2024

GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL EXHIBITION

NICOLE ORTIZ

NICOLE ORTIZ

(Santa Fe, New Mexico)

Her Name Was Rio

 encaustic medium, pigment, Pan Pastel, sand, 12 x 40 inches

Unavailable – donated to permanent collection

Artist Statement:

Her Name Was Rio serves as a poignant reflection on the fading splendor of one of our region’s most cherished natural gems: the Rio Grande River. Upon relocating to New Mexico in the mid-1990s, I was fortunate to reside beside the Rio Grande in the canyons just south of Taos. During those years, anxiety often gripped us as we witnessed the river threaten to breach its banks and inundate the valley. As time passed, the river’s wane became distressingly evident, its diminishing waters altering the landscape in disquieting ways.

Captured in a captivating five-panel mixed media encaustic piece, embellished with natural materials. This artwork portrays the expanding riverbank and the shrinking watercourse, represented by each panel being smaller than the preceding.  While she still bears the name Rio, the specter of continued global warming looms ominously. Should the current pace of environmental degradation persist as observed over the past three decades, the grandeur of this desert jewel may be irretrievably lost.


Her name remains Rio, dancing gracefully on the sand and through our collective efforts we shall preserve her essence for generations to come.

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