Issue 30 Volume 19 – The CNM Chronicle

Cheap meals on wheels; New food truck class brings fresh food to campus

February 4, 2014 cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By Jonathan Baca, Copy Editor | Photo by Jonathan Baca

Some Culinary Arts students are getting out of the classroom and into the new food truck, serving up fresh homemade soups and sandwiches to Main Campus students and beyond.

The Street Food Institute Food Truck is the product of a new partnership that provides students with credits toward their degrees, along with some real world experience in the challenges of running a restaurant on wheels.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, the food truck will be parked on Main campus, in the parking lot just south of Smith Brasher Hall, and students are already enjoying the new dining option.

All CNM students receive a 25 percent discount, and just have to show their student ID’s.

Computer Informations Technology major, James Brice said “The Cubano sandwich is great; I’ve already had it twice. It’s just nice to have another thing to eat besides the cafeteria food.”

David Sellers, who is an Executive Chef and Program Director for the Street Food Institute, a part of the Simon Charitable Foundation, said his goal is to train young chefs to be future entrepreneurs and small business owners, also to have students help boost the local economy.

“I wanted it to be really simple. Great quality food but in simple sandwich form using really good ingredients, and we’ve had great reviews so far,” Sellers said.

The food truck itself is the hands-on portion of a new Culinary Arts class, Mobile Food Operations, where students learn the basics of running a food truck, including the creation of a menu, food costs, preparation and service, as well as setting up and tearing down the truck, Sellers said.

The new class is a pilot course being offered for three semesters, with the ultimate goal of creating a three-term food truck certification program, Sellers said.

Culinary Arts major, Jake Morgan said he was excited to be one of the first eight students to take the new course.

“I was really interested in it because I want to run a food truck. You don’t have as much overhead or costs at the beginning. I mean you are only paying for a truck, not a brick and mortar building,” Morgan said.

Morgan said that he would enjoy creating a unique concept for the truck, because one of the greatest advantages of having a food truck is the ease that one can change the menu and style of the cuisine, due to the low overhead and versatility of a mobile restaurant.

Another advantage that working in a food truck offers over a traditional kitchen job in a restaurant is the personal, face-to-face interactions that they get to have with their customers, Morgan said.

“You get to relate with people immediately. You can usually tell right away if someone is disappointed with what they got or not,” Morgan said.

The initial menu was designed by Sellers, and includes turkey, barbeque pork, grilled cheese and Cuban sandwiches, as well as several soups and side dishes, which are all made from scratch, and with a student discount makes these dishes a steal, Sellers said.

“It is already reasonably priced, so a 25 percent discount is quite cheap actually, especially for the quality,” Sellers said.

Sellers said he strives to use as many local ingredients as possible, including produce from Green Tractor and Romero Farms, and that he is working on creating a long-term partnership with Agricultura, a local student-run farming project.

Culinary Arts major, Sara Green does not work in the truck, but takes the partner class, where she helps prep food for the day.

Green said she thinks the thing that makes the food truck a better alternative for students is the fresher, homemade ingredients that students get to serve there.

“I think the truck is a good option for students to go to. I know for most students, they don’t like to necessarily eat the other food that is offered on campus, and at the truck we make most of the stuff basically from scratch,” Green said.

Much of the menu is handmade and fresh, including the salads, the sandwich spreads, lemonade, and their unique spiced parsnip potato chips, she said.

The food truck students even make their own pickles and spice, and roast the turkey that they use on sandwiches, which all contributes to a more flavorful, enjoyable eating experience, she said.

“I think it’s the food that makes it. Once people try it and like the food, they are going to come back,” Green said.

Culinary Arts major, Erik Newlander who has worked as a sushi chef, said he signed up for the class because he has dreams of someday starting a food truck that sells sushi.

Newlander said that the team has gotten a lot of positive feedback, and that the truck has had a very solid opening with few problems.

“The menu is going pretty good, people really seem to like everything on there,” Newlander said.

While the first menu concept was created by Sellers, he said that once the class is out of the pilot phase, the plan is for students to help create an entire concept from the ground up, creating a menu, sourcing and buying ingredients, and managing the operation of the truck themselves.

“That’s when you throw the ball into their court and see what they can come up with. It’s a great sort of multi-faceted program,” Sellers said.

Sellers said he is excited about the future potential for the Street Food Institute, as food trucks are becoming more popular in Albuquerque.

“I think right now we’re kind of hitting it at the perfect timing. The scene is just really starting here, so it’s a great opportunity for people to start something,” he said.

School mourns loss of instructor

January 28, 2014 cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By Nick Stern, Managing Editor | Photo courtesy of Erica Volkers

Full-time Education Faculty member, Joanne Zakrzewski, passed away on January 10 from a sudden brain aneurysm at the age of 42.
Zakrzewski is survived by her three children, and husband, who the Chronicle sends our sincere condolences.
Zakrzewski was born Oct. 27, 1971 in Manilla, Philippines and came to America in 1986.
Zakrzewski was a faculty member in the School of Communication, Humanities, and Social Sciences since September 2004, according to the CNM Media and Communications office.
Colleagues and friends of Zakrzewski were invited to visit the family home Wednesday, Jan. 15, Friday, Jan. 17 to pay their respects and to remember a fallen associate.
A student poster on rate my professor said about Zakrzewski, “I am so sad to inform all of you that Joanne passed away of a brain aneurysm. I was in her Educational Psychology class. She was a fantastic teacher, easy listener, and allowed everyone’s opinions to be heard. I am so sorry for this tragedy and I hope she is remembered in light.”
Full-time Instructor, Andrea Olguin said Zakrzewski’s time with CNM allowed her to touch many people’s lives in many different ways, and these people are all better off for knowing her.
“She was an incredible friend and will be greatly missed by everyone, honestly I am better for knowing her and I am just honored to have called her a friend,” Olguin said.
She did not just have an effect on students and colleagues, but rather everyone she ever came into contact with was affected by her great personality, she said.
Dean of CHSS, Erica Volkers said Zakrzewski was extremely passionate about education and has changed and inspired many of her students in many different ways, but always for the better.
“Many of the students would say that Joanne had an impact on their lives whether it was because she helped them navigate the challenges of work and home with school, engaged them in the joy of learning, or went the extra mile to support their success in class,” Volkers said.
Zakrzewski initially taught in the childhood program and later began teaching in the alternative teacher licensure program, she said.
Zakrzewski had a pivotal role in developing essential programs and was an incredible teacher who was supportive and loved working with the diverse students at CNM, she said.
“I would say her legacy to CNM was the social work program in which we now have over 500 students pursuing this degree/career pathway. I think her greatest gift to CNM was her role in the classroom as a teacher. I know she touched the lives of many students at CNM. Her evaluations were always filled with comments about how wonderful she was as an instructor,” she said.
Volkers said that Zakrzewski had six younger siblings who she was very close to and she was also regarded as the “mother hen” because she kept the family close and connected, also pushing her siblings to pursue their own educations.
Volkers also said that Zakrzewski always gathered her immediate family of her husband and three children aged 3, twelve, and nineteen around the kitchen table at least a couple times a week, she said.
She was a very approachable and warm person who was very easy to talk to, she said.
“Joanne had an incredible smile that lit up her face and commanded joy and warmth to those she interacted with,” Volkers said.
Before working for CNM Zakrzewski was a student in Olguin’s class, and said that she had created a pivotal moment in the development of Olguin as a teacher, she said.
Zakrzewski was at the forefront of a small group of students who went up to Olguin and questioned her teaching methods, and explained how to improve those methods in a way that would benefit the students she taught, she said.
“It was at that moment that I truly changed my whole teaching philosophy and implemented a lot more projects and hands-on activities, and learning in the classroom. She was one of the bravest and most courageous people. She did not hesitate to question something and to change things that were clearly not working,” Olguin said.
Olguin said that she is battling cancer and believes that Zakrzewski’s passing is also the last lesson she passed along to others, she said.
After Zakrzewski’s life being cut so short like that, Olguin realized that she had no right to be angry or upset about her own situation because nothing in life is ever guaranteed, especially not life itself, she said.
Olguin said she also realized that tomorrow is never a guarantee for anyone, and Zakrzewski left her with the knowledge of just how precious life can really be in the whole scheme of things.
“I was devastated when I heard the news and I realized I have no right to complain about my situation. I have today and tomorrow is never guaranteed and I think that last lesson she gave me has really struck a very personal chord,” she said.
Olguin said Zakrzewski’s passing was very sudden and unexpected by everyone, and that she will be missed immensely.

Old bookstore transformed into student services center

January 28, 2014 cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By Jonathan Baca, Copy Editor | Photos by Jonathan Baca

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The old book store on Main Campus has been transformed into a lush, comfortable and more accessible area for students to access a wide range of services, said Executive Director of CNM Connect, Ann Lyn Hall said.

The new space was revealed on Monday, January 21, and combines the offices of CNM Connect, Student Activities, SAGE’s Adult Basic Education and the CNM Call Center into one open and inviting location, with the goal of making it easier for students to access all the services they need, Hall said.

“I think people are really excited about the new space. It really gives us an opportunity to collaborate and expand, and provide additional services for students,” Hall said.

Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management, Eugene Padilla said the transformation has been in the works ever since the new book store was being built, and it is part of the larger initiative to expand the role and mission of CNM Connect.

“When the new book store was built, this really gave us the opportunity to renovate this area and make it CNM Connect. It is a great opportunity to bring together a lot of the support services,” Padilla said.

When students first enter, they walk into a large area where the CNM Connect offices are, with access to Achievement Coaches, a comfortable area filled with couches and chairs, and eventually, a computer lab with 29 computers, printers and a copy and fax machine, he said.

Achievement Coach Chioma Heim said achievement coaches can help students with a variety of issues, including life skills and financial literacy, scholarships, and access to resources in and out of the classroom.

“I think it is going to allow more students to come in here and be able to just have a place where they can feel comfortable, where they feel like this is their space. They can use the computers, or just talk to someone who actually cares about their success all around, not just with education, but with life success as well,” Heim said.

Padilla said students can also be screened for benefits like SNAP food stamps, housing benefits, and child care help.

Director of Adult Basic Education, Carol Culver said SAGE’s new Adult Basic Education office is around the corner, where GED and English second language students can get help with registration, Achievement Coaches, and help when they want to make the transition to college level courses.

Culver said the new space is a big upgrade from their old office in Ken Chappy Hall, not only because of the bigger space and closer proximity to the other service offices, but because it makes it easier on their students.

“The main thing that’s important about this move for us is that our students who are ESL and GED students are now entering the campus in the same building that all the other students are. They don’t have to be told to go to this other place, and then they get lost. We’re thrilled about that,” Culver said.

The new Student Activities office is in the back of the new space, where students can go to get their IDs and bus passes, and the new Call Center also has a new, high-tech office in the space, Padilla said

Another major benefit for staff and students is the greater ease that all the offices will have collaborating with each other, now that they are all under the same roof, Hall said.

“I always think that when people are closer to one another, it’s easier for them to collaborate, but even more than that, I think it’s easier for students, and that’s what it’s about. How do we make things flow in a way that makes sense for students?” Hall said.

Culver said that the collaborating has already begun, and now what used to be hard to coordinate, through phone calls and emails from across the campus, can be done simply by walking down the hall.

Students should also be able to save time because they can get everything done in the same place, and can use the new computer lab instead of having to walk all the way to the SRC, Hall said.

The other major goal of the space is to be an area where students feel welcome to just hang out, sit down and relax, Padilla said.

“One of the things we know about student success is that students look for gathering spaces, places where they can kind of sit back, relax, read a book or even do homework, and this provides them with that,” Padilla said.

Couches will be complete with outlets for laptops, and there will even be a collaborative learning area where students can get together to do work on group projects, Hall said.

By creating an inviting space where students feel comfortable, Padilla said he hopes more students will be encouraged to take advantage of CNM Connect, and all the services that have been gathered under the same roof.

“Part of the CNM Connect initiative is to provide integrative support services, and provide a welcoming and nurturing environment in which students feel comfortable when they come to school,” Padilla said.

Recycle This Newspaper

January 28, 2014 cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By the Chronicle Editorial Board

It is so great to see CNM taking the initiative to get students educated in recycling, and helping students take these habits with them to maybe start recycling in their own homes.

New recycle bins will be placed throughout CNM campuses that do not require separation of recyclable items.

Recycling helps keep disposal costs down while preserving natural resources and protecting the air, soil, and groundwater. Much of the more than 1,800 tons of trash generated by the city each day can be recycled, and just think how much CNM can contribute to making Albuquerque a top recycling city.

If materials are reused or recycled instead of being disposed of at landfills, less energy will be used, such as the production of an aluminum can from recycled metal uses 95 percent less energy than a can produced from raw aluminum.

Also, recyclables are now finally being collected with curbside service receptacles throughout the city, so if you have not gotten a recyclables container in your home, you can always call Waste Management at 761- 8100 and request a recyclables container.

Using the 3 R’s of reducing, reusing and recycling at home, in school or at work can greatly help to change our great city for the better, and will show that Albuquerque residents have come along from the days of illegal Westside dumping sites.

Mountain of trash meant to teach the value of recycling

January 28, 2014 cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By Dan Chavez, Staff Reporter

CNM students, staff, and faculty have organized an event called Mount Trashmore to demonstrate how much recyclable materials are being sent to landfills every day and to generate awareness of the importance of recycling.

The event will take place on Feb. 26 in one of the main campus parking lots yet to be determined, in which Waste Management, a CNM branch that handles recycling and trash collection will collect one day’s worth of trash from Main Campus and pile it all in one massive trash mound.

Luis Campos, Executive Director of the Physical Plant, said service learning students and faculty will then sort through the heap in protective clothing, separating recyclables from waste, to demonstrate the amount of recyclables that end up going to a landfill instead of recycling plants.

“What we’re not doing very well is getting the student engaged in the idea of recycling, so we’re trying to figure out how do we do that, and that’s exactly what Mount Trashmore is.” Campos said.

Students looking for more information, or have any suggestions to improve campus recycling should email Luis Campos at lcampos@cnm.edu, or Director of Maintenance Anthony Rael at arael9@cnm.edu.

Campos said that improving CNM recycling and sustainability may be a daunting task, but it is also a very exciting undertaking and that the school looks forward to succeeding in this challenge.

E n g l i s h I n s t r u c t o r, Carson Bennett said CNM currently recycles about 42 percent of the trash that is thrown in campus dumpsters, so there is a lot of work to be done in order to significantly raise that number.

“If we were a zero-waste campus, that would be wonderful,” Bennett said.

Mount Trashmore is an event that is part of RecycleMania, a two month competition against colleges from around the country, according to CNM Media and Communications office.

Each week, the amount of recycled material will be weighed by Waste and then reported to RecycleMania officials.

Campos said that custodians and other staff are being trained to identify recyclable waste and place it into the appropriate dumpsters so that Waste Management will recycle these materials, but there is more work to be done with getting CNM students involved.

Campos said that during the RecycleMania competition, Waste Management will be placing temporary recycling bins around campus so that they can get a better idea if they should install more recycling bins and where they should be placed.

These bins are meant for all recyclable items and Waste Management will sort them appropriately, and will also rely on student input to determine where extra bins should be located, he said.

“Having a different perspective from students a n d faculty is going to help us to be really good at what we do,” Campos said.

Sharon Gordon- Moffett, Director of Service Learning, said that volunteers would work with Service Learning students, who will be participating in events like Mount Trashmore for some hands-on learning and class credit.

“My side is making it an educational opportunity, making it a Service Learning component directly connected to course content,” she said.

A goal of the event is to incorporate RecycleMania and Mount Trashmore as an academic component and having instructors offer this event as a service learning opportunity in which students gain real-world experience and apply their lessons to this event, recycling in the community and to the other Service Learning or community activities they work on in the future, she said.

Gordon-Moffett said that Service Learning is comprised of four components in which students learn academically, serve in the community, reflect on what they accomplished, and become engaged in their communities.

Service Learning students are given opportunities to earn credit hours working with several approved non-profits outside of CNM, but the Recyclemania event presents the first time t h e y can get their hours on campus, she said.

RecycleMania is only one of the many events that Service Learning students are involved in, she said.

Gordon-Moffett said she would emphasize the fact that events like Mount Trashmore and the larger Recyclemania competition work to form significant partnerships between facilities, Service Learning, and faculty.

Psychology Instructor, Asa Stone said Mount Trashmore is one of many RecycleMania events being held for a nationwide competition against other schools and institutions, and is also a demonstration of how far CNM has come with recycling and how far the school has to go.

“We want to make recycling a normative behavior,” she said.

Stone said that she would like to see Mount Trashmore organized in a way that students and community members can volunteer and participate in the event in order to make it as inclusive as possible.

It is a great way to establish a coherent identity as a member of the CNM community, as well as a member of the larger community, and to be responsible to the surrounding areas, Stone said.

Bennett said he had been involved in an annual Mount Trashmore Earth Day event while he was a faculty member at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and he suggested holding a similar event at CNM.

Bennett said he is gathering logistical information from past events held at UCCS, such as security and safety, and using it toward the event at CNM.

“Student involvement is key; students need to be the ones sorting through this stuff because it’s much more relevant to the student population, and because there are so many more students here than anyone else,” Bennett said.

Bennett said that if they can get a fraction of the CNM student population to participate, that would go a long way to getting the college on track to sustainability.

He is hoping to recruit a couple dozen people from Westside to come to Main Campus and participate in Mount Trashmore, Bennett said.

Campos said he uses the analogy of seat belt use to think about how recycling can be ingrained in social culture and everyday behavior.

There was a time when people did not wear seat belts, and when it became a law, some people resisted, but now it is almost automatic to buckle up, he said.

“Recycling should be that seat belt, and we’re not there yet, but we will get there,” he said.

Remodeled building receives sustainability award

January 28, 2014 cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By Jonathan Baca, Copy Editor | Photo provided by http://www.cpexecutive.com

Sustainability has become the new standard for CNM’s building and renovation projects, and those goals were achieved and even surpassed in the renovations to the school’s Advanced Technology Center, which just received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold Certification, said Executive Director of the Physical Plant Luis Campos.

The certification, which is given out by the U.S. Green Building Council, was awarded based on a checklist of efficiency and sustainability standards, and the renovation scored even higher than the team thought it would, Campos said.

“We signed the President’s climate commitment in 2008, and in that we made the commitment that CNM would reduce its carbon footprint. And as part of that goal, we have to build more efficient buildings, and that’s why we are going after these certifications to really demonstrate our commitment to sustainability,” Campos said.

As part of this larger commitment, every new building or renovation will be planned out using the same checklist, which includes lower water and power consumption, less dangerous waste, and recycled building materials, Campos said.

The project cost $4.5 million, but Campos said that the green initiatives did not cost much extra to implement, and will actually save the school money in the long run.

“It doesn’t really cost us any more to do this. What it really means is that we have to prioritize things a little differently, but the end results are that you build a more efficient building. So over the long haul, we end up saving money,” Campos said.

Using low-flow toilets, motion sensing faucets, drought tolerant landscaping and smart irrigation should help the building use 38 percent less water than a traditional building, and over 85 percent of construction waste materials were able to be recycled or re-purposed, which totaled over 1000 tons of material that would normally be sent to landfills, he said.

Most of the new equipment is Energy Star qualified, and many efforts were implemented to save power, by using efficient light bulbs, timers, and large windows to take advantage of natural lighting, he said.

The building also has a two-year contract to get much of its electricity from renewable energy sources, he said.

These and other efforts are already saving the school money, through rebates from PNM and the New Mexico Gas Company for using efficient equipment, he said.

The Advanced Technology Center, which used to be a Motorola factory, originally opened in 2011, and the new space is home to classrooms and labs for many trade programs, including Aviation Maintenance, Construction, as well as Film Studio and Editing classes.

There are more plans to make every building on every campus as sustainable as possible, including adding solar panels to the roofs of four buildings, Campos said.

The panels will be installed at Rio Rancho and West Side campuses, at the Workforce Training Center, and Ken Chappy Hall at Main campus, he said.

Estimates are that in nine years, the panels will pay for themselves, and then begin generating free electricity for these buildings, he said.

Campos and his team are still gathering and calculating data on the larger savings of all of the other efficiency additions, he said.

Campos said that all of these efforts are part of a bigger plan for the school that puts sustainability in the forefront.

“When you talk about sustainability, you don’t really just talk about buildings and recycling. You need to talk about sustainability in the big, general picture of how you educate students on those practices,” Campos said.

Campos is working with other faculty and staff to implement new curriculum to many classes that will include educating students on the importance of sustainability at school and in their everyday lives.

Campos said he hopes to help create a culture at CNM where everything done, from the classroom to the buildings to students’ daily lives, has sustainability at its core, where the principles of sustainable living have become a natural, automatic part of the way the school does business.

“Students have the greatest ability to make change in this world. When you think about community colleges and universities, with all the student populations that we have, we really have the ability to make a great impact on society. And what better way to do that than teaching a sustainable approach,” Campos said.

Campos said that the biggest challenge in creating this culture is increasing the awareness of sustainability issues among students, and he feels that the collaboration with instructors will help to teach students these values, and get them engaged and involved in making it happen.

“Students are our future workforce, so by educating them now you actually have the opportunity to change the world. They are going to own the planet at some point, so why not teach them now?” Campos said.

Handyman brings classroom knowledge to his business

January 28, 2014 cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By Dan Chavez, Staff Reporter | Photo courtesy of facebook.com

Construction management major, John Whitney emigrated from Ireland, has lived in various places within the United States, and now oversees a handyman and home improvement business while completing his degree at CNM, he said.

Whitney said he owns and operates “Mr. Fix It Irish Handyman, LLC,” a business where he does nearly any type of job, from adding a deck to a home or complete restoration of a kitchen, to roof repair and even landscaping.

“There’s not much we don’t do,” he said.

Whitney said he works 80 hours a week at his business while attending classes at CNM and working toward a degree in construction management, so that he can be a more efficient and productive manager at his business.

Whitney began his business after enrolling at CNM, when a few neighbors admired some improvements he did on his own home, he said.

Whitney said CNM courses in English, math, estimating, project management, scheduling, and business law have helped him to become better at his business.

Whitney said he has enjoyed nearly all classes he has attended and the instructors he worked with at CNM have been very good teachers who not only gave him knowledge, but also inspired him in many subjects.

“I can’t think of a class I didn’t like,” he said.

He will be graduating in May, but he intends to take further courses occasionally to stay up to date for his business, he said.

“I’ll probably keep chipping away at something, even if it’s online,” he said.

While he immensely enjoys construction and working with his hands, Whitney finds himself spending more time working with the management side of his business, he said.

Whitney said these neighbors asked him if he would complete some home improvement projects on their houses and he accepted.

“I just had some basic tools, and I kind of just went from there. I enjoyed it, meeting people,” Whitney said.

Whitney said he met a website designer and they made a deal in which Whitney completed a few projects and his friend built the website mrfixitirishhandyman.com, which has been the company’s main marketing tool.

“He’s worked wonders for me and he’s a good friend of mine too. Really, if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have much of a business,” he said.

He said he understands that he must manage the operations side of his business now, and leave all the labor to his employees for now at least, in which he has anywhere from two to four temporary employees depending on the amount of work available.

“I take on students and the most I have ever had working for me was five or six guys,” he said.

Whitney’s hometown is located in Leitrim, Ireland’s least populated county, where there is much open land and relatively low crime rates, he said.

“It was a great place to grow up, no major crime,” he said.

Whitney helped construct a three-mile long tunnel under Dublin City, Ireland’s longest traffic tunnel, he said.

When Whitney was 17-years-old, his uncle, who was a roofer in Massachusetts, invited Whitney to come to America and work for him, so he made his way to the East Coast, he said.

Whitney then decided on a move to California and lived and worked there for five years, but he began to long for a more rural environment, he said.

In 2009 he decided on a drive to New Mexico, and as he entered the state, one thing he noticed was that people would wave as he drove by, which he had seldom seen since leaving his hometown, he said.

He worked for several months on a large ranch, roping animals, riding horses, and helping with cattle drives, which was an absolutely amazing experience, he said.

Whitney said he met his now wife and because she worked as a teacher in Rio Rancho, he moved to the area and he took this opportunity to attend CNM.

“If it weren’t for that, for her, I would probably still be out there looking at cows,” he said.

Whitney has also dabbled as an estimator for a paving company and spent two to three months as an extra during the filming of “The Lone Ranger” in a town that was built specifically for the movie, he said.

Whitney said that establishing his company was something of a lucky accident, and now he is determined to take this opportunity that he has made for himself as far as possible.

Whitney said he hopes that he can expand his business to the point where he could hire managers and others to run the operations side of the business, which would allow him the freedom to do what he loves, which is to get back to the job site and work with his hands while overseeing his company.

Neon sunset Class shines light on Duke City history

January 28, 2014 cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By Nick Stern, Managing Editor | Photo by Nick Stern

Not only has the city of Albuquerque commissioned Art Instructor, Larry Bob Phillips and his 1125 Art Practices class to create an original mural to capture the history of Albuquerque displayed right in the heart of Downtown, the class’s mural will also be featured in the “Heart of the City” art exhibit starting in February, Phillips said.

The Heart of the City exhibition’s opening reception will take place Feb. 1 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and will be located at 516 Central Ave. at 516 ARTS.

This show will feature lead artists, student apprentices, public art projects and public programs focused on envisioning the future of Downtown Albuquerque, and partnered with thirteen Albuquerque organizations to examine the strengths, weaknesses and needs of the city’s urban core for this exhibition, according to 516arts.org.

For the project, the class decided to tackle a depiction of the Route 66 era “neon sunset,” which is near Century 14 Downtown, at the corner of First Street and Central Avenue, he said.

“For our location at First and Central we felt like it made a lot of sense to recognize and address this history of the neon sunset, western landscape, American Dream, car culture from the 50’s through the end of the century,” Phillips said.

The mural is called “Signs of the Times” and is a set of imagery that was developed to pertain to the legacy of signage in Albuquerque, he said.

Students picked out different signs from all around town that they thought were interesting and told some kind of story about Albuquerque, Phillips said.

Following that step they were tasked with creating a black and white line drawing of those signs which Local Designer, Jesse Philips collaborated with the class to come up with a dynamic composition, in which all of the signs were conformed into a collaged landscape of Albuquerque’s most famous signage, Phillips said.

Signs are from well-known Albuquerque hot spots such as the Dog House, Octopus Car Wash, as well as many old hotel signs sprawled throughout Central Avenue.

Phillips said he was very interested in the art of sign and mural painting but he knew that lettering by hand involved techniques that were not normally taught by fine arts instructors, he said.

“There is a whole craft there that is almost like secret knowledge and is learned as a trade by professionals, and it is not really what is in the purview of fine art instructors,” Phillips said.

When the class was commissioned by the city of Albuquerque to paint the mural, Phillips decided that quality instructions on how to do proper lettering was the greatest and most important thing that funds could go to, he said.

He got in touch with a sign instructor named Curtis Mott, who proved to be an invaluable asset to towards the project, Phillips said.

Mott taught them things that they never knew and they had quality instructions in areas that they did not even know existed, Phillips said.

As teaching goes, Phillips said doing the mural was an incredible opportunity and even though there was a lot of responsibility as far as the quality expectations went, there was no strict structure set around how they would get it done, Phillips said.

“As far as teaching, it was a dream come true because we had an expanded timeline. There was a lot of responsibility in terms of the quality of the final product, but there was no rigid structure around how we would get there,” Phillips said.

Studio Arts Major and IT 1010 Instructor, Karina Guzzi said that she helped with the painting of the mural, and painted many of the different aspects seen in the mural such as some of the letter outlining, she said.

Guzzi said she had lots of fun working with her class on the project and is incredibly proud of the fine work that she got to be a part of in this project.

“It was a blast. It is really cool to drive or walk by and see that there is something that is public and visible that I helped create and that I was a part of,” Guzzi said.

Guzzi believes she was very privileged to be a part of Phillip’s Art Practices class and has gotten more out of it than she could have hoped for including the mural and an art exhibit that the class is preparing for, she said.