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Frederico M. Vigil, Santa Madre Tierra y su Alma

On view in the Amphitheater

sculpture garden 2020

Frederico M. Vigil
born 1946 Santa Fe, New Mexico; lives Albuquerque, New Mexico
Santa Madre Tierra y su Alma
1991
buon fresco
Albuquerque Museum, museum purchase, 1989 General Obligation Bonds, 1% for Art funds, City of Albuquerque, and funds provided by Nancy R. Briggs
PC1991.45.1

Santa Madre Tierra y su Alma appears to come alive with movement. Frederico Vigil combines familiar and abstract shapes into a vibrant composition. A central flower is surrounded by an illustration of the phases of the moon as well as a variety of spirals and other shapes alluding to the cycles of nature. Through both abstract and representational imagery and a rich earthen color palette, the fresco honors Santa Madre Tierra y su Alma (Holy Mother Earth and Her Soul).

Fresco is an age-old painting technique that has been utilized by artists across the world including in ancient Greece and Rome and by famous Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera. Frescoes are created by applying a coat of lime plaster to the wall and painting with pigments before the plaster has set. Frederico Vigil has completed more than two dozen major fresco pieces, including one of the largest concave frescos in the world—inside the Torreón at Albuquerque’s National Hispanic Cultural Center, a fresco that spans 4,000 square feet.