An acquaintance of mine was very much into doing stained glass and asked if I’d come up with a design. Since I’d only returned to New Mexico a few years before, I thought it would be a good theme for my design.

The morion, or conquistador helmet, represents Albuquerque’s “Duke City” history; the red and green chiles in the upper right: the defining food of New Mexico; the balloons in the lower right for the annual international balloon fiesta; the portion of a thunderbird wing in the lower left symbolizing the indigenous culture; and in the center, surrounded by a zia, the state bird of New Mexico, the roadrunner, in front of a stylized representation of Albuquerque’s Sandia mountains.

I do know the piece was started, but I lost track and never found out if it was completed. As far as I know, this is the only evidence of the concept that’s still around.