year commitment to the Eastern border of the park with the goal of greening the park, increasing lighting during student commute hours, and making the area more inviting for neighbors. Our artworks are created with materials like steel, cement, ceramic sculpture and tile, lighting, and local flora. Our team incorporates community drawings, poems, and stories into these living monuments to the people and ecosystems of Mesa Verde Park.

Our team is proud to be allied with a coalition dedicated to improving quality of life in the ID including the International District Healthy Communities Coalition (IDHCC), the Hayes Middle School Community, Mesa Verde Community Center, CABQ Parks and Recreation and other leaders. Our program would not be possible without our funding partners, CABQ 1% for Public Art and the New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps.

(A) PORTAL

Design began 2022, fabrication began 2023

Portal is a sculptural arch designed to mark the transitions, losses, gains, and healing we pursue in community. Our interdependence, to both each other and our ecosystems, is examined through the symbols of the Yucca and Yucca Moth, and the Agave and the Mexican Long-Tongued Bat, which are examples of regional symbiotic relationships.

Portal es un arco escultórico diseñado para marcar las transiciones, pérdidas, ganancias y sanación que buscamos en la comunidad. Nuestra interdependencia, tanto entre nosotros y nuestros ecosistemas, se examina a través de los símbolos de la yuca y la polilla de la yuca, y el agave y el murciélago mexicano de lengua larga, que son ejemplos de relaciones simbióticas regionales.

(B) CAMBIO

Design began 2019, Fabrication & Installation Began 2020

Cambio is a meditation on change, featuring a mosaic bench inspired by the Sandia Mountains. A sculpted steel trellis frames the bench with growing honeysuckle designed to provide respite from the sun. Cambio honors insect pollinators with its trellis “wings,” and the cocoon-like environment created within the sculpture.

Cambio es una meditación sobre el cambio, que presenta un banco de mosaico inspirado por las montañas Sandia. Un enrejado de acero esculpido enmarca el banco con madreselva en crecimiento diseñada para brindar un respiro del sol. Cambio rinde homenaje a los insectos polinizadores con sus “alas” enrejadas y el ambiente similar a un capullo creado dentro de la escultura.

(D) TERRA

Design began 2021, fabrication began 2022

Terra is a garden and mosaic paver pathway that invites park visitors to imagine a shared future Earth in which life, health, and interconnection are possible. While flora is included and referenced in each of our sculptures, it is the focus of Terra. In our passive rainwater garden, each basin represents a function and symbolism of the plants it houses; Protection, Prairie, Prayer, and Pollinator. The paver pathway contains mosaics of real and imagined plants, with poetic responses to the prompt: How will the future change our relationship with the land?  

Terra es un camino de jardín y adoquines de mosaico que invita a los visitantes del parque a imaginar una Tierra futura compartida en la que la vida, la salud y la interconexión son posibles. Si bien la flora está incluida y se hace referencia a ella en cada una de nuestras esculturas, es el foco de Terra. En nuestro jardín pasivo de agua de lluvia, cada cuenca representa una función y simbolismo de las plantas que alberga; Protección, Pradera, Oración y Polinizador. El camino de adoquines contiene mosaicos de plantas reales e imaginarias, con respuestas poéticas al tema: ¿Cómo cambiará el futuro nuestra relación con la tierra?

Artists