SOCORRO, N.M. - “The Poetry of Geology” is a multi-paneled artwork consisting of two wall reliefs installed 20 feet off the floor on facing walls in the three-story light-filled atrium lobby of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Building on the New Mexico Tech campus. The project was funded by the “New Mexico Art in Public Places” program.

The intention of this dynamic design is to activate the architectural space echoing the active forces at play in the Earth and to celebrate the knowledge and research that the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources and New Mexico Tech provides for the state. Visitors will also be inspired to reflect on the elements and natural forces that pervade the region.

Discussions with personnel at the bureau, museum, and institute helped the artist select imagery that reflects our various missions, including scientific investigations and educational goals. The wall reliefs include reference to: cartography, volcanic activity, minerals, geologic history, topography, geohydrology, energy resources, geological landmarks, fault lines, strata, and rock formations of New Mexico. Inspired by the complex and profoundly rich and essential subject matter of geology, these image panels portray and suggest such subjects as strata, water aquifers, New Mexico minerals, fossils, iconic landmarks such as Ship Rock, White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, topographic maps and lava.