As part of the New Mexico Arts Division’s Artist in Residence program, I was invited to collaborate with architect Steve Borbas and the students and staff at the New Mexico School for the Deaf (NMSD) to design and create a sculptural fountain centrally located on the school campus. Riverwall  was planned as a main focus of a regional “ArtSign” conference.

The students at NMSD, many of whom were Native American, helped plan the shape and location of the fountain. It was decided that the design should be a cascading wall in the center of a grassy courtyard, in the shape of a Pueblo heartline motif. Once this was defined, I planned the tilework for both sides of the wall. We created a wave pattern emphasizing the rhythm, crest and flow of a river for one side. The other side carries the words from Meridel LeSueur’s poem“Make the Earth Bright, and Thanks”  stamped into wet clay tiles by the students.

At the dedication, hearing and no-hearing people from New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas brought water from special places all over the world – waters from such sources as the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi, the Ganges and the Amazon – to add to the fountain, celebrating unity among all people and places.

The current ongoing drought, due to climate change, required water to the fountain to be shut down. Riverwall  still stands as a significant and symbolic feature on campus.