A New Horizon in Rio del Oro

This fall we have the pleasure of working with Fort Bragg, California, artist Scott Oliver in Rio del Oro.  The site is part of the largely undeveloped Rio Communities south east of Los Lunas, New Mexico. 

A New Horizon will consist of 7 large letters cast from local aggregate materials.  As Oliver states, it "... is a spot to rest and a vantage point from which to take in the surroundings even as it bifurcates one’s attention between near and far. Made out of the ground on which it rests, A New Horizon is literally part of the landscape—a patch of untamed desert given coherent (if enigmatic) form." 

With A New Horizon, Oliver is also referencing a division which has defined the empty, but parceled out acreage.  The Rio Communites were part of a dubious real estate venture in the 1960's where the area was divided up and sold employing the romance and lure of the American West.  The corporation, also named Horizon, created subdivisions that were and are all but impossible to build.  More information about the site and the Horizon will be provided in a later post.

Oliver's work will incorporate the physical and historical aspects of the site and as he states it is "...meant to be a pause—an interstice in the landscape and in time. It begs the question: what’s
next? But is unconcerned with the answer. The space it defines is the space between."

An event is planned on-site at the completion of the installation on October 19.  The event titled Desert Dumbballs & Llano Stories.  Oliver describes the event as "a hybrid of contemporary
Chautauqua and sculptural performance."  The event will include performances and presentations that exploring the project site and its surroundings.

Oliver has the honor of being listed as a part of the High Desert Test Sites 2013.  The program is a series of desert installations, events and performances that stretch from the Mojave Desert to Albuquerque from October 12 - 19.