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Longtime Las Cruces artist Kathy Morrow has been dedicating most of her mornings these last seven months to sharing her talent and creating a large mural made of rocks that’s displayed right in front of New Mexico State University’s Golf Course. Her art reflects the beauty of local wildlife.

“I grew up on Indian reservations, so there’s an influence there,” she shared. “My art is southwest and Native American inspired.”

Before displaying her art at the NMSU Golf Course, Kathy initially collected and created designs with colored rocks on the Tortugas dam, which received a lot of attention.

“The community had started joining in, the walkers on the dam. They’d ask what color rock I needed, and I’d say I was looking for yellows,” she said. “Pretty soon there would be big piles, backpacks, bags, and then eventually – pickup trucks full of yellows. Whatever the color was.”

As the mural grew over the span of five years, Kathy said she eventually had to relocate her work due to the future usage plans for the location.

“Elephant Butte Irrigation District, which is the owner of the dam I was working on, saw the work and they’d say the art was beautiful,” she said. “However, eventually they told me that they were going to reconfigure the dam and a big bulldozer was going to be coming through and all of that artwork was going to have to go.”

The artist was given a year to remove the tons of rock art and had some help along the way. NMSU approved the move to place the rock mural outside of the NMSU Golf Course clubhouse, which is a work still in progress – but much progress has been made.

"Nov. 11, 2022, seven months ago, we started laying fabric. A bulldozer was brought in and they graded off the entire hill. They took out all the bushes, shrubs, and smoothed it all out. We then started with the ‘NM State’ and got that down,” she explained.

Relocating the art was quite a challenge, but Kathy’s creative eye, technique, and skill adapted to the change in environment.

“The difference between here and the dam is that the images have to be stretched and deformed for you to see it correctly. It must be wrong on the hill,” she said.
"The reason is the pitch of this hill; that’s why the animals are stretched and elongated. The view from the top is very deformed and distorted, and the view from the door at the NMSU Golf Course clubhouse is what it’s supposed to look like.”

Not only does the mural have a new home that belongs to NMSU, but it also has plenty of advantages that it didn’t have before.

“We’re now able to protect it from weeds, and it will be maintained in terms of pre-emergence spray and security,” Morrow said. “The other big advantage is, you had to be a hiker if you wanted to see it on the dam. So, if you’re in a wheelchair or a walker, it was very difficult to get a person up there to see. Now, people can drive right here, and they can see it from their cars if they want.”

Currently, Kathy climbs and piles the rocks six days a week in the early morning. She said she’s had some people reach out and volunteer, but she is reaching out to the community now for some more help with the progress.

“This is a much bigger project. It’s over a half-acre,” she said. “I know if I had more helpers, this would go even faster and it’s amazing how much more progress is made than just me by myself.”

For more information about how you can help, visit https://www.kathymorrowstudio.com.